Gold Tips

If you have every tried to make wine at home you will know how difficult it is, thankfully roasting coffee beans at home is much easier than making wine - and the results are often so good than no-one would know they have been roasted at home.

There is a wide choice of roasters available.  Everyday kitchen equipment such as popcorn maker or frying pans can be used.  The most important thing is to make sure the equipment is clean.  Left over butter or oils could really affect the taste of the coffee.

Dark roasts contain a little less caffeine than lighter roasts, but they lack the acid taste of the latter. Be sure to start with quality beans, of course!

The beans will need to heat to between 460F (223C) and 530F (262C), so be prepared for some smoke. That’s easily taken care of with a small room fan or stove top exhaust. Beyond the smoke there will be an odor, so your first experiments should probably be done with the windows open and no one home.

Turn up the heat and get those beans in the roaster!  (You may need to disable your fire alarms for a short while).

For some roasters, the thermometer is built-in, but you may want to have an extra for when it’s open, or for those frying pan experiments. Candy making thermometers work well for the purpose.

How strong you like your roast depends how long you let the beans roast.  The beans start out green, then turn yellow then brown.  The darker brown the bean the darker your roast.

As the bean begins to get hot, pressure will build up on the surface of the bean and after a while you will hear a loud crack as the bean bursts.  This should happen around four to seven minutes after your begin roasting the beans.  This sound is normal so don’t be alarmed.  Just remember to keep stirring the beans so they don’t stick and get burnt. 

Caramelization of the sugars inside the beans will take place as the roasting continues.  The degree of caramelization is a personal tastes so remember to keep stirring and checking the beans every 30 seconds.

If you roast the beans for a quite a while you will hear a loud second crack.  The beans will now be quite dark a too harsh for some people.  If you were to continue with the roasting at this stage you would just be burning the beans and the result would be to bitter to drink.

Transfer the beans to a metal colander, then agitate them.  The reason you need to agitate the beans is to remove the fine skin ‘chaff’ that results from roasting.  Once this skin is removed the beans are ready to use.

Roasting is a trial process.  You will need to try a few batches with different roasting times before you find your perfect roast to get the perfect flavour from your coffee.  It may be an idea to remove the beans for the heat a little early as the heat within the bean will mean they still continue to cook for a little while after you have removed them from the heat.

A cost iron skillet is great for roasting the beans on a stove top.  When using a popcorn maker make sure you have a style that allows you to stir then beans so they don’t stick and burn.  Remember to keep watching and stirring the beans.  Roasting coffee beans is very fast!