Donna's Diary - August 2010

Did you know that some of the residents of the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder have started a little business selling roasted coffee beans? It’s true. Check out Donna’s latest online diary entry below to learn more. To see all of her diary entries, click here.

Well, our coffee roasting business has gotten off to a big start. It started when JT (Glover) was roasting beans, and Lana, Gerald, and I wanted to know what he was doing and wanted to participate.

I mentioned that we know a lot of people who drink coffee, and that maybe JT would help us learn how to roast the coffee beans so we could sell them. JT agreed, and we decided to give it a try. Our first sale was in late June to Vanessa and Sunil from 19th Street Group Home. At that point we wanted to give them the coffee in order to get feedback from them on how it tasted but they wanted to buy it. And now, here it is, SmartHome Coffee.

Over time, all of my housemates became involved, even if it was just hanging out with us and keeping us company while we roasted or stirred the beans. Then our next door neighbor, Donna, designed the SmartHome Coffee label for us.

A huge advantage that attracts people is the color and freshness of the coffee. So, I’ll bet you’re wondering how we roast the beans. We have two methods so far. We use a small amount in a popcorn popper, and we also have a Whirley Pop, a pan that sits on the stove and has a handle that you turn which stirs the beans. Then when the beans are roasted to either a light, medium, or dark color, we put them in another pan to stir them and cool them.

It’s really cool that Gerald has it programmed into his Dynavox communication device that we are selling coffee, including our phone numbers and the price, which is five dollars for a quarter pound.

This project has got us more involved with the community. People are coming here for the coffee, and we plan to host a coffee tasting soon. People on bicycles have seen us sitting out front and have stopped to order or buy coffee. At this point, we are not interested in how much coffee we can sell, it’s more for spending time together doing something fun, and learning how to be more independent.

My advice on coffee is that fresh ground that day is the best. It does need to rest in the CO2 can for at least 12 hours though, but if you get the beans that day, take them home and grind them that day, that’s the way to do it. Store it in a cool, dry place, like a kitchen cupboard, not in the freezer like some people say. And we aim to please. You want it medium, no prob. You want it light, no prob. We make it however you want it.

Next month Gerald and I will be celebrating our first wedding anniversary by going to Casa Bonita in Denver. I’ll tell you how that went, so stay tuned.