If you love fresh coffee, consider roasting your own coffee beans at home.
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Nothing beats the smell of fresh coffee, and nothing compares to the taste of good coffee.
Being able to roast your own coffee will not only give you the freshest coffee possible, but also endless green coffee experimentation with different recipes. All this can be done by you from the comfort of your home.
Table of Contents
- Coffee Roasting Basics
- What is First Crack?
- 8 Levels of Coffee Roasting
- The Coffee Roasting Process
- How to Roast Coffee at Home (7 Steps!)
Coffee Roasting Basics
Coffee roasting is a heating process that transforms coffee beans from green to brown.
When roasting coffee, coffee beans are brought up to a specific internal temperature depending on the desired roast profile, which is a set of parameters that are defined by temperature and roasting time.
Coffee beans undergo dramatic thermal and chemical reactions during the roasting process and cause changes in color, flavor, and nutritional content.
What is First Crack?
First crack refers to the moment when coffee beans begin to approach edibility and marking the beginnings of lighter roast at approximately 385 ºF.
The coffee beans will produce a cracking sound which is similar to popcorn popping and normally takes about 7-9 minutes to hit the first crack.
8 Levels of Coffee Roasting
- Cinnamon Roast (Light Roast) – 385 ºF
Relatively dry beans with a light brown color and have no surface oil. Cinnamon roast coffee usually has a delicate and acidic flavor along with floral and fruit notes.
- City Roast (Medium Roast) – 400-405 ºF
Medium roast coffee is brown and has a smoother appearance compared to light roast. This roast has a medium acidity and body, as well as a more balanced and rounded flavor profile.
- City+ Roast (Medium Roast) – 410-415 ºF
City+ roast has the same flavor characteristics as a City roast but is roasted at a higher temperature. It is slightly darker in color and has a heavier body.
- Full City Roast (Medium Dark Roast) – 415-420 ºF
Full City roast further intensifies the unique character of the coffee beans and results in deeper fruit flavors and nutty overtones. The coffee beans are mostly dry, with random patches of oil.
- Full City+ Roast (Medium Dark Roast) – 420-425 ºF
Full City+ roast is distinguished by its deep brown color. This is the lightest of the dark roast bringing out a full-bodied cup of coffee with a strong and bold aroma.
- Vienna Roast (Dark Roast) – 430-445 ºF
Vienna roast starts to look more grey-black than brown, with spots of oil on the surface and a more bittersweet flavor profile. It is aromatic with flavor notes of dark chocolate, brown sugar, and roasted nuts.
- French Roast (Darker Roast) – 464 ºF
This is on the darker end of the scale and possesses an intense and smoky-sweet flavor, toasty but never burnt. Darker roast coffee usually has an oily surface and brings multiple rich layers of flavors within a classic cup, especially if you need a strong cup in the morning.
- Italian / Spanish Roast (Darkest Roast) – 473 ºF
This darkest roast has a nearly black color and a shiny surface as the internal oil has moved to the bean’s exterior during the process.
This roast takes on a more burnt and smoky flavor than lighter roasts, which is the perfect candidate for milk-based coffee drinks like lattes, cappuccinos, cortados, and etc.
The Coffee Roasting Process
There are several ways to roast coffee at home. The process is simple, which requires a heating element to turn green unroasted coffee beans into brown roasted coffee that you can use for brewing.
You can roast in a home coffee roaster, a popcorn popper, or you can even roast coffee in a skillet or oven.
Today, I am going to roast coffee using my rotisserie oven paired with a roaster drum.
The process is pretty straightforward, but a good working thermometer is essential in monitoring the temperature of your coffee beans to prevent them from roasting too far and giving you the most accurate degree of roast.
How to Roast Coffee at Home
Step 1: Pick your beans.
These are ½ pound of Brazilian green coffee beans. I will go with City+ roast and aim for 410-415 ºF.
Step 2: Preheat the oven and put beans into the roaster.
Preheat the oven for 9 minutes. Put green coffee beans into the roaster drum and close the lid.
Step 3: Begin the roasting process.
Load green coffee beans in and set the timer for 11 minutes to begin the roasting process.
Step 4: Listen for first crack, then turn off the oven.
Monitor the temperature, watch and listen for first crack. Then turn the oven off once the desired temperature is reached.
Step 5: Cool the beans.
Turn on “No Heat Rotation” for 5 minutes. This function will let them cool down and also help remove chaff.
Step 6: Remove roasted coffee beans from the drum and remove residual.
Remove roasted coffee beans from the drum and transfer them to a metal colander to further cool them off.
You can use a fan to remove any residual chaff. This is a very messy job, so please do it outside or in the sink to minimize clean up.
Step 7: Let the roasted beans degas.
Don’t brew your coffee straight away but give the roasted beans at least three days to degas. Degassing lets carbon dioxide release from roasted coffee and keeps oxygen out.
Home roasting is fun and enjoyable, but the skills can be difficult to master. You might not pull it off on your first roast, but you should be able to consistently roast decent batches with some practice.
While the steep learning curve may be discouraging at first, the gratification of having the most flavorful cup of coffee every morning will make it all worthwhile.
Happy roasting!
