While a few years ago the smell of coffee was just reminder that another day was beginning, PHS coffee club vice president junior Daniel Hahn now relates this smell to his passion for roasting and drinking coffee.

Hahn said he started drinking coffee three years ago for caffeine, but a year ago his primary reason for drinking coffee took a turn.

“Coffee is more than a drug.  If you want caffeine, buy the stuff

in a pill or as a powder,” Hahn said. “There is an awesome culture behind it, and once you develop a palate for it, coffee is amazingly delicious.”

Hahn said he roasts coffee using a wok heated up to around 500 to 550 degrees with about a half a pound of green coffee beans. He purchases his beans from local retailer Sweet Maria’s, one of the top coffee exporters in the country and a five-minute drive from his home.

“I messed up a lot at the beginning. I have gone through pounds and pounds of coffee that are undrinkably bad,” Hahn said, “but eventually I found out what you need to do and now I have been roasting good coffee for about half a year now.”

Hahn said one of the primary  advantages to roasting his own coffee is price.  Hahn said he can buy a pound of really good green coffee for around five dollars, and three dollars for a pound of coffee that most people would consider excellent. At Starbucks Coffee, a pound of coffee is around 13 dollars, and at Peet’s Coffee and Tea, a pound of coffee is around 14 dollars.

“You also get the advantage of freshness. Most coffee that you buy at the supermarket will not even have a ‘roasted on’ date, you will not even know when it is roasted. If you go to a local roaster, you will generally have a ‘roasted on’ date,” Hahn said. “It will usually be a week old by the time you buy the beans. If you roast your own beans, you can be drinking them just a couple days after.”

Hahn said he makes coffee to fit his preferences.

“You get real preference on what kinds of beans you like and the level of roast that you want, where as you would not get that level of control if you are buying already roasted beans,” Hahn said.

Hahn said a disadvantage to making his own coffee is it takes a lot of work. Roasts of about a half a pound will take about 20 to 40 minutes.

“Also, in the beginning you will waste quite a bit of money and time on making roasts that taste awful,” Hahn said. “Under roasted coffee is one of the most foul things that you can drink. It is just awful.”

Hahn said he drinks most of the beans that he roasts, and he gives away a lot as well. He has sold roasts in the past, but he does not have a consistent business doing so.

Hahn and PHS coffee club president junior Smith Levi made an espresso machine a couple weeks ago.

“The body of it is an aero press, which is essentially a giant syringe. It has a filter at the bottom and a seal at the top. You put coffee in the bottom, and water and press it down,” Hahn said. “We swapped out the paper filter you would normally use with a metal filter, to let the essential oils and crema get through.”

Hahn said to get the pressure needed for an espresso machine, Levi and Hahn made modifications to the lever.

“We built a really big lever because, to brew espresso properly, you need about 130 psi, which translates to about 500 pounds of downward force over four square inches so our lever ended up being about five feet to get the pressure that you actually need,” Hahn said.

Hahn said it is a lot of work to get a good product.

“It is a lot of work to get a good product but it’s really cool, and it lets you get a really cool connection to the final product that you normally would not get from an espresso machine,” Hahn said.

“It was fun designing it and putting it together. It’s a great concept,” Levi said. “We both are quite passionate about coffee.”

Hahn said it is great to have a complete obsession to focus on.

“The coffee rabbit hole goes very deep. There’s always something new to buy, new techniques to try, and new things being invented,” Hahn said. “Most of my friends don’t really get my coffee thing, which is totally cool. I don’t really expect most people to. They think I’m a little crazy in that respect.
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Hahn recommends checking out the coffee at Subrosa Coffee at 419 40th Street, Oakland, CA 94609, and the Elmwood Café at 2900 College Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705.

“I always love to share the gift of great coffee,” Hahn said.