samuellaw178 wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZFjaQxt9MI

Ahhh Kun Kee

Great video. Sums up the type of roasting nicely.

Man, I love Penang! My mom is from Ipoh (home of White Kopi-o...) and my dad was born in Penang when it was still British colonial. The last time I came back with several bags of beans from Penang, I ran a lb or two through my espresso grinder (a pavoni zip) and pulled some very interesting shots. Later, I spent many hours cleaning the guts of my grinder thoroughly. I figure it was worth it.

If I was going roast kopi style here, I'd just use a large cast iron pot outside.

My sister-in-law spends a lot of time in Jamaica visiting friends and family. One of her friends owns a plot of land supposedly on or nearby the Blue Mountain zone. He's a Rasta man named Thunder and roasted some of his coffee for her to bring home. He told her it was Blue Mountain coffee, I'm not sure what exactly he meant by that but that was his claim. She said that he roasted it over a fire I believe, probably in some sort of drum, and squeezed raw cane sugar over the beans as they were roasting, he just had the sugar cane plant in his hands and squeezed out the sugary juice. I tasted the coffee (it was a few years ago), it was quite dark roast and smokey flavoured, I don't remember it being particularly sweet but at the time most who tried it enjoyed it.
I keep asking her to get me some of his green beans, maybe some day!

samuellaw178 wrote:This will probably do it. Do let me know if anyone is still keen on trying after watching.

Highlight @ 0:32 & 1:21. But it's quite a nice video with subtitle to understand about the local, I would recommend finishing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZFjaQxt9MI


On a serious note, it really doesn't taste as bad as it looked. Maybe sugar & condensed milk does the magic. But they really do look bad and not something I'd put into my cup...

Interesting video and since I have tried some of those coffees I now understand how they got the flavors. Midway through the video you can clearly see the tar like substance created and a guy hammering away at the sludge created. I certainly would not put that in a drum roaster, but maybe pave a road with it

On a similar tangent, and probably roasted in a similar open fashion, the Vietnamese roast with egg yoke and butter in mix of the green beans. "Dangerous Grounds" also showed this method done be a street vendor/roaster in Asia somewhere and I recently had a discussion with a Vietnamese importer about the process which he said he does for himself. Sort of odd and something I have not tried. Maybe I should get a wok and go out to the patio with a bag of Robusta to try it!

FotonDrv wrote: ...the Vietnamese roast with egg yoke and butter in mix of the green beans.

Video of Phnom Penh Cambodia street roasting. Charcoal goes into the roaster. I didn't see any additions to the greens, but you can see from the photo that there is a jar of something that looks like egg yolks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSYE6ChKN3g

Same roaster on another street corner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUOcqR9qt6A

I might just have to get something (like giant wok) to try outside where burnt eggs and scorched butter would not matter.

Would'nt adding sugar/caramel to your cup be the same thing?

I sort of doubt it since that is easier and they would do it if it was the same and easier.

When I watched the video it looked like they were adding the sugar after roasting when the beans were still warm then it cooled into a peanut-brittle like consistency that was then ground. That seems more like a pre-brew sweetener which is less crazy and less carbon-producing.

SAS wrote:Video of Phnom Penh Cambodia street roasting. Charcoal goes into the roaster. I didn't see any additions to the greens, but you can see from the photo that there is a jar of something that looks like egg yolks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSYE6ChKN3g

Same roaster on another street corner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUOcqR9qt6A

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Unless the butter / egg yolk does something to the color of the roast, I hope you like charcoal.