Do you have any roasting tips?

Do you know of any other simple ways, apart from the popcorn maker method, to roast your own beans at home? If you have any tips on coffee roasting, please leave your comment below if you want to. Leave the whole method or you can use some links.

Here you will find an explanation of the coffee roasting process, together with some tips on home roasting your green beans.

Coffee certainly tastes better when the beans are freshly roasted. Which is why a true coffee lover should always possess home coffee roasting equipment, just like your favorite coffee shop should always have a roaster on display. If they haven’t, then find a new cafe because your espresso will definitely taste better elsewhere!

The first roasted coffee beans appeared in around the thirteenth century, where it was discovered that the green beans would give off their infamous aroma and flavor which we know and love today, by preparing them this way. A chemical transformation of the beans takes place whilst they cook. Oils and caramel are developed giving coffee it’s brown color, while gases are formed inside the bean. These excretions are known as caffeol.

Home Coffee Roasting

Although there are very good home coffee roasters available, if you are prepared to put in a little practice and some hard, possibly frustrating work, then you can roast your own beans in a heavy frying pan. It may take you several attempts to achieve a great tasting coffee, but perseverance and dedication to the cause will almost certainly reward you in the end, because you will get a most wonderful aroma and a truly amazing tasting brew in the end.

The Pan Method

Make sure you have a window open and good ventilation for this method, because it’s going to get smoky from the chaff! Use a heavy pan and only use a single layer of beans. If you try and use more, you will not achieve an even roast.

Set your stove to a medium heat for best results at first, finishing off with a high heat for a short time only. If you want the best brew, the quicker you need to roast the beans over that high heat at the end. Constantly stir and turn the beans in the pan, while shaking it so they get an even heat throughout.

As the beans begin to color a yellowy brown and shrivel up, they will occasionally pop open. By this time they have darkened and swelled nicely. Your freshly home roasted beans (I can smell them already!) should be cooked throughout to obtain the perfect taste. You can test a bean by cracking it between your fingers.

Now here’s the tricky part. Keep an eye on the color. The art of the whole process is to stop right before they appear done! For the first attempt, try for a medium brown color. If you over shoot though, you’ll get a deep roast so don’t worry.

Be careful that the residual oils don’t catch fire.

Finally, quickly cool the beans to close their pores. This preserve’s the aroma. Now your beans are ready for grinding and brewing.

If the pan method sounds a little daunting and maybe a little smoky (it will get smoky!), if you have a hot air popcorn popper you can roast them in a much cleaner way.

Home Coffee Roasting Equipment
If you are looking for a home roasting appliance, please review the coffee accessories page.

Before you go ahead and roast your coffee beans, check that your popcorn popper does not have a grate at the bottom but has side vents where the hot air enters. If coffee chaff accumulates in the bottom of your home roaster, it would be a major fire hazard.

Before you start roasting, make sure you are in a well ventilated and well lit room as although you will want to stick around to keep an eye on them and smell that wonderful fresh coffee flavor and aroma, there could be a little smoke.

You will want to stay close by to decide when your coffee beans are done. Start roasting your green beans by pouring them into the roaster. Use about the same amount of green coffee beans as you would use popcorn kernels.

After about 2 & half to 3 minutes you will hear the beans begin to crack. Depending on how dark you want your roasted beans, you can leave them for a few minutes more but don’t leave them for longer than 6 minutes as they will begin to burn and that amazing fresh coffee flavor and aroma will have been a total waste!

But you can always start over – You’ll get that wonderful fresh coffee aroma back in no time at all!

After roasting has finished, it’s best to cool them quickly as they may continue to cook as they are extremely hot coming out of the hot air popper. My tip – just put them in sieve and stir with a wooden spoon.