Roasting coffee for a home or commercial business will be a learning experience. Anyone new to the process will want to understand the proper length of time to keep beans roasting. Once you have that down, you can get more specific about matching flavor profiles of green coffee beans to the proper roast times. Here are different stages of roasting to identify:
- Green to yellow. When you start heating the beans, you will notice a grassy smell and the green beans you started with become lighter in color (almost yellow).
- Steaming. Like other agricultural products, green coffee beans hold onto a certain amount of water. Once the beans are roasted for a while, most of this water will evaporate, typically 15% by weight.
- First crack. The popping sound you hear after the steaming stage is known as the first crack. The beans are expanding rapidly, becoming porous, and the cell walls are breaking down under internal steam pressure. First crack usually occurs when the beans reach 180C (350F). Once that happens, the green coffee beans that you started with are something different entirely. Sugars and oils move from within the bean to the surface and the color changes to a chocolatey brown. Light roasts (e.g., Light City or Half City) can stop a minute or so after first crack.
- Caramel coloring. Beyond the first crack, more sugars caramelize and the stage of darker roasts begins. Ending the roast at this point gives you a Breakfast Roast or a City Roast.
- Second crack. The second time you hear a popping sound is usually softer and more rapid than the first. It is known as the second crack. Once you have reached this point, oils from within the bean will show outside the bean. Vienna Roasts and Full City Roasts end here.
- French roast. If you continue roasting beyond the second crack, you are creating the darkest roasts possible. Beans become very dark brown (even black) and oils cover the outside. Once you have entered this stage of roasting, you should be careful not to burn the beans. Anything beyond this point will yield undrinkable coffee.
Whether you want a Light City or French Roast, start with the best green coffee beans for sale offered at Sonofresco.com and use them within a week or two of roasting. Sonofresco offers the highest quality coffee beans and the state of the art roasting equipment worldwide. To shop and peruse our website please visit www.Sonofresco.com or please contact us at (866) 271-7666 with any questions.
