My inspiration to do this comes from one person, Tim. Thank you!
He's the one doing the roasting
in this picture.
Like any oil, coffee bean oil becomes rancid in a few days. If it's ground, it goes bad much quicker because of the increase in surface area exposed to oxygen. Fatty acids in the oil oxidize and when this happens, yo coffee gonna gon bad!
I was walking around the shipyards in Port Townsend a couple of days ago. It was cool out but the skies were blue and through my sweater, the sun's heat set in to my body -- one of my most favorite feelings. Walking, making some photographs, and thinking about ocean work, and my adventures to come this winter. There were small wooden boats pulled out and HUGE fishing boats stilted up on dry land, their hulls being repaired. Where would these boats go when it was time for work again?
What would they be after? What was life on these boats like in the middle of winter while pulling cages of crab up from the icy waters of Alaska? We rarely get to see boats out of the water. 
One amazing thing is the everything that we don't normally see like the shapes of the hulls. Some made for large seas, some made for catch storage. Metal being welded, wood planks being replaced, the seams stuffed with fitting that expands and contracts with the wood to create a seal.
I remember the wooden boats built in the old ways in Eastern Indonesia, a land without a mainland. Transportation is by, and has always been by, boat. And these ships that navigate the complex seas and inter-island tides built without nails but wooden pegs -- in the old way.
A wooden boat without nails! I got to see a little of this boat building on an island called Suluwesi. At the time, it was interesting but I didn't have the kind of appreciation that I have for it now. These boats were being constructed without any plans. They were being built by feel from a builder who learned this sensitivity from his father, who learned from his father. And in this way, the world has passed on skills and teaching for much of our recent histories.
So I am walking around the shipyard and I see a sign that says Sunrise Coffee Company and a little door beneath it. Wafting out were the smooth aromas of fresh beans being roasted. Sue stepped out of the shadows, a funky one room factory, with a big smile. "Do you have organic beans?" I asked. "Yeah, everything's organic here." she replied. "Shade grown?" "Yep." "Do you sell the green, unroasted beans?" "Sure. What kind would you like?" "Well, how much are they?" "Four dollars for a pound." "Wow, that's great!" I tried to elicit from her what her personal faves were and then I settled on a bit from Sumatra, Indonesia and some from Panama. I ended up only getting a quarter pound of each because I wanted to experiment and didn't want too much. I am not a big coffee person but my mom and Dave like coffee A LOT so I was hoping to roast some up for them -- and maybe partake in a little myself.I felt a little funny getting such small quantities from her with all of these massive burlap bags piled around us stuffed with green beans from around the world. It's remarkable that these bags, they come from some of the most remote places in the world. Timor, the mountains of Mexico and Panama. Sumatra. From all over, they sit stacked here in this little room on the edge of the Puget Sound in Washington State! It was probably one of the smallest bean sales she has made but it didn't seem to curb her enthusiasm for my experiment.
I think I am rambling and I have to get on with the day. So, the coffee came out great. Smooth and fresh. I used a cast iron pan but next time I might try using a popcorn popper! People "on the internet" have posted success with this method. When I get around to the Panama batch though, I'll either get an extension cable that goes outside for the popper or set up a camp stove on the deck to fine tune my next masterpiece.
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