Freshly roasted coffee always delights coffee lovers with its lovely aroma and perfect taste that brings great pleasure with every cup. Many experts speculate about how to roast coffee beans.

Putting simply: It’s turning an inedible, flavorless, and aromaless seed into a pleasant, crisp, aromatic coffee bean that we use to make a perfect cup of coffee.

But how does something so tasteless become something so delicious?

You may have always wondered what meshes in big drummed machines! Those are green seeds from coffee cherries, and to create all the required chemical reactions, we have to add adequate heat. It could be simply done by setting the time and temperature and letting the machine do the work for you.

The heat exposure and the phases of the roasting process produce a significant change in the texture of coffee beans and, if not done precisely, can even ruin the coffee.

However, the roasting duration usually determines how a cup of coffee will taste (a sweet, fruity, acidic cup of coffee or a dark, bitter, strong cup of coffee).

The roasting of coffee beans develops 800 to 1000 different aroma compounds, which make the coffee flavor. And with roast profiling, we can track and capture these aroma compounds’ existence to better shape the roasting process in the direction of your desired flavor qualities.

Stroll more to learn and understand about each stage of the process as to how to roast coffee beans.

How to Roast Coffee – Coffee Roasting Process

The coffee Roasting process is nothing but the transformation of different types of coffee beans from green to brown, aromaless to more odorous and tasteless to something delicious.

Evidently, there are many ways to do it, and that affects the flavor. Here, I will discuss the chief principles of a typical coffee roasting process.

Roasting stages

So, here are the main stages that green coffee beans go through to being transformed into brown, delicious, and fragrant coffee beans.

1. DRYING STAGE

The raw coffee beans usually have around 8–12% moisture. Thus it is essential to dry the moist beans before the actual roasting starts. Before loading the first batch of green coffee beans, the coffee roasters are well-preheated. During this stage, the green beans warm-up and the moisture starts to evaporate. 

This part typically requires a large amount of heat and usually lasts 4–8 minutes with an end temperature of 160 ⁰C. However, it is advisable to be careful not to burn the beans by having too much heat at the start.

2. BROWNING STAGE

When the beans are completely dried out, they now start turning brown (sometimes bright yellow before brown). The smell is similar to toasted bread, hay, or cooked rice and the aroma precursors start converting into aroma compounds.

The browning is caused due to the Maillard reaction, where reducing sugars and amino acids react to make hundreds of different aroma and color compounds, also known as melanoids. The browning inside the beans tends the beans to expand and to shed a thin papery skin known as the chaff.

Now is the stage when the roasting eventually slows down, which is considered to be beneficial to ensure rich flavor development. 

At the end of the browning stage, the coffee starts to pop and it is called the first crack where the development stage starts.

3.  FIRST CRACK

Once the first crack stage has been reached, the coffee beans will audibly pop or crack and slightly get puffed up due to the build-up gases and water vapor inside the beans.

The roasting has been done adequately; that coffee beans could be used to make coffee. However, the roaster may continue a little longer.

If you were to produce lightly roasted coffee, the roasting is stopped upon the first crack stage and you’ll enjoy the real flavor of the bean at this point. However, the acidity will be comparatively higher and you may have a lot of sourness when making an espresso.

4. DEVELOPMENT STAGE

Here comes the art of coffee roasting with the complete revelation of the roaster’s opinion. The development time or the roasting after the first time depends upon the level of roast we are aiming for. 

For example, the coffee will be smoky-tasting and sharp-flavored, if we do not slow down the roast at the development stage.

• For light roasts: The development ends right after the first crack. 
• For medium roasts: The development time will be longer by a few minutes. 
• For espresso and dark roasts: Keep the beans inside the drum right before or just after the second crack.

Various terms are used to describe the roast level during this phase: from “cinnamon” to “city” to “full city”. 

4. SECOND CRACK

Once the beans cross the development stage, they begin to crack again, but with a quieter crackly sound. The beans are now darker and the oils start migrating from inside to the outer surface making the beans look a lot shinier. 

Beyond this stage (second crack) is the French or Italian roast stage. The pure and unique flavor of the coffee is missing and the bitterness is high because the coffee has actually been burnt.

5. COOLING 

Once you roast coffee beans and complete the process, the coffee will be cooled quickly down to about room temperature. “Quickly” is the key here, because if the coffee stays warm too long it can dull the original flavor. 

Hence, remove the coffee from the roasting chamber to the collection jar as soon as possible in order to keep that coffee tasting fresh.

How does Coffee Roasting Export Process happen at Coffee Beans Africa?

Every coffee has its own story to tell. The soil, culture, and people play an important role in coffee production, which is reflected in the taste. Our job at Coffee Beans Africa is to help you choose the best out of different types of coffee beans and deliver it to you. The following image reflects the export process of our roasted coffee.

Conclusion

By all appearances, roasting coffee beans is a skill and a never never-ending journey that takes practice and experience. Learning more about the beans and roast profiles for coffee characteristics always tends to be fruitful for exceptional flavor outcomes. 

At Coffee Bean Africa, our mission is to produce and harvest coffee with love and care so that you experience the same love in every sip of your coffee.