“No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee’s frothy goodness.” ~Sheik Abd-al-Kadir
Amen to that, Sheik — and the Truth shall set us free. In this post we’ll take a look at green beans for roasting (we liked the Sheik’s Quote so much, we’ve put it on our set of 4, stackable Coffee Mugs Set — perfect for the coffee nuts in your life).
Prior to roasting, most coffee beans are green.
Actually we’re nuts about most roasts, but but in this case… you do it yourself, and so discover the ultimate truth about your skills.
Green Coffee Beans for Roasting
Green Beans: Before coffee beans are roasted‚ they‚ are green. You can buy them green too, and roast them at home — some people even do this with popcorn poppers. We have an article about roasting, plus a coffee roasting book section to guide you (look for Home Coffee Roasting by Kenneth David). For more professional roasters, see the see Roasting Machines: Coffee Roasters, category. Two important points — the length of time you roast the beans, and the heat at which you do so. Then, of course, you may select from a wide variety of beans themselves — just take a look through our Green Beans shop.
Selecting Green Beans: here you need to know your coffee beans in terms of the flavors they are likely to produce. We say “likely” because if you don’t roast well, you can kill some of the flavor — hey, it’s a learning curve. But a fun learning curve. Generally you can go by what you already know of different bean flavors: Columbian is rich but not too strong, Sumatra is deeper and stronger, etc. Take a look at our overview of coffees here. Another good move is to try the Coffee Bean Direct, Green Bean Sampler. You’ll see it in our Green Bean store.
So… this could be the start of something big, huh? You know what Donald Trump says, “Think big and kick ass.” Of course, when you roast your coffee yourself, you can just “Drink big and kick back.” And that’s our own coffee nut hut truth. Please leave comments here about how the home roasting turns out.
Be sure to write and tell us (use the comments section below) about your favorite coffee experience, and the “truth” of your roast. We will pick a winner each month and send you some beans so you can enjoy more coffee funk.