Why does nobody warn you that a $15 thrift store popcorn popper makes better coffee than my $180 grinder setup

Piper Sullivan · 2026-10-12T20:05:05.703768+00:00

So about two months ago I was at a Goodwill in Boise and saw one of those old hot air popcorn poppers for $4, the kind with the little yellow lid, and on a total whim I bought it because I'd read somewhere online that people roast green beans in them. I ordered 2 pounds of green Ethiopian beans for like $16 and figured worst case I'm out 20 bucks. First batch was a disaster, beans flying everywhere, smoke alarm going off, my wife yelling from the other room. But by batch four I got the timing down to about 6 minutes for a nice medium roast, and here's the thing, when I brewed it next to my usual beans from the fancy shop downtown, I honestly liked the home roasted stuff better. It had this fruity thing going on that the store beans just didn't have. Now I'm sitting here wondering if I wasted $180 on a grinder setup when a $4 garage sale gadget is doing the heavy lifting. Has anyone else gone down the home roasting rabbit hole like this, and did you stick with it or go back to buying beans?

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Why does nobody warn you that a $15 thrift store popcorn popper makes better coffee than my $180 grinder setup | Coffee Enthusiasts - Opinions Matter