The Basics of Coffee Bean Roasting
March 2nd, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed
Home wine makers will be happy to hear that roasting coffee beans is even easier - and the results are often as good as the pros.
A variety of roaster types are available, but even a frying pan or popcorn popper can be used. Be sure to start with ultra-clean equipment, though. Nothing spoils the taste of coffee like left over fish oils or butter.
Dark roasts contain a little less caffeine than lighter roasts, but they lack the acid taste of the latter. Be sure to start with quality beans, of course!
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.
During the process those green beans will turn yellow, then brown. How brown depends on how dark you like your roast, which is always an individual choice.
As they begin to heat up, moisture - both oil and water - will put pressure on the bean surface and you may hear a loud crack when it bursts. Not to worry, this is normal. Stirring every 30 seconds or more, you’ll hear this after four to seven minutes of heating.
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.
Roast long enough and sometimes a second loud crack will occur. At this stage the beans will be quite dark and for some palates a little overdone. Beyond the second crack you’re really just burning the beans and boiling away the sugars. The results will be too harsh for most.
Pour into a metal colander to cool, then agitate. Since the roasting process produces chaff (a fine skin that detaches from the bean as they’re agitated), you’ll want some method for removing it. Mesh cooking screens are one option.
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.
For the popcorn popper style roasting, be sure to get one that allows you to stir up the beans to keep them moving around and not sticking to the surfaces. For the stove top style, a cast iron skillet works great. Be prepared for lots of stirring and viewing. Roasting happens quickly!
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How you get from the Coffee Bean to a Cup of Coffee.
May 29th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
All around the world people are enjoying coffee. As with everything they way they take their coffee varies, some like iced coffee, others want a strong expresso. Some people will only drink it in the morning, while others will enjoy a cup off coffee throughout the day. As these people are enjoying their drink, how many wonder how the coffee bean, picked somewhere in the world ended up in their cup.
From Bean to Cup
Coffee comes from the seeds of the coffee plant. These seeds or the coffee beans then undergo a process that prepares them for drinking. This starts with the coffee berries being picked from the tree and defruited.
Defruiting means the fruit is taken away and only the coffee beans are left. They are then dried and then sorted after which the coffee beans are sometimes aged or roasted directly.
The beans turn dark when undergoing the roasting process because the sucrose in them is caramelized. Some people prefer to do the roasting of the dried beans themselves at their home. Roasting brings out the flavor of the coffee beans because the heat it is exposed to turn carbohydrates and fats into aromatic oils. Roasting also burns off the moisture in the beans and also the carbon dioxide.
After the roasting, coffee beans are typically ground to make them ready for consumption. A Turkish grind is a straightforward process of making coffee where the ground coffee is mixed directly with water. This procedure makes very fine textured ground coffee. Other ways of preparing the ground coffee is using the percolator or coffee maker.
Different Kinds of Coffee
Espresso:
Made by forcing very hot but not boiling water through compacted ground coffee. A stronger flavor is made and there is more coffee bean matter in the drink. This process results in a stronger flavor so most espresso drinkers use very small cups to consume this.
For those who do not wish to be encumbered by the long process of percolating or making coffee from ground coffee, there are several alternatives. These are pre mixed coffee, available in canned form. Some varieties come already sweetened or already mixed with creamers. Other coffee drinks, which are pre-mixed, come in plastic bottles or cans.
Instant coffee:
Instant coffee is coffee granules that have been freeze dried or dried into soluble powder. These powdered coffee forms just need to be mixed with water and other ingredients depending on the drinker’s preference.
Many people like the convenience of just adding the granules to hot water compared to percolating, which may take time.
Some coffee producers also make their roasted coffee decaffeinated. This takes out the caffeine from the coffee beans but still leaves the flavor and aroma.
Hopefully this will have given you an idea of how the coffee bean ended up in your cup of coffee in the morning. No matter how you decide to enjoy your coffee in the morning it will have made quite journey. If your looking for the best coffee you have ever tasted I would recommend having a look at Mystic Monk Coffee that is roasted by monks passionate about coffee.
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