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Black Cherry visits the East Coast!

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One year in three minutes...sort of 

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World’s Most Comfy Car Bed

This is it! The LUCID 4 Inch Folding Mattress and Sofa with Removable Indoor / Outdoor Fabric Cover It’s the world’s most comfy car bed!

This lightweight foam mattress works perfectly for our 2007 Honda Element SC. See below on how we set this baby up! It’s on Amazon Prime so it will arrive in no time and you’ll be on your way.

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The Three F’s of Roasting Your Own Coffee at Home

Why roast your own coffee?

Before we get into the many amazing ways to roast your own coffee, it’s worth wondering why even do it in the first place! For us, it comes down to THE THREE F’S: (1) Funds (2) Flavor and (3) Fun.

Though we were living in our car on a spartan budget, we were actually spending around $50-$70 on coffee per month! We wanted to think of some creative ways to bring our beverage budget down and drinking less wine was not an option. Roasting our own coffee seemed like a good compromise. All told, we are now paying about $20-30 a month on coffee with the Hot Air Popper Method, and we don’t even have to go out to buy it, it’s freshly roasted on demand!

Top Three Home Roasting Options

There are many ways to roast your own coffee. From old popcorn poppers to cowboy style Wok roasting, we’ve researched them all and came up with our Top Three Home Roasting options…and we even threw in a fourth for the techie peeps out there.

#1 Nostalgia Popcorn Air Popper

The mighty Nostalgia Air Popper - our favorite way to roast coffee at home based on funds, flavor & fun!

Why we love the Air Popper method

Here’s why we are into the Nostalgia air popper over the rest:

Funds? This is a very budget friendly roast method. At $20-30 these babies are the perfect way to get started roasting.

Flavor? Yes! We are able to roast with remarkable precision (you won’t find this is other methods). Our flavors getting comparable to the $15-20 bags we were buying (now about $5-7/bag cost to us)

Fun? Yes yes and Yes! It’s wild, it’s loud, it’s actually messy (we roast outdoors since the chaff of the coffee flies everywhere). But the fun factor is very high here and you feel a bit of a scientist testing out new theories, hypotheses, roasting times, jiggle strategies and more with the air popper method.

NOTE: There are many air poppers out there– you can find some cheap ones at thrift stores that might work– however not all air poppers are created equal. In fact, there are certain air poppers that can’t roast coffee. We recommend for your first time roasting, to just buy the Nostalgia Air Popper through our Amazon Affiliate link here and call it a day. (and thanks for throwing a little cash our way to buy more coffee!)

Click here to watch our “How to roast coffee in a popcorn popper” Youtube video.

#2 Stovetop Ceramic Coffee Roaster

The pottery shaped Nuvo Eco Ceramic Handy Roaster is very easy to roast the beans at home. Inside the roaster is made into a waffle shape so that the beans can roast equally.

Why we like the Stovetop Ceramic Coffee Roaster

Funds? These can get a bit pricey but there’s a good one on Amazon in the $30-40 range that will do the trick for your first ceramic roaster.

Flavor? Interestingly this method might get you a more even roast than the Air Popper method as even roast=better flavor. However there’s a bit more technique involved with this method. You have to perfect your “Figure 8 Movements” in order to keep the beans evenly roasting.

Fun? This one might even be MORE FUN than the hot air popper method — just watch some videos and you’ll see it for yourself. The one plus side here is that the mess is less than the hot air popper when it comes to chaff– with this method you are able to roast in your home and then blow the chaff out a nearby window so it’s now your neighbor’s problem.

NOTE: There are many ceramic roasters out there- some as high as $200! We recommend for your first time roasting, to just buy the Nuvo Eco Ceramic Handy Coffee Bean Roaster through our Amazon Affiliate link here since it has great reviews. (and thanks again for throwing a little cash our way to buy more coffee!)

#3 Roasting Coffee in a Wok

Wok this way -- even the most experienced roaster should try this method-- if only to become more one with the beans than ever before. 

This is by far the smokiest, unpredictable method of roasting but it also has it’s perks such as:

Wok roasting is easy if you already have a wok on hand. The lighter the better since you’ll have to keep agitating the wok to keep the beans moving.

Wok roasting is pure– no machines, no gadgets, just you, the wok and the beans. Even the most experienced roaster should try this at some point in their lives.

If you can get it right, you can roast up to 1lb at a time, where as the other two options mandate your batches must be smaller (ie. 1/3 of a cup at a time).

NOTE: If you don’t have a wok with a lid and just want to give this a try, here’s a great light weight wok on Amazon to check out though you can probably find something at a thrift store that will serve you just as well.

BONUS #4 The Fresh Roast: The Techie’s Choice

For the coffee computer lover out there, this new model allows the operator to plan out the entire roast beforehand, entering precise points of heat, fan speed and length adjustments; load the beans and sit back and enjoy the show

Why we like the Fresh Roast

Great reviews on Amazon from those who like to use their computer to program their roasts.

Funds? It’s middle of the road in terms of cost and it’s more expensive counterparts don’t get that great of reviews until you start getting to the $1,000 mark so why not start here?

Flavor? It likely doesn’t get more consistent than using a roaster with preprogrammed settings– so flavor is likely to only get better and better with time– as opposed to other methods which are riddled with opportunities for human error.

Fun? If you love computers & tech, this is the ultimate in fun for roasting coffee- program your beans and watch with unbridled admiration.

NOTE: This is only compatible with PCs so if you got one of those, this might be for you. Here’s our Amazon Affiliate link to the newest model of the Fresh Roast – thanks for clicking and sharing the love 🙂

Yum city!

But where do I buy green coffee?

So glad you asked! There are a few great places to buy beans online, but we’re currently loving Lavanta’s Ethiopia green beans— available with Amazon prime shipping so you can get started tomorrow!

Why we love Levanta’s Ethiopian beans:

100% High grade arabica coffee

32 Full Ounces so you can mess up a few times before you strike gold

Direct Trade with Farmers To Ensure Fair Compensation

Now you’ve roasted, how to brew it!

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Dealz on Outdoor Gear

Because we keep getting asked where we find our deals-- one great place to start is Amazon’s discounted open box outdoor goods. If you click on this affiliate link we’ll actually get a cut of anything you buy...how about that?!?!!

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Wow Richmond! #tackylighttour

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Week 1 in Greece featuring the illustrious KelBel + Woodster! Compete with goats, goats and more goats! 

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Trippin with kel bel and woods around Pelion, Greece

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It seems we have ARRIVED in Greece - Horto, Greece to be specific. What a dream. 

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Philly Pham Time!  

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Celebrating Chris & Ashley - some of the best on earth! Lake hikes and great photoboothing.

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Denvering! Jimmys new baby, Jackie in the house, Ben and Katie, Tim + Mer & Summer, Scott and the Crawdads, Two Rivers coffee, measuring your wingspan to see if you’ll be good at sports and a rose that is given to every lady who visits this bar...DENVER.

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OMG thank you Marilyn for the retreat of all retreats in Steamboat Springs! Complete with 23 games of tennis back to back to back...Stoltz FTW.

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Looking back at our Tour De Nacional Parques- what a trip! See ya next fall. Seriously we're getting in our car again in a month! But for now your moment of zen. #nationalparks #radparks #zionnationalpark #glaciernationalpark #yellowstonenationalpark #rockymountainnationalpark #mtrainernationalpark #napalistatepark #josuatreenationalpark #grandtetonnationalpark #radparks #hondaelement #elementownersclub #microcamp #carcamping #tinyhouse (at Yellowstone National Park.)

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Last stop on the Tour De National Parks! Already missing this car we’re not going to be sleeping in anymore...or at least for a while! 

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Yellowstone in summer - not uncrowded but still epic. And as you can see we’re falling apart - sunglasses broken, windows stopped rolling up or down, gathering fire wood to save that $5. Love it. 

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OMG a hotel and the OLYMPICS! In heaven. #teamusa