Coffee lovers can buy their coffee already roasted, or with a few tips and tricks, they can head to their kitchens to roast it themselves.
Whether someone decides to buy roasted coffee or beans to do it themselves, “The green coffee beans have no flavour or aroma and are just a pale green shadow of their future dark brown selves,” the International Coffee Organization states on its Web site. “All of the flavour and aroma that we enjoy in coffee is created by roasting the beans.”
According to www.coffeeresearch.org, the roasting process starts with drying the beans to create a yellowish color that will end up with a popcorn or toast-like aroma. Then, in a process many call “the first crack,” the beans are heated to close to 400 degrees Fahrenheit while the beans expand in size, turn a lightish brown color and lose about 5 percent of the weight of the beans.
As the temperature of the beans rises, the color turns a darker brown and the beans lose more weight before what many call “the second crack” when the beans get even darker and turn oily-looking, according to www.coffeescience.org.
There are several roasting appliances available for home or commercial use. Behmor is one of the companies that make a home roaster.
“One of the truest statements ever made about home roasting coffee is “the worst home roasted coffee is better than anything you can buy,” the company states on its site.
Also, quality roasted coffee can even be roasted using certain style of hot air popcorn popper if it provides air through the sides of the popper. Some of the poppers only send heat through the bottom and that would create a fire hazard, according to several Web sites.
However, while there are roasters that can be purchased to do the job, the home roaster can use an ordinary skillet and do the job on their stovetop, making the process relatively inexpensive.
Not everyone wants to do their own roasting and prefers to purchase their coffee already roasted for them. In that case, the most important thing to remember is that it is the quality of the beans that means the most for a good cup of coffee.