Coffee Roasters Bring Out The Beans' Flavor
Whether done a few beans at a time at home or in large commercial processors, coffee roasters are an integral part of the process of getting coffee beans ready for brewing. Green coffee beans have none of the flavor characteristics of the coffee and it is the heating process of the coffee roasters that bring out the acids and oils in the coffee bean and establish the taste. Mostly the roasting temperature and the time during which the beans are roasted determine the flavor of the roasted coffee, referred to as the profile of the bean.
Roasting can take anywhere from a few minutes to up to 30 minutes, after the green coffee beans have been removed from their bag and cleaned of any dirt and dust that may clung to the beans during the drying process. In the early 20th century it was common for people to have coffee roasters in their home but with the invention of vacuum packaging, commercial processors made buying roasted coffee beans more popular.
In some cases, coffee roasters were nothing more than a frying pan placed over the heat with the individual continually stirring the beans to evenly distribute the heat to all of the beans. Another more popular method today is the use of an air popper typically used for pop corn.
Home Roasters Provide Freshest Coffee
Most coffee roasters provide heat ranging from 370 to about 500 degrees and many use horizontal drums to rotate the beans throughout the roasting process. Once the beans have gone through the process, they are once again cleaned and dried before being packaged as whole beans or ground and vacuum packed for sale. Freshly roasted coffee beans remain good for use for about a month while ground coffee begins to lose its flavor in about 24 hours.
People with their own coffee roasters at home will generally create their own preferred profile of the bean and record the roasting time and temperature recipe for their favorite taste. Once it has been established, they will insure the same time and temperature settings are used to achieve consistency in subsequent batches going through their home coffee roasters.
There are some elaborate home coffee roasters controlled by computer with rotating drums for the home coffee brewers who want more control over all aspects of their coffee. Those roasting beans for espresso blends will want some of the oil to remain on the beans while others will want their coffee roasters to complete dry the beans before grinding them prior to each use.
