How To Make Smoked Coffee (And What It Tastes Like)

Coffee connoisseurs around the world are hopping onto a new trend at home – smoking their own coffee beans.

If you are looking to try out new flavors at home, then smoking your own coffee beans should be next on your to-do list!

Smoking coffee brings out more of the rich flavor and smoky scents that the beans hold and can give you a new way to enjoy your coffee.

How do you make smoked coffee at home? To make smoked coffee at home, you need coffee beans that haven’t been roasted yet, a grill or smoker, and the time to allow the beans to absorb the smoky flavor. Once smoked, the beans can be used much the same way they would when roasted normally.

Being able to smoke coffee beans means you can blend together your two loves, your smoker and your coffee, to create new flavors!

Can You Make Smoked Coffee?

You can smoke coffee beans at home, and you can do this using a smoker or using a grill and a smoker pipe. Both ways will give the beans a smoky flavor, depending on the wood that you use to smoke them.

When smoking coffee beans at home, you will need to use green beans, as they will roast as they smoke. Using already roasted coffee beans will just result in them burning and not tasting pleasant at all.

Smoked coffee might not become your go-to beverage at home, but it definitely adds some options of coffee drinks to enjoy during the day.

How To Make Smoked Coffee

Making smoked coffee beans is a fairly simple process if you have the right equipment at home. The best way to smoke coffee beans is in a smoker, as this will roast and smoke them all in one go.

It also should not take too long for the coffee beans to absorb the right amount of smoke, but the time will vary depending on how dark you want your coffee beans roasted.

Once the beans have been roasted and smoked, you can then go on to use them as normal!

Here is how to make smoked coffee in a smoker:

Heat Up the Smoker

The first thing to do is heat up the smoked to get it ready for the beans. How long the smoker needs to heat up will depend on the brand and the instructions given in the instruction manual.

When smoking coffee beans, you should set the smoker on to a high setting, between 350-450°F. The smoker has to be properly heated before placing the beans in.

Prepare The Coffee Beans

Once the smoker has heated up fully, you will want to prepare the green coffee beans for smoking. You need to use green coffee beans so that you can roast them to your preferred strength without them burning.

Lay the green coffee beans in a single layer on a tray, making sure that they are not piled on top of each other.

Before placing the coffee beans in the smoker, you need to decide how dark you want them to be roasted.

To keep track of how much the coffee beans have been roasted, you will need to listen to the cracking.

Coffee beans can go through one, two, or three cracks, with the darker roasts being after the third crack. You can keep a check on the sounds your coffee beans are making to determine when they are ready.

Place The Coffee Beans In The Smoker

Once your beans are ready in a single layer on the tray, you can place the tray into the smoker.

Leave the beans in the smoker for 6 minutes, and then stir them around. Make sure to stir them quickly, so that you do not let too much heat or flavor out.

Keep stirring the coffee beans every 6 minutes until they have reached the right level of roasting for you.

Overall, this should take around 25 minutes, or more or less depending on the strength you enjoy your coffee at.

Let The Beans Rest

One of the most important steps is to allow the coffee beans to rest for at least 10 hours after smoking. The beans need this time to aerate and to be rid of any excess CO2.

Bagging or using the beans too soon, without giving them enough time to aerate out the excess CO2, might result in the brands having an undesirable, acidic, and stale taste. Resting the beans really does add to the flavor.

Store The Beans

You don’t want to waste the whole process of smoking the beans by storing them incorrectly and losing the flavor.

Make sure to store the beans in a tightly sealed, air-tight container (we’d recommend this container). This container can then be placed in a dark and cool place, such as in a pantry cupboard.

Make sure to avoid natural light and heat. Also, don’t leave them in an opened container, which could lead to them becoming stale and losing flavor.

Using The Smoked Coffee Beans

Smoking the coffee beans is the first step, next you have to know how to use them properly! You need to make the most of the smoked coffee beans, to enjoy for yourself or to serve to guests.

You do need to know how you will be using the coffee beans, to work out how you need to grind them.

The different grind types bring out different levels of smoothness and different flavors of the coffee, making the most of the smoky flavor. This also depends on the equipment you have at home to use to grind and brew coffee.

These are the different grind types, and what they are best for.

Extra Coarse/Coarse Grind

Extra coarse and coarse grinds are suitable for coffee machines that can extract as much coffee flavor out of the beans as possible. The best option for extra-coarse and coarse grinds are French press or even a percolator. 

These two appliances will help to make the most of the coarser grind and will be able to take the maximum flavor out of the beans.

Medium Grind

Medium grind coffee is a common grind size. It is suited for a coffee maker that you use every day for your morning cup of coffee. 

These automatic drip coffee machines can extract maximum flavor and aroma from medium grind coffee, and can produce the perfect cup of coffee, with the right level of smokiness from the beans!

Fine Grind

Fine grinds are similar to sugar granules, and this is ideal for espresso pots and drip makers which have a cone-shaped filter.

Fine grinds are best suited for coffee machines that make coffee quickly, such as espressos, which push hot water through the coffee at a high pressure, extracting as much from the grind as possible.

Turkish Grind

If you are feeling particularly experimental, you could turn your smoked coffee beans into Turkish grinds.

This is a very, very fine grind, and once the smoked coffee beans are ground down this small, they are almost buttery and creamy.

To make Turkish coffee with smoked coffee beans, you would have to follow a recipe, but really it involves seeping the smoked coffee beans in boiling water to extract the flavor.

What Does Smoked Coffee Taste Like?

Smoked coffee tastes just about how you would imagine it to taste, like regular roast coffee, but with added smoky flavors.

Dark roast coffee beans can already hold a smoky flavor, but when coffee beans are smoked further, then this smoky flavor is brought out even more.

You can decide how much of a smoky flavor you want your coffee beans to have, by smoking them for different lengths of time.

Smoked coffee beans just give a deeper flavor to your coffee, and finish it off with a campfire-like taste!

How Smoked Coffee Compares To Regular Coffee

Smoked coffee and regular coffee hold the same base notes and can either be light, medium, or dark roasted.

The difference is that smoked coffee has a smoky flavor more than what regular coffee does.

Drinking smoked coffee will bring you back to sitting around the campfire, breathing in the smoke fire while sipping on your coffee, except you now get both in one sip!

You might not choose to have smoked coffee as your preferred cup every morning, but it definitely adds a different option to your pantry that you might find yourself craving now and then!

Can You Smoke Ground Coffee On A Grill?

You can achieve smoked coffee at home without a smoker and without green beans! You can smoke ground coffee on a grill, which makes it much more accessible to everyone else.

Here is how to smoke coffee grinds on a grill:

What You Need

• Ground coffee
• Briquets
• Wood chips (suitable for smoking)

What To Do

1. To start, you will need to preheat about 2-3 charcoal briquets and allow them to heat through fully.
2. Once heated fully, place the briquets on the side of the grill and then place a handful of the smoking wood chips onto the briquets.
3. Place the cooking grate onto the grill. Pour the coffee grinds into a heat-resistant dish, and place this onto the grate, on the opposite side to the briquets.
4. Cover the grill, making sure the vent is above the coffee. 
5. Leave the coffee grinds to cold smoke for up to 2 hours. Periodically stir the coffee grinds so that it takes on the smoky flavor evenly.
6. After 2 hours, remove the coffee grinds from the grill, and allow them to cool.
7. Grind the coffee grounds up smaller and place them into an airtight container, and seal tightly.

A tip to allow the smoky flavor to mellow and settle is to leave the coffee grinds to sit in the airtight container for up to a week before you use them.

Make sure to store the coffee grounds in a cool, dark place, such as a pantry cupboard, to preserve the smoky flavor and to prevent the coffee grinds from losing flavor and becoming stale over time.

How To Make Smoked Cold Brew Coffee

Your smoker is most likely a staple in your backyard during the summer months, and during summer, coffee might be a little too warm to enjoy.

To really make the most of smoking in the summer, you should try out a smoked cold brew coffee! This recipe helps to create a smokey, delicious cold brew, without having to smoke the beans first.

What You Need

• 6 ounces coarse ground coffee
• Cream/milk
• Sugar or sweetener

What To Do

1. Place 3 ounces of the coffee grinds into a plastic container, and pour over 3 cups of water to cover the grounds. Add in the remaining grounds and then another 3 ½ cups of water, stirring slightly.
2. Use the back of a large spoon to push the grounds into the water to make sure they sit in the water to infuse flavor.
3. Cover the plastic container with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for between 18-24 hours.
4. After this time, remove the container from the fridge and strain the coffee mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, saving the coffee brew that comes out.
5. Preheat the smoker to 180°F, until fully heated.
6. Pour the cold brew coffee into a baking dish, a shallow one is best, and place this directly onto the smoker grate. 
7. Leave the cold brew to smoke for up to 2 hours, depending on how much smokiness you want. If you only want a slight hint of smokiness, 1 hour should be fine.
8. After desired smokiness is reached, remove the cold brew from the grill and place the baking dish into an ice bath to cool it down.
9. Once cooled, pour the cold brew into glasses with ice, and top with cream or milk and the sweetener of your choice. 

By doing a little preparation the day before, you and your guests can enjoy sipping on some delicious smoky cold brew coffee while waiting for the rest of your food to cook on the grill, the best way to enjoy a hot summer day!

Related Questions

Now that we’ve gone over how to make smoked coffee, let’s take a look at a few related questions on the subject!

Can you cold smoke coffee?

You can cold smoke coffee on a smoker, and it should take around 2 hours to cold smoke fully. It does help to stir the coffee every now and then to ensure that it smoked evenly throughout.

Can you smoke green coffee beans?

When smoking coffee, it is advised to only smoke green coffee beans. The green beans will be able to take on the smoky flavor, and you can then smoke them to how you prefer.

Already roasted beans will not take on too much of a smoky flavor, and they also might over roast and taste burnt and bitter.

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