Roasting Coffee Beans Is So Easy

Roasting coffee beans at home is now so easy with the results often as good as those beans which have been professionally roasted. 

There is a wide choice of roasters available.  Everyday kitchen equipment such as popcorn maker or frying pans can be used.  The most important thing is to make sure the equipment is clean.  Left over butter or oils could really affect the taste of the coffee.

Lighter roasts contain slightly more caffeine than dark roasts, and they can also have more of an acidic taste than dark roasts.  Which ever beans you chose be sure to chose the best you can afford.

The beans will need to heat to between 460F (223C) and 530F (262C), so be prepared for some smoke. That's easily taken care of with a small room fan or stove top exhaust. Beyond the smoke there will be an odor, so your first experiments should probably be done with the windows open and no one home.

Put the beans in the roaster and turn up the heat! (Take care to be ready to temporarily disable those over-sensitive home fire alarms.)

For some roasters, the thermometer is built-in, but you may want to have an extra for when it's open, or for those frying pan experiments. Candy making thermometers work well for the purpose.

How strong you like your roast depends how long you let the beans roast.  The beans start out green, then turn yellow then brown.  The darker brown the bean the darker your roast.

When the beans begin to heat up you make hear a loud back when the bean bursts.  This is because the heat puts pressure of the surface of the bean.  Don't worry, this is perfectly normal.  You should here this sound after about four to seem minutes.  Make sure you keep stirring the beans every 30 seconds or so.

The sugars inside will begin to caramelize (turn brown and 'burn' slightly) as the roasting continues. Again the degree is a matter of taste. Check the color every 30 seconds or so.

If you roast the beans for a quite a while you will hear a loud second crack.  The beans will now be quite dark a too harsh for some people.  If you were to continue with the roasting at this stage you would just be burning the beans and the result would be to bitter to drink.

Transfer the beans to a metal colander, then agitate them.  The reason you need to agitate the beans is to remove the fine skin 'chaff' that results from roasting.  Once this skin is removed the beans are ready to use.

Try a few batches with varying degrees of time or darkening. Experiment to get the flavor you like. Keep in mind that the heat trapped in the bean will continue to cook it for a short while, so try stopping a little short of your desired end goal.

When you use a popcorn maker to roast the beans make sure you can stir the beans so they don't stick and burn.  If you are roasting the beans on the stove top, cast iron skillets are fantastic.  Remember don't leave the beans for a second and keep stirring.  Roasting coffee beans is very quick.