If you’ve never tried, roasting beans yourself at home isn’t all that hard (here’s a post on one way to home-roast coffee beans).
But there are other ways, of course. You could, for example, purchase a top-of-the-line bean roaster for home use. You could even use a simple hot air popcorn popper!
Regardless of what you use – oven, popper or bean roaster made specifically for the job – there are four “tenets” coffee roasters understand. Take a look at them below.
They know that if they really want to smell that wonderful fresh coffee aroma we all love, the only way to really experience it is to roast coffee beans themselves.
This is because most of that “fresh coffee smell” is driven out during the roasting process. And, believe it or not, that wonderful aroma pretty much is considered a waste product.
They understand that roasting well is all about the heat.
More specifically, it’s all about heat energy transfer. Popcorn poppers provide heat in the form of hot convective air. A “fluid bed” roaster continuously tumbles the beans upward in a hot-air wind tunnel. Drum roasters, on the other hand, roast the beans in a hot rotating drum (like a clothes dryer, although the drum itself also is heated in order to add some conductive energy transfer to the heating mix).
They know they need to experiment with the different color stages/timing of roasting to find their sweet spot.
Roasting begins with fresh, green (unroasted) coffee beans. As you roast the beans, they turn color. Once the bean turns a dark brown, it should crack open. Once the cracking is finished, most people stop roasting (most commercially sold coffees are stopped roasting at this point). Experienced roasters often keep the roasting process going, but you need to be careful. This is where experimentation comes in because the longer you cook your beans the greater chance you of have of “turning the bean to ash.”
Many home roasters find it’s enjoyable to experiment with the length of roasting time, eventually finding the right time to stop the heating process in order to end up with the roast “degree” they prefer.
They sooner or later come to grips that even a true coffee connoisseur can purchase already roasted coffee.
Many people who LOVE (yes, all caps, boldfaced and underlined) coffee believe that such adoration means they should purchase a coffee roaster and grinder and roast and grind their coffee themselves.
Naturally, we believe this to be nonsense. If one enjoys the process of roasting and grinding, that’s fine. But even those who worship at the altar of the Great Bean understand that purchasing already-ground coffee is acceptable. Natural. Practical. And in no way is an act of disrespect.
You love coffee. You love great coffee. That being the case, you will love Ubean Coffee. Give us a try and contact one of our independent distributors today.