My introduction to Home Coffee Roasting:
I found a great coffee site, Sweet Maria's, which has over 70 kinds of green coffee beans,
I ordered a 4 lb (8 kind) sampler pack, plus a pound of Brazil Pedra Grande, and two pounds of Sumatra Classic Mandheling This came to $41 including 9.85 shipping (USPS flat rate box, good to 12 lbs) - or almost $6 per pound. There are decent quantity price breaks, and If one ordered, say, a five lb Columbian Supremo and a five pound Costa Rica Peaberry and a 2 lb Brazil Pedra Grande, you would have three different, excellent coffees for $5 a lb.
I put 1 1/2 cup beans in a medium sized stainless steel bowl, lit the barbeque and set the bowl on a medium flame, put the beans in, grabbed a wooden paint stir stick (a wooden spoon would be fine) and my heat gun (think hair dryer on steroids, for removing paint, etc), and stir while blowing heat on the beans, starting about two inches away, and moving to 3/4 inch away from the surface of the beans. In about 6-7 minutes I had this:
The picture was taken with a flash, so is light. color is also a little evener in real life. I think this is a full city ++ roast, see roast description and pics. Not bad for my first roast. The heat gun method is described here. Another DIY (do it yourself) method is the popcorn popper, or modified popcorn popper. I had all the stuff for the heat gun method, so that was my first try. My second batch, while I had the stuff out, was the Brazil Pedra Grande, roasted to a lighter roast, about a city roast. Next time I'll roast this bean a little darker, and taste the difference.
This is a pretty good color rendition. The sumatran above is considerably darker.
Roast and tasting notes: 10 different kinds for $40 - how fun!
Coffee Roasting Links:
General
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_roasting_coffee - wikipedia article on home roasting
http://www.thecoffeefaq.com/5homeroasting.html - home coffee roasting faq
http://www.homeroasters.org/ home roasters forum
http://roastmagazine.com/backissues/backissues.html - a trade publication for coffee roasters
http://roastmagazine.com/backissues/janfeb2006/loveofpeaberry.html - a nice article on roasting peaberrys
Suppliers of the bean green
http://www.sweetmarias.com/
http://www.burmancoffee.com/coffeelist/ some pretty good prices, $3-4 a lb in 5 lb orders
http://www.coffeestorehouse.com/Green_Coffee_Beans.htm
http://www.roastmasters.com/
http://www.u-roast-em.com/
http://www.breworganic.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=246
http://coffeeproject.com/
http://www.homeroaster.com/intro1.html
http://coffee-roasting.blogspot.com/
http://www.coffeegeek.com/guides/popperroasting