How To Dry Roast Your Coffee Beans At Home: What’s better than learning how to dry roasted coffee beans? It’s a rhetorical question because, for us, nothing beats learning how to dry roast your coffee beans at home.
Understanding the roasting process broadens your appreciation for the art and the science that goes into pouring the perfect cup of coffee. Home roasting also ensures that your coffee is as fresh as possible, and the roast is as light or dark as you prefer.
How to do it in a pan
Roasting coffee in a pan is similar to roasting nuts. Heat the pan to 200-220 degrees and then distribute the green coffee beans. It is essential to stir the beans repeatedly (at least every 30 seconds) to be evenly roasted from all sides. After about 5 to 10 minutes, the beans begin to crack and steam.
Since there will be some slight smoke, you should, at this point, switch on the ventilation and open the window. After about 17 minutes, the second crackling of the beans will happen.
That means that the pan can be removed from the stove. The roasting time can, of course, be shortened or extended depending on the aroma and flavour you want to get. To cool down, transfer the beans to a dry, cold container.
Roast coffee in the oven
Preheat the oven to 200-220 degrees. Spread a layer of green coffee beans evenly on a clean baking sheet. The coffee beans mustn’t be on top of each other. Also, remember that the beans get bigger during roasting. When the oven has reached the desired temperature, put the tray with the beans inside.
The roasting process takes between 12 and 20 minutes – depending on the desired degree of roast and colour you want. After about 5 -7 minutes, the first beans will start to crack softly (sound similar to popcorn).
The roasting process is in full swing, and the beans turn brown. The oven should not be opened during roasting because otherwise, the temperature drops. Stirring the beans is unnecessary if you switch on the circulating air in your oven.
If you can’t turn it on, you must stir your beans. So they can evenly roast on every side. Once the desired roast has been achieved, remove the roasted beans from the oven and cool them down as quickly as possible in a dry, cold container.
Cooling period
For the coffee to develop its full aroma, we recommend letting the finished roasted beans rest for at least 1 to 2 days after roasting. If you use a pan or a baking tray, after roasting, you will need to leave the beans in a suitable tray or container to cool off.
On the other hand, coffee roasting machines already include the necessary cooling cycle to leave the grains ready for consumption. It would help if you remembered that once roasted, coffee beans should be kept in a secure, cool, and dry place and consumed in less than a year.
From green coffee to roast
Anyone who wants to roast coffee at home should have basic knowledge of the coffee bean. Green coffee is stable for up to two years but loses its freshness after a year. To get one kilogram of roasted coffee, on average, five kilograms of coffee cherries are needed, which is about 4 thousand coffee cherries or about 8 thousand coffee beans.
It is possible to divide the roasting process of coffee into several phases. During the roasting process, coffee beans lose weight, and they become voluminous.
The density of the roasted coffee bean is reduced to 1/3 of the original raw bean. The second phase is the first and the second crack of the beans. And the third is the cooling down period, where roasting continues from 12 to 72 hours. During this process, the beans get their final flavour.
