# Coffee Roasting Tutorial



## Fjolnirsson (Mar 13, 2010)

I've posted this elsewhere, but what the heck, it makes a good first post.

I roast my own coffee, from green beans I order from a coffee importer. Coffee Bean Direct Coffee Roasters: Quality Coffee and Tea at the Best Prices is the place I use. Green coffee from them runs around $4-$6/lb, and if you order 25 lbs or more, the shipping is free. No small savings, when you consider it ships from Jersey. Also, it will keep 2-3 years in green form, just stored loose in sacks. I'd bet, with oxygen absorbers and such, the stuff might rival wheat for long term storage.

So, get your green coffee.

You'll want a scale if you have a machine, it isn't really necessary for this method, since we'll be roasting old school on the outside stove.But, I used one, anyway.

You'll need a metal pot/pan.
Put the beans in it. You'll also want a wooden spoon, like the one in the photo. I roasted 8 oz this time, which turned out to be a very nice amount for stirring.

You'll want a metal colander, for cooling the roasted beans.

You'll need a heat source. Mine is propane powered, but you could just as easily use a campfire.









Put your beans over the heat source and turn it on. I used a pretty high heat setting, as I wanted these beans to heat up quickly. The speed affects the roast, but that's not important now, this is a very basic guide. 









Stir the beans steadily. Keep them moving, you want them to roast as evenly as possible. You'll see later in the tutorial that I didn't do so well at this part. It's hard to stir and take pictures at the same time.









The beans will start to change color in a minute or two. This is a good thing. You'll start to see a bit of smoke.









Keep stirring.

You'll start to hear a popping sound. This is called "first crack", and is your first audible indication that the coffee is roasting. This is the sound of the steam splitting the bean open as it expands.









You'll start to see more smoke at this point, so it gets a bit harder to see from these photos, just what is occurring.









The beans will get progressively darker, and you'll see a lot of smoke. Keep stirring. 









At some point, you'll reach "second crack". At this point, you'll have a nice medium roast suitable for drinking. Second crack is faster and quieter than first crack, it sounds like popcorn popping. Keep a close eye on the color at this point. The beans will turn very dark, and begin to look visibly oily. Too much roasting after this, and you'll have charcoal, or Starbucks coffee. 









When the coffee looks like what you'd normally buy, dump the beans into your colander, and stir to cool.









Keep stirring.









It'll take some time for these to cool. Don't burn yourself on the colander, and don't do what I did. I put the colander into the freezer to speed cooling, and managed to spill half of my beans when I took them back out.

Grind(use a burr grinder for best results), and brew. Enjoy!


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## pdx210 (Jan 8, 2010)

I use sweet Maria's

Home Coffee Roasting Supplies - Sweet Maria's

your beans aren't evenly roasted don't take it the wrong way but can i give you a couple tips that helped me ...?

preheat your pan before you add the beans and slowly bring the temp up it should take about 40 minutes to roast beans use a lid most important! as the beads give off steam the steam heats the beans evenly and retards the roast so by the time get to the first crack the beans are at a even temp.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

I never thought of this before, but, would an old-fashioned popcorn popper work for roasting the beans?


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## Fjolnirsson (Mar 13, 2010)

pdx210 said:


> I use sweet Maria's
> 
> Home Coffee Roasting Supplies - Sweet Maria's
> 
> ...


No offense taken at all. I had a really difficult time trying to take pictures and roast at the same time, and I usually roast in a Behmor. I've only done it this way a handful of times, but never had it this uneven.

The tips are very welcome, though! Send me tips, I am always happy to learn more!


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## Fjolnirsson (Mar 13, 2010)

Should have finished reading the post before I replied, the tips are right there, duh!

I will give that a try next time, and let you know how it turns out! 
NaeKid, I have heard of some folks who use exactly what you posted to roast beans.


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