As coffee has become everyone's daily life, it is not difficult for us to learn a lot of new and comprehensive knowledge about coffee through video software. In addition to studying how to brew and taste the flavor, many friends have begun to develop a strong interest in coffee bean roasting.
But many friends just buy green coffee beans on impulse and don’t know how to roast them later. Based on the actual experience of FrontStreet Coffee, let me introduce to you how to roast coffee beans at home.
The difference in taste of coffee beans roasted
When baking at home, you must use low heat at the beginning and adjust it slowly later. No matter what adding tool is used, stir the coffee beans constantly! At the same time, pay attention to the color change of the coffee beans! If the color of the coffee beans changes rapidly, but this change is not overall, this situation indicates that the fire is too high or the stirring frequency is not enough. If you feel that the mixing aspect is already good, there is no possibility of improving it. This shows that the fire is indeed too big! When this happens, you should immediately turn down the heat and remove the pot at the same time, so that the temperature in the pot will drop quickly! After lowering, place it on the stove with adjusted heat and continue to heat and stir-fry.
If the color of the coffee beans does not change for a long time (3, 5, 10 minutes, or even longer), the fire is too low. In this case, the firepower should be appropriately increased. The color of the coffee beans slowly changes, and the change is overall and uniform, which means you have a good grasp of the heat! In this case, pay attention to the color of the coffee beans and listen to the sound of the coffee popping.
As the roasting continues, the color of the beans slowly turns from light green at first to yellow, then to brown, brown, and finally black. During this process, the coffee beans burst from yellow to brown. However, this bursting process is very short and sometimes not obvious. Sometimes it ends in 3-5 sounds. This is the first burst.
There is a burst during the process of turning brown into brown. This burst lasts for 2-3 minutes or even longer. The frequency of the sound is very high, crackling like firecrackers! This is the second burst. The second burst is very easy to detect. Generally, the second burst has just begun, which means that about 10 sounds are heard. At this time, the fire ceases, and the beans obtained are medium roasted - all city roasted.
Characteristics of the beans: The bean noodles are dry, not oily or slightly oily, and there are tiny black spots on the brown bean body! The roasting of the beans is deepening as the second cracking sound continues. When there is no sound at all, which means the second cracking is over, the beans are basically black and heavily carbonized.
Of course, this is also a roasting style, and many people like this burnt taste! Generally speaking, beans are roasted normally from golden to dark in the later stages. You can stop the fire at any time in the middle and you can drink the coffee you get! As for when to stop the fire, it depends on your preference!
Generally speaking, the deeper the degree of roasting of coffee beans, the stronger the bitterness, the worse the coffee taste, and the lower the nutritional value. Fully carbonized beans are indeed unique in flavor, but they really don’t have much nutritional value! So I don’t recommend roasting them to this level! !
What tools do you use to roast coffee beans at home?
Recommendation-Specialized tumbler for roasting coffee beans
It is recommended to use a tumbler because it is closer to the way coffee beans are used in a roaster. When using a roaster to roast coffee beans, the coffee beans actually enter a drum, and then the machine will set a fixed speed of 60-65 cycles/minute (the speed can be adjusted according to the different states of different coffee beans), so that the coffee beans in the drum can be heated more evenly, ensuring the uniformity of the final product of the coffee beans.
According to the personal experience of FrontStreet Coffee baristas, when using a tumbler to roast coffee beans, you need to pay attention to two points: Roast over low heat, otherwise the coffee beans will easily change color on the outside and be uncooked on the inside; after turning on the fire and adjusting the fire size, put the tumbler on and turn it immediately, with a speed of 60-65 turns/minute.
Roasting using a tumbler takes more than twice as long as using a dedicated roaster. For example, FrontStreet Coffee uses Yang's 800n roaster to roast red bourbon coffee beans from the Cerrado region in Brazil. The first cracking time is 3:30, and the roasting time is medium-dark, with a total roasting time of 13 minutes.
This is the Brazilian Cerato coffee beans roasted and sold by FrontStreet Coffee using professional machines.
When using a tumbler to bake, the total baking time is 31 minutes. During this period, the cage has to be rotated continuously (60 turns/minute). If it stops/slows down, it will be easily confused...it can be said to be quite labor-intensive.
This is the same type of coffee beans roasted by FrontStreet Coffee baristas at home using a tumbler
Although roasting coffee beans at home is tiring, you can clearly and intuitively feel that the coffee beans slowly turn from green green beans to yellow, exuding a sweetness like corn, then slowly turn into the color of cinnamon, exuding the taste of caramel, and then slowly turn into chocolate color, exuding the taste of roasted nuts.
2. The simplest and most original way - pan frying
Every household has a pot for daily cooking and stir-frying. In the long time before professional baking machines existed, coffee was roasted in a pot. Of course, coffee roasted in a pot cannot be compared with coffee produced by a professional coffee roaster.
The biggest reason is that during the stir-frying process, the coffee beans cannot be rolled evenly in the pot, so the coffee beans are heated unevenly. But the important thing is to participate! During the stir-frying process, we can always see the process of the coffee beans changing from green to chocolate. No matter how the final coffee tastes, it is a great experience.
When frying coffee beans in a pot, you must first clean the pot used to fry coffee and remove the grease on it. Household pots used for cooking for a long time must have a lot of residual grease on them. So be sure to clean it before roasting coffee! Generally, wash the pot and boil the water on it to dry it, then add water to boil it, pour out the water and then boil it to dry it! Repeat this 1-2 times.
Just heat until the water on the pot surface is dry and there is no obvious grease! Turn on the heat and when the surface of the pot is dry and there is no moisture, add green coffee beans! The amount should not be too much, 100-200 grams is appropriate! As for using electricity, gas or other heat sources, it doesn’t matter. The key is to control the heat! This can be compared to other roasted seeds and fried foods. The entire process requires moderate and stable heat.
3. Not recommended, but you can try an electric oven
Many people may choose an electric oven. The oven generally cannot stir the beans inside at all times, if this is the case. It is recommended not to roast too many beans at a time. At the same time, do not overlap or stack the beans, that is to say, spread the beans in one layer on the plate. Then take it out and stir it regularly according to the color change to ensure that the coffee beans are heated evenly.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
