DIY Heat Gun and Metal Bowl Coffee Roasting

Chamie asked "What's your favorite roaster up to?" recently. I don't know to be honest. I do know what I have been up to recently - roasting with a heat gun and a metal bowl. I saw this method being discussed for a while but never gave it much thought till a heat gun went on sale at Harbor Freight for only $8.99.  I pay up to three bucks for a popcorn popper at Goodwill so adding a few bucks to that wouldn't be that bad.  

I picked up the gun and a pair of leather gloves at Harbor Freight and then headed over to Goodwill where I found a metal salad or mixing bowl for a buck - about fifteen bucks in the set up total.  Mind you I can use the gloves and the heat gun around the house which makes the expenditure even easier to handle.

For some reason I lost sight of this project for a while, but recently I got the ball rolling again and tried some Kenyan coffee beans. I used 200g of some Kenyan greens and aimed for a 10 - 11 minute roast. It went well, the color looked nice. On opening the jar a savory green pepper smell lifted off the beans - this is an interesting start.  The ground coffee (#18 on the Baratza Preciso, so medium fine) smells spicy, almost peppery or like ginger while the wet aroma is sweet with hints of cinnamon.  

I used a Melitta Ready-Set-Joe #2 cone, 16g grounds, and 240mL boiled water poured from my electric Bonavita goose neck kettle over a 3 minute brewing session.

There is some acidity but it is not super tangy - more of a "feel it" thing - a deeper sweet note - I roasted it a bit darker since it will end up in a portafilter after day five which contributes to the effect but this Kenyan was not described as a fruit bowl to begin with.  The tangy feel mixes with a tomato or pepper savory note that rolls into a medium to short toasted caramel finish. The body is medium full and the flavors separate out enough for me to notice them even though my descriptions could be more precise. 

I will see what this coffee is like in a couple days and report back.