Home Coffee Roasting

Home Coffee Roasting

History Of Coffee Roasting

Coffee came from Ethiopia as early as the 575 AD it was then introduced to South Arabia as an already domesticated species this is where a european botanist Lineaus gave it a specie name of Caffea Arabica.

The actual history of roasting coffee is not very well documented however it seems to have come from the Ottoman Empire where the coffee fruit wwas first subjected to temperatures of around (465/240c) inducing proylsis, proylsis brought out the delicate flavour oils that is what we enjoy when sipping our coffee.

There emerged in Arabia ceremonies where coffee fruit beans were roasted and then brewed over small fires and all this done by groups of people in one sitting. The first roasts in the Arabian peninsula were light brown in colour and only at later times around 1600 did a different approach to coffee roasting develop. The beans were brought to a dark roast and ground to a fine powder using milstone, boiled and served with sugar.

Roasting Technology changed very little during the 17th and 18th centuries coffee beans were roasted on iron pans, other devices tumbled beans inside metal cylinders or globes suspended over a fire.During the industrial revolution small machines were developed, however by the end of the century coffee roasted in large scale sophisticated machines were being used and the coffee was packaged and sold in packages at local stores

Some of the technology introduced around this time was automated cooling machines driven paddles were used to fan the beans , later still this same machine driven paddles were used to fan the beans as they were cooled by the 20th century technology was developed where no heat was applied to the drum but a powerful stream of hot air was pushed through the drum at high rate causing roasting of the beans.

Roasting coffee is continously changing and currently efforts are undway to precision roast coffee with greater emphasis on temperature controls at different stages of the roasting process ironically there is a movement back to the early stages of coffee roasting where there is a tendency towards personal small roasting machines especially for evening with family and friends

Smaller more technologically advanced machines have been being developed as early as the 60’s, This is because home coffee roasting ensures your coffee beans are fresh, coffee is best consumed within at least two weeks and 18 hours after roasting, you can also control what you want your coffee to taste like after a few roasts it will be like cooking your own meal at home, you can also store your green coffee for long periods of time therefore you can buy different varites and keep them till you feel the urge without losing flavour, although batianpeakcoffee.com offers only a small selection it would be a good idea to sample beans from other parts of the world, we are telling you this because you will find our beans have the best and most pronounced flavours however bad a coffee roaster you are.

Coffee roasting is like an art a culinary pursit like any other food, you can determine the best roasting style for you.

Disadvantages are:-

Risks if too little a roast when doing a light roast, too dark and you get no flavour, many things can go wrong although that also applies to your baked fish pot roast etc

Roasting:-

To start on your adventure you need a couple of things, a roaster, green coffee, mitts sample of already roasted beans, kitchen with an exhaust fan or window , thermometer in some instances, a note pad to keep records, sense of smell sight and sound, fire extinguisher nearby, baking soda a bag with a one way valve grinder and sprayer.

Using a Hot air popcorn popper of a recomended design.

-bowl to collect chaff
-green coffee of same volume as recomended by popper mfr
-coliander for cooling
-oven mites
-Sample of already roasted beans

Procedure:-

Place a hot air popper near open window or under exhaust fan this is because of all the smoke that should be generated it can also be used outside if temperature are at or near room temperature

Pour recomended volume of green beans in the popper chamber

Place large bowl under chute opening to collect chaff

Place sample of roasted beans at or near the popping chamber so you can compare colours

Turn on popper in a few minutes dark coffee smelling smoke will appear and beans will begin to crackle, after crackling sets in begin checking on the colour of the beans continue checking bean colour against sample evrey 1 minute or so.

When colour is just slightly lighter than sample remove beans from popper and place in coliander if beans seem to be getting darker than excpected cool faster by spraying a little film of water from a sprayer or place a small fan nearby

Continually stir and toss beans to reduce variance in bean colour, you should also note that wet processed coffee like we offer on our website will be cooking for much longer when removed from popper compared to other dry processed coffee.

Note:-

Bean weight and processing will also determine length of roast

Beans continue cooking even after being removed from coliander the oils in the beans are still hot and continue cooking the rest of the bean therefore quick cooling is recomended

Some poppers can be fitted witha cooking thermometer and help keep track of temperatures insude the popper.

Disadvantages of popper:-

-Popper is not specifically made for coffee and temperatures for popping corn are lower this means that the popper used for coffee roasting has a lower life expectancy
-A lot of smoke is produced
-You can only roast a small amount of coffee compared to other methods
-Controlling roast levels is not easy however with experience and good record keeping remarkable results can be achieved
-Some modiufications may be necessary to improve final product
-To some people the smell of freshly roasted or roasting coffee is not desirable

Advantages

-Cheap and easy to use
-Very fresh coffee all the time
-Produces a more consistent roast compared to other methods

Get your green coffee