How To Smoke Coffee Beans

February 24, 2022 1 Comment

What's up yall,

Evan Sledge here with Whiskey Morning Coffee. I am one of the founders that started using pecan and cherry wood to smoke our coffee beans. Smoked coffee beans is something you can do with your normal coffee at your house. I will outline what type of smoker to use, what wood we use, and how smoking your coffee will taste

What Type of Smoker do I need?

You can smoke your coffee beans in really any smoker. The main key with smoking is that you want little to no heat. The little to no heat is different than smoking let's say meat. Because the coffee is already roasted you don't want to keep cooking the bean while it is smoking.

Coffee in a Smoker

The easiest way to add smoke without applying a lot of heat would be to use a hot plate. Go to the store and get you an electric hot plate and a Dutch oven or cast-iron pan. put the hot plate in your smoker and fill up your Dutch oven with your choice of wood chips. The hot plate will heat up the chips so that they smoke without putting off too much heat.

After getting your smoke rolling, layer your coffee beans evenly on a perforated sheet or grate so that the smoke can flow upward through your beans.

Whiskey Morning smokes their coffee for a total of 8 hours. A coffee bean will not absorb the smoke as easy as meat, so it will take some time. After 8 hours, there will be a thin smoke layer on the outside of the coffee bean that will come through when you grind it and brew your coffee.

What Wood Do We Use?

Here at Whiskey Morning, we use lighter smoke wood. Some common smoking wood that has a lighter smoke would be fruit wood, alder, pecan, and post oak. You can use mesquite, and hickory at home to smoke your coffee, but for our taste it has a harsh burnt taste. For our Texian Army Brew we use pecan and cherry wood to smoke the coffee. The pecan wood is a slightly heavier smoke that is needed in order to be notices in the cup after brewing. Along with Pecan wood we use cherry wood because the cherry will cover up the bitter bight common in a cup of coffee.

What Smoked Coffee Taste Like

You have cold smoked your coffee beans with a light wood for 8 hours. Now it is time to enjoy your brew! The smell of your coffee beans is going to change to bacon frying smell. Once you brew the coffee the smoke is going to show up on the backend. The best part about a smoked coffee is that the bitter backend will be a lot less noticeable.

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