Fresh Roasted Coffee Beans
Just the mere mention of fresh roasted Gourmet Coffee Beans is enough to capture the attention of any gourmet coffee lover. This is simply because there is no substitute whatsoever for freshly roasted and ground coffee beans.
Roasting Process
The process of coffee bean roasting is quite an art and most coffee lovers know exactly how they want their coffee roasted. It can range from a Light Roast, to Medium Roast to Dark Roast. It is the process of roasting that transforms the uninteresting green coffee beans to the passionately flavored coffees of the world.
Coffee roasting changes both the physical and the chemical properties of coffee beans and brings out the flavors trapped within. The green coffee beans first expand and then go on to change its color. The smell and the taste as well as density are also changed in roasting. Acids, caffeine and proteins are present in both unroasted coffee beans and roasted ones. The only difference is the flavor and taste that is present in the roasted coffee beans.
Small Batch Roasting
Coffee gives the best flavors when it is freshly roasted and therefore should ideally be roasted in small batches to reduce loss of flavor and taste. This is the reason that gourmet coffee lovers choose to roast their own coffee beans afresh. This way they can ensure the exact time to stop roasting and seal in the maximum flavor possible.
Commercial Verses Home Roasting
The process of roasting coffee beans entails sorting of the green beans, roasting and thereafter cooling of the beans. When this is done on a large scale the green beans are dumped into a hopper to remove debris, and then conveyed to a storage hopper from where it reaches the roaster. Roasting can take anywhere from three to thirty minutes and is usually done in rotating drums.
Home roasting for personal consumption has its own followers and has been the way that coffee was enjoyed for centuries before coffee houses came into being.
Roast Profile
Whether it is large scale roasting or home roasting there is a recipe that is followed for the process which is known as the ‘roast profile’. It is according to this that the flavor, taste and aroma are highlighted and varies with the coffee’s origin and variety.
Cooling & Degassing Roasted Coffee Beans
As the roasting process finishes the coffee beans are cooled using either a vacuum system or a fine water mist known as ‘quenching’. Air cooling is certainly the superior way to cool the roasted beans as quenching can sometimes make the coffee stale.
After the cooling process is finished the beans are stabilized or degassed. This is to enable the carbon dioxide that is generated during roasting to escape and can take a few days. Then the beans are ready to be packaged as necessary and will keep fresh for about one month. The moment coffee is ground it has to be used for the best results.
Coffee’s “Origin Flavor”
The coffee bean turns yellow and then brown in deepening shades as it is roasted and often has oil that appears on the surface making it shiny. The coffee will show its ‘origin flavor’ when it is lightly roasted and this depends on the weather conditions, climate and soil it was grown in. Distinct flavors such as Jamaican Blue Mountain, Java and Hawaiian Kona are good examples of this.
As the beans are subjected to a darker roast other flavors created by the roasting comes out. Roasting continues as long as the heat source is there and thus it should be removed at the proper time to ensure the taste and flavor that is required.
“Roasting Gourmet Coffee Beans”
courtesy of your online coffee bean store;
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