Coffee Roasting Information

Coffee roasting is the art and science of roasting the green coffees at approximately 400 degrees. Although sounding simple, roasting and blending are two of the most important aspects of creating a great gourmet coffee.

The roasting process caramelizes the sugars and carbohydrates in the beans creating an oil-like substance which gives the coffee its flavor and aroma. The longer the coffee is roasted, the darker and more oily its appearance becomes.

Grades of coffee roasting

Grades of coffee roasting are unroasted (or "green"), light, cinnamon, medium, high, city, full city, French and Italian. Depending on the color of the roasted beans, they will be labeled as light, cinnamon, medium, high, city, full city, French or Italian roast.

Cinnamon
The bean is light brown, and dry (no oil visible). The flavor is baked or bready, like toasted grain. There will likely be definite sour tones. There is not much body in cinnamon roasted coffee.

New England
A term not as frequently used as the others, though this roast is apparently common in the eastern United States. It's a little darker than the cinnamon roast, but without the grainy flavor. New England roast will still have some sour tones to it.

American, Light
Medium light brown beans. This roast is the norm for eastern USA. This roast (and sometimes cinnamon as well) is the most often used for cupping or professional tasting.

City, Medium
The color is darker still, more of a medium brown (think chocolate). This roast is common in the western parts of the USA. This roast is a good choice to taste the differences between varietals.

Full City
Medium dark brown beans. The beans will start to show some oily drops on the surface with this roast. Full City will have caramel or chocolate undertones.

French, Espresso
Beans are starting to get dark brown, and French roasted beans are shiny with oil. There is less acidity, but with burned undertones. This roast is often used when making Espresso. Many people think this is the darkest roast available, but that's not true.

Italian, Dark French
Similar to regular French, but more so. Darker and oilier looking, and with a stronger burned flavor.

Spanish
Darkest roast of all. Color is nearly black, and the flavor is flat with a charcoal undertone.

Roasting Equipment

The two most common types of coffee roasting equipment are the drum type machines and the hot air roasters.

The drum machines roast the coffee as it is tumbled in a rotating drum.

The hot air machines, also known as fluid bed roasters, roasts the coffee as it tumbles on a current of hot air.

Both machines keep the coffee moving to maintain a consistent and even roast.

The Roasting Process

When bean temperature reaches 200°C (392°F), the actual roasting begins

The First 9 Minutes:

Once the coffee roasting begins, at just 3 minutes, the beans emanate a grassy fragrance. At about 5 minutes, the beans begin to swell and change colors from green to yellow and then gold. It is now that the smell changes to that of toasted wheat. At about 9 minutes, the coffee begins to wrinkle and look ruined.

The First Pop:

Around 10 minutes, gasses build up in the beans causing them to swell to about double their original size and then rupture. This rupture releases the gas and can be heard in the roaster kind of like popcorn.

The swelling smoothes out the surface of the bean and then it begins to even out in color to a very light brown. This is the lightest roast and is referred to as cinnamon roast.

The Second Pop:

After about 11 minutes, the color changes to a darker brown known as full city. At around 12 minutes the color and aroma of the coffee begin to change very rapidly. Just as in the first pop, the gasses build up and burst creating a second pop.

The Dark Roasts:

At around 15 minutes the coffee beans now look very dark. A little bit more and we finally come to the darkest roast, the French roast. It is important to note that this has nothing to do with where the beans come from, just how much the beans are roasted. In Europe, this is sometimes known as the Italian or Espresso roast.

Darker roasts are generally smoother, because they have less fiber content and a more sugary flavor.

At whatever stage the roaster decides to stop roasting, the beans are poured out onto a cooling vat which stirs the beans to quickly cool them in order to stop the cooking.

After the beans are roasted, they begin to give off vapors for about a day or two. When this is complete the coffee will be at its optimal flavor. Quality roasters will package the freshly roasted coffee in special bags that are air tight and have one-way valves to let these vapors escape.

It is important to note that the freshness of coffee has to do with when it was roasted not when it was harvested. When the internal temperature of the bean reaches 205°C (400°F), other oils will start to develop. One of these oils is caffeol, created at about 200°C (392°F), which is largely responsible for coffee's aroma and flavor.

After roasted coffee has been exposed to air, the flavor will begin to deteriorate extremely fast. In fact, a huge portion of the flavor is lost in just 7 to 10 days!

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