Home Roasting Your Coffee Beans

You've purchased a coffee bean grinder and an espresso machine, or perhaps even a state-of-the-art, fully-automatic espresso machine. All this time you've been buying pre-ground coffee or espresso pods. If you're serious about being your own barista, maybe it's time to start roasting your own coffee beans.

Roasting your own coffee beans for making an espresso has a few benefits. The first benefit is cost. Typically buying raw beans is less expensive than packaged ground coffee. The difference in price won't be massive, but it's nice to know you're not paying for silly packaging or the salary of the designer that created it. Another benefit of roasting your own beans is freshness. Whole coffee beans have a longer shelf-life than ground coffee. Once the beans have been ground, their shelf-life diminishes quickly, and ideally you'd want to brew coffee immediately after the beans have been ground. If you buy whole coffee beans, you'll be able to choose when they are ground and you will have the freshest espresso possible. Finally, roasting beans at home means you'll have full control over how long you roast the beans. Sure, you can buy ground coffee that is considered "dark roast", but if you do this on your own, you can fine-tune this to your taste.

So, how do you roast coffee beans?

As with type of coffee equipment, there are varying degrees of sophistication when it comes to coffee roasting equipment. If simple is what you prefer, roasting on a stove top with an iron skillet or using a conventional oven is about as simple as it gets. If you go the skillet route, be prepared for some trial and error. It's likely the roast will be uneven, and that you'll have to monitor the color and temperature closely to get the roast you want. It's recommended that you use a thermometer for this. If you're using a gas or convection oven, it's important to use the proper pan. You'll need a pan with perforations that have raised lips to keep the beans raised so they don't burn on one side.

If you're willing to spend some money on a roaster, there are essentially two types to consider. First, the fluid air bed type of roasters use air to churn the beans as they roast much like a popcorn popper. Air is heated then blown through the beans, resulting in a fast and very even roast. The second type of roaster is a drum roaster. The beans are loaded into a drum, and tumble as they are heated. This process is typically slower than fluid air, but is the process most commercial roasters use.

Nick LaShure reviews espresso machines at http://buy-espresso-machine.net

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