Frequently Asked
Questions About Home Coffee Roasting
What are the
Advantages of Roasting your own Coffee?
By roasting your own green coffee beans you can
enjoy the freshest coffee you’ve ever tasted.
The home coffee roaster has the flexibility to enjoy their own preference on
roast styles and even experiment on creating their own blends based on their own
personal preference. Plus,
purchasing green coffee beans over roasted is very economical- typically half
the cost per pound.
Does
Home Coffee Roasting Require any Special Skill?
Depending on the type of method used
to roast, roasting coffee can be fun and fairly simple. It is not any more
complicated
than making popcorn. If using the
oven or stovetop method, the process will be more manual.
See our green coffee tip page for instructions.
If using a home coffee roasting machine, the process is pretty much automatic.
Either method chosen will require practice to produce that cup of
coffee that is much more satisfying than anything ever bought in a can.
What is the
Difference Between a Drum Roaster and a Fluid Bed Roaster?
Drum type coffee roasters roast the
green coffee
beans in a cylinder type drum. The
green coffee beans tumble as the drum rotates over heat.
When the desired roast is achieved the heat shuts off while the coffee beans
continue to rotate, this is known as the cool down process.
When the cool down stage finishes, the beans are poured into a hopper.
Fluid bed roaster, also known
as hot air roasters, roast the beans as they tumble on a current of hot air.
In this process the beans are roasted over very high temps 400+.
After roasting, the heat is cut off and the beginning of the cool down
process begins. The beans continue
to tumble until the beans are cool.
How
Does the Home Roaster Begin?
Education is the key. There are a lot of books on
the subject today. Remember
everyone’s taste preference is different.
One may like the acidity of a fine Costa Rican while another may like the
body in a cup of good Sumatra. There
are over a 100 coffee growing regions in the world, each producing it’s own
distinctive characteristics. Experimenting with the straight varieties will help
you determine your preference. Next,
roasting a coffee to the different roast styles can even change the taste of
that coffee. A light roast will
have more sharpness in the taste verses a dark roast, which will have a smoky
& sweet flavor. Practice
roasting coffee to different degrees – this will help determine what roast
style is best for each individual preference.
How do you
Create a Blend?
The unique flavor each bean variety
carries with it sometimes can be combined with others to create a more complex
taste. This is also true with espresso.
Many espresso blends will carry three to seven different types of beans.
The art of blending requires knowledge of each bean.
Once the characteristics have been determined for that variety, a roaster
may combine them to create the desired blend of flavors.
Debate exists today among professional coffee roasters whether to roast
all the different beans together or separately. We prefer to roast
each variety separately and then blend. By roasting this way, the roaster
has more control over the roast.
How
Long Will Green Coffee Beans Last?
Green coffee is much like rice or
lentils when it
comes to its shelf life. In proper
conditions, green coffee beans can last for years.
Its only when it becomes roasted that its shelf life rapidly
deteriorates. Store your green
coffee beans in temps between 50 to 85 and making sure it’s not exposed to
extreme climate conditions. A
storage container that allows the bean to have some air circulation is
recommended.
What’s
Next After Roasting?
Proper storage of roasted coffee is
essential to maintaining it’s freshness & flavor.
This is what separates specialty coffee from what you can buy in the
stores. Fresh roasted coffee
is coffee that has been roasted within the last 3 –7 days.
We recommend storing roasted coffee in a clean, dry, airtight
container...preferably glass containers.
Next, enjoy!
Nothing is more satisfying than having that great aroma and wonderful
taste that great home roasted coffee offers. We
tell our customers that once they roast coffee at home they won’t go back to
drinking anything else. The
difference is so noticeable.
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