Coffee roasting is one of the trendiest hobbies that is spreading quickly. Home coffee roasting enthusiasts will tell you that the price of green coffee beans is approximately half the price of roasted beans, but their hobby really revolves around creating a perfect cup of coffee or espresso. In this post, we'll share tips for newbies that want to add this trendy experience to their list of hobbies.
1. Decide how you will roast
A variety of at-home roasters exist in different price ranges. It is possible to roast your coffee with a simple stove-top popcorn popper for as little as $20 or you can use an electric coffee bean roaster that is in the $200 price range. We have tried both techniques.
We started with a $20 stove-top popcorn popper, specifically the Whirley Pop. This approach generates a lot of smoke, so you'll want to do this outside so that you do not set off your smoke alarm. You will want to continuously stir the beans for a minimum of 30 minutes.
We then upgraded to an electric coffee bean roaster, specifically the Nesco Coffee Roaster. This made roasting coffee much easier and our beans roast more evenly. This is our preferred technique.
Of course, there are higher end models if your budget permits.
2. Purchase green coffee beans
Discuss different types of green coffee beans. In our personal experience, we found that Sweet Maria's has the largest selection that we know of and good prices. They have an extensive selection and focus on providing the best quality green coffee beans. Their samplers are a great way to get started. You can also search by region or type of bean.
3. Learn the roasting process and then roast to your preference.
As I mentioned above, Sweet Maria's has the most extensive selection of high end green coffee beans that we have found. They also have a lot of great information about the phases of roasting. We love this summary from their site:
Yellowing: For the first few minutes the bean remains greenish, then turn lighter yellowish and emit a grassy smell.
Steam: The beans start to steam as their internal water content dissipates.
First Crack: The steam becomes fragrant. Soon you will hear the "first crack," an audible cracking sound as the real roasting starts to occur: sugars begin to caramelize, bound-up water escapes, the structure of the bean breaks down and oils migrate from their little pockets outward.
First Roasted Stage: After the first crack, the roast can be considered complete any time according to your taste. The cracking is an audible cue, and, along with sight and smell, tells you what stage the roast is at. This is what is call a City roast.
Caramelization: Caramelization continues, oils migrate, and the bean expands in size as the roast becomes dark. As the roast progresses, this is a City + roast. Most of our roast recommendations stop at this point. When you are the verge of second crack, that is a Full City roast.
Second Crack: At this point a "second crack" can be heard, often more volatile than the first. The roast character starts to eclipse the origin character of the beans at this point and is also known as a Vienna roast. A few pops into second crack is a Full City + roast. Roasting all the way through second crack may result in small pieces of bean being blown away like shrapnel!
Darkening Roast: As the roast becomes very dark, the smoke is more pungent as sugars burn completely, and the bean structure breaks down more and more. As the end of second crack approaches you will achieve a French roast.
Now that we've given you a brief overview of DIY Coffee Roasting for Beginners, let us share an example of our roasting experience with a sampler from SweetMarias.com. We started with a 4 pound Green Coffee Sampler.
We roasted batches of each of the four types of beans. For each batch, we measured 4 ounces of green beans.
We then ran our coffee roaster for 14 minutes each.
We then let the roasted beans sit for two days.
We then used a coffee grinder.
We finally brewed the delicious coffees and espressos.
Do you have tips for novice coffee roasters?
We appreciate the complementary coffee bean sampler that we received. All opinions are honest and our own.