Coffee?

[LarryD]

So this is the closest match for a forum for my question...  I've been roasting coffee beans for over a decade.  Has anyone ever tried using green coffee in their smoker to see what flavor it might impart?  I'm wondering if this might be really good for cold smoking such as for cheeses.

I'm willing to experiment, but I thought I might find out if anyone else has tried it first.

 

[SuperDave]

Having seen coffee grounds used as an ingredient in rubs I've also wondered about using it as a source of smoke.  I wouldn't use it solely in fear of it being too strong or bitter but thought in moderation it might be viable.

 

[DivotMaker]

Smoked coffee?  Hmm... interesting!

 

[SconnieQ]

My only thought is that there used to be a small local coffee shop that roasted their coffee near my neighborhood, and the smell near their facility was more of a "burnt" smell, and not so much a nice "roasty coffee" smell. Your home coffee roasts might smell different, but I think if it has a burnt smell, it will probably have that taste. I think you should put some of those beans in a foil boat and give it a try though. Some inexpensive beef maybe. My concern is that the smoke coming off the beans might be nice for a while, but once the beans get to the point of being burnt, that's going to be some bad smoke, and there is no way to know exactly when that point happens, and make it stop. Tea is commonly used for smoking, along with things like star anise, orange peel, and herbs like rosemary, etc. So there are a lot of interesting aromatics to experiment with (that should be wrapped in foil). I don't know if many people here have experimented with aromatics. I'm pretty happy with just wood, but I have been known to throw rosemary branches and orange peel on the coals when I used to use the Weber Smokey Mountain. Don't remember ever noticing a big difference though, but it would probably be more pronounced with the SI.

 

[LarryD]

the smell near their facility was more of a "burnt" smell, and not so much a nice "roasty coffee" smell. Your home coffee roasts might smell different, but I think if it has a burnt smell, it will probably have that taste. I think you should put some of those beans in a foil boat and give it a try though. Some inexpensive beef maybe. My concern is that the smoke coming off the beans might be nice for a while, but once the beans get to the point of being burnt, that's going to be some bad smoke,

Yeah... that's actually my biggest concern.  The coffee shop you reference was apparently doing Charbucks (starbucks) style where they burn everything to make it all taste the same as it doesn't have to (and shouldn't) smell burnt.

I can imagine the initial smoke being quite pleasant and then going south like you suggest.  I could probably catch it easily enough since I've been roasting for so long, but that would probably only be about 20 minutes into the smoking process.  At that point what would you do?  Open it up, dump the incredibly hot smoker box, and put wood in it while totally messing with the food?

 

[SconnieQ]

Yeah, you wouldn't want to open it up and dump out the wood box. I think you'd pretty much need to just let them completely burn out. You could start with just adding a few beans along with your wood to a smoke and see if you get a bad burnt smell or a bitter taste. A small amount of beans probably wouldn't be enough to ruin anything.

 

[TexasSMK]

Looking forward to the results of this experiment.  Love smoked meat, and love coffee!

 

[rettaps]

That would never work, need 450 degrees for coffee roasting.

 

[SuperDave]

That would never work, need 450 degrees for coffee roasting.

Not trying to make coffee, just generate smoke.  The strength of coffee being various lengths of roasting, one could even use a lightly roasted bean in the smoke box along with the other wood/chips. 

 

[LarryD]

That would never work, need 450 degrees for coffee roasting.

No question you're correct if the objective is to roast coffee.  If the beans don't get hot enough they'll just bake instead of smoke, so you have a totally valid concern.  There is also the reality that the beans are typically kept in motion so that they get evenly heated to avoid scorching and to achieve even roasting.  Since all we want in this case is the smoke, the lack of agitation will work as an advantage.  Would a chunk of wood on either side of a small pile of beans not cause it to be much hotter in the middle?  Perhaps hot enough to get them smoking?

Has anyone ever hooked up a probe to their smoke box to see how hot it gets?