Coffee Roasting Process - Steps, Methods, and Techniques

A coffee cherry contains a seed that is what we often refer to as a coffee bean. All we need is one coffee bean to brew a delicious cup of coffee at home. However, the flavor is developed during the roasting process before you can taste it. 

From the time the coffee beans are planted, nurtured, and cared for until the cherries are picked, they undergo additional processing. They can either be treated dryly or wetly. This is where the roasting process happens after the raw, green coffee beans are created. 

It can be used in a variety of ways, and various people have varied roasting preferences. 

Coffee Roasting Process: Coffee's flavors and other scent components are developed during the roasting process. Raw green coffee undergoes heat treatment, which alters its structure and composition (both physically and chemically).

simply refers to turning fresh green beans into beans that are brown or dark brown in colour.

It's one of the most crucial steps in creating the ideal cup of coffee that you adore. To release the flavours and smells that are imprisoned inside those raw beans, roast them.

While it generates a variety of complex aroma components, the ultimate flavour of the coffee can be made or broken by these compounds. To ensure optimal roasting development, some roastmasters must undergo multiple hours of classroom instruction and practical training.

The Stages of Roasting

The drying, browning, and development or roasting stage are the three key phases of the roasting process.

Some coffee experts, however, dissect the many steps of roasting in different ways, including pre-heating, bean yellowing, the first and second cracks, and even cooling. Let's go through these phases in more detail and talk about how they can affect the flavor of your coffee.

1. Pre-Heating

Similar to cooking, preheating your pan is required before beginning to fry or even toast food. Preheating the oven is also required before baking.

The same holds true for coffee roasting, which demands intense concentration as well as heightened senses. To make things much simpler to monitor, you must pre-heat everything, including the coffee bean itself and the roaster. 

In order to have the consistency and perfection that you want in a cup of coffee, you must start with a hot drum or roaster before adding the raw green coffee beans to it.

Depending on the size of your roaster and the quantity of coffee to be charged, you need to have a starting temperature before the drying step in order to keep a consistent outcome. Additionally, you can save time because the roaster has already been preheated to the temperature required to dry the beans.

2. Drying Stage

This is the initial procedure when the coffee beans are dried to remove the water so that the appropriate flavors can also emerge in the subsequent stages. You place the beans into your roaster and let them dry for a few minutes.

The raw coffee bean needs to be completely dried before it is roasted (9–12% humidity; before browning or development begins).

In a drum roaster, the drying step normally lasts 6 to 8 minutes (depending on the roast operators; some prefer it leisurely, while others prefer it quick), with a constant temperature of about 160 0C throughout. 

You must be careful when applying heat to the coffee beans in accordance with the temperature so that you don't burn or even undercook them, especially with drum roasters that generate too much heat at first, giving the impression that the beans are perfectly roasted on the outside but undercooked inside.

3. Browning Stage

Naturally, the beans are kept inside the drum roaster during the second stage till the acids react to produce various fragrances and brown colors, commonly ranging from yellow to brown.

When the sugars inside the beans caramelize and the scents begin to smell, the beans have reached the browning stage. Simply because the beans are subjected to high temperatures within the roasters, caramelization takes place. from a temperature of 160 0C. Additionally, the coffee begins to smell like recently toasted bread.

Speaking of brown, the "Maillard Reaction" is what causes browning and the reason it happens at this point. You enable the activation of this reaction in this procedure by reducing the rate at which the temperature rises.

The Types of Roasts

How can you tell whether the stage is finished? When is the coffee ready to be ground?

The correct response is that you must first decide what kind of roast you want. One of the most crucial elements in determining a specific roast profile is the roast degree, which is occasionally connected to these stages. 

The easiest approach to be sure you got a nice, fully-developed cup of coffee is to taste it. The majority of the time, though, you can determine it by looking at the color of the bean.

The color of the coffee bean can be observed at every stage to help you comprehend and halt the development process, but you cannot always predict an object's appearance.

To select the coffee that best meets your preferences, you must be aware of the differences between light roast, dark roast, and even medium roast. You can get a sense of the flavor you can expect if you can distinguish their differences.

The choice is ultimately up to you, assuming you already know how different roasts differ from one another.

If you're seeking for light roast coffee, the bean was already light brown when you heard the first crack during the browning process. The time has come to remove the coffee beans from the roaster so they can cool. 

On the other hand, if you prefer dark roast coffee, wait until it reaches and completes the development stage. At this time, the beans are dark brown. This time, your cup will have flavors and scent molecules that are fully matured.

Final thoughts: 

In conclusion, roasting is an art, and even though we lack experience, we may still learn it. Finding the ideal roast profile to suit your coffee preferences may prove to be more enjoyable and rewarding than you might imagine if you learn to roast.