How To Roast Your Own Coffee At Home

One of the best ways you could ever hope to enjoy coffee is by roasting it yourself. When you roast coffee at home, you guarantee that every cup of coffee you make will be fresh and, with a little practice, you can ensure that it is roasted exactly to your taste. 

We’re strong advocates for home roasting – we love it! We’ve seen countless people intending to try it just once, only to become home roasting addicts. It’s a passion for lifelong learning with never-ending surprises and satisfaction. Enjoy the best-tasting coffee in your home by following our simple guide.   

    

Step 1. Buy un-roasted green beans

You'll first need to pick up a few pounds of raw coffee beans, which look like tinier greener versions of their fully roasted selves. You can buy these beans off our website directly from the farm.  

Keep in mind when ordering that while the beans will increase in size as they're roasted, they'll also lose about half their weight, so if you want to end up with half a kilogram of roasted beans buy one kilogram of raw. Every raw bean will give you its own subtle flavour characteristics as well, so do some research to make sure you're picking something you'll like. 

Step 2. Round up the equipment

You can roast coffee in any of the following types of equipment as per the availability:

  1. Roast in a pan/grill
  2. Roast in an oven
  3. Roast in an air fryer
  4. Roast in a purpose-built home coffee roaster

Roasting in a pan or oven is the cheapest way to get fresh beans. For their simplicity and consistency, you can choose either an air fryer or a purpose-built coffee roaster. 

Step 3. Start roasting

The four steps of the roasting process:

  1. Beans get hot
  2. Beans get roasted
  3. Beans get cool
  4. Beans get delicious

  • Temperature: 350F to 500F is the widely accepted temperature range. This varies depending on the method you’re using.
  • Agitation: Your beans can never rest and roast! Constant stirring ensures an even distribution of heat, and thus an even roast.
  • First Crack: After 3 to 5 minutes the beans will produce an audible crack. This crack indicates that your beans are lightly roasted and ideal for white coffee. This is the minimum amount of time required to produce roasted beans. Continue roasting and agitating for darker roasts.

Step 4. Pull them out once they're dark enough

  • Second Crack: After a few more minutes another crack is heard. This crack indicates a medium roast. A few more minutes of roasting and your beans will be burnt and unusable. Experiment with times to find your favourite roast.
  • Tip: We usually wait roughly 30 seconds after hearing the second crack.

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    Step 5. Cool beans

  • Cool Down: Transfer beans to a metal colander or baking paper to cool. Use two metal colanders (plastic can melt). Shake and transfer your roasted beans between colanders. This cools the beans quickly and removes the chaff.
    Spread evenly over the baking paper to substitute for a metal colander. This method is not as effective.
  • Remove Chaff: Chaff is the dried husk of the coffee bean. It is very messy. Cool your beans down outside or in the sink to reduce clean-up.

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    Step 6. Let them breathe, then start the brew

    Pro tip: Brew within 5 days for ultimate freshness

    Once it's nice and cool, your beans are ready for grinding and brewing. You can transfer the leftover beans to an airtight container for storage. 

     

    Happy Roasting! Do reach out to us if you need any help with roasting the green beans.

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