How to Roast Coffee Beans? – Check First & Second Cracks

Coffee is more than a regular drink for 21st-century human beings, It has become an emotion to many. Coffee is quite an enjoyable drink for several reasons- It’s warm, Aromatic, pack with flavors, but it takes huge efforts to get a perfect blend of roast coffee beans. Roasting is essentially bringing your fresh coffee beans to flame and transforming them into what we identify as coffee beans in the usual days. Let us read in detail How to Roast Coffee Beans? Why is it necessary to roast your coffee beans to perfection? Well, One Question, Who doesn’t like a perfect cup of coffee?  

What does the roast mean in coffee?

Waking up in a house where coffee beans are being roasted is considered worldly pleasures by many Americans. Before you enjoy that great cup of Cappuccino or espresso shot, the green coffee beans must be roasted.

This might sound simple but precise roasting of green coffee is crucial. There are people in this roasting business known as Roasters who get a pay solely for their talent in fine-craft of roasting. The green coffee beans which you buy from the market are brought under the flame until beans turn darker and start to smell like actual coffee.

At the end of the day it’s all about personal preferences, many people roast and tune their recipes as they taste the brewed coffee and many coffee houses take opinions of their customers to maintain high-quality control. Brands like Starbucks, Costa have created varieties and their recipe are what they are most valued for.

Be it Light roasting which reveals exotic and interesting flavors to few to Dark roast which is bright, clean and full of sweetness.

What happens during coffee roasting?

Coffee beans go through a variety of processes before landing in your mugs in the morning. This transformation from a raw green bean from the farm process to a finished process is perhaps one of the most complex stages in coffee production. If you didn’t roast coffee, the drink would be bitter and very acidic, making it essentially undrinkable. Roasting gives coffee its unique flavors and aromas.

Chemistry behind roasting

There are about 1000 chemical compounds in the coffee. Among others, Caffeine is the most well-known compound that is responsible for 15% for the taste and coffee’s bitter property. During the process moisture is forced out of the bean, causing it to dry and expand. For all geeks out there, its Chlorogenic Acid which is the ester of phenolic acids; caffeic acid & (-)-quinic acid. The type of brewing method used can also influence the perception of bitterness. During the process, some natural sugars are converted into CO₂ gas while others are caramelized into some of the flavors that help form the complex flavors in the coffee. CO₂ helps to naturally preserve roasted beans by displacing oxygen, Oxygen ruins beans, they become stale. But even CO₂ needs to be in regulated quantity.

Read More: How to Clean and Maintain your Coffee Maker

How to Roast coffee beans?

Coffee is roasted around the world in every country and island because coffee lovers are everywhere. But essentially coffee roasting can be categorized into 2 methodologies: Home Roast and Machine Roast.

Home Roast

Nothing can match the roast coffee beans from a coffee station done by trained baristas. But Home roasting is something which we have done traditionally, home roast also ensures your coffee is fresh and it can have additional customization such as light or dark whatever you prefer.

So how to do it?

Roasting in a pan is the cheapest way to get fresh beans, But you must choose a properly ventilated area because it gets smoky.

1. Let the pan heat for a while and after 10 minutes on medium flame, the pan is ready to begin the process.
2. Add a layer of Beans and keep stirring.
3. Wait for First Crack: It usually comes after 4-5 minutes
4. Second Crack: A few minutes later comes the second crack indicating medium roast
5. Go on until you get your favorite
6. Leave the beans for a few hours to De-gas.
7. You will get your roast coffee beans packed with custom flavors.

You can replace a pan with Oven at home.

Check Top 10 Coffee Makers 2020.

Machine Roast

First and foremost is ventilation because any roasting technique creates a lot of smoke that needs to be expelled out. In case of Roasting machines, there is a lot of creation of hot air and to work it well, it needs to be in a proper environment under open air (if you are operating in large scale)

Professional Roasters have the credibility of giving the same taste every time they perform roasting operations. A good roaster coffee machine will do the same for you, it will be much more consistent than home methods.

Below is the Process:

1. Add beans in the machine: Based on the requirement.
2. Keep Monitoring the process.
3. Listen to First and Second cracks: the Second crack usually marks the end of the process.
4. Allow the gases to vent out for few hours after taking out roasted beans.

Both the Roasts are accompanied by air-tight storage vessels so that no oxygen gets in contact with roasted beans. That is why it is said that you should roast only what is required.

Why roasting the coffee beans is important?

A brewed coffee with unroasted coffee beans will have little to no aroma and also posses a slightly acidic to sour taste rather the roasted coffee. The aromatic caramelizing taste that we all enjoy from coffee beans comes from the particular temperatures and stirrings.

Green coffee or raw coffee will taste grassy, woody and acidic if you brew it, which is more like a tea.

The process to Roast coffee beans

As discussed Roasting is a skill that can be learned and as the development work has advanced the process is getting a basic step by step methodology.

Your exact approach to roasting may vary depending on your chosen methods:

But what never changes is this:

1. Heat the Beans 

2. Roast the Beans 

3. Cool your Beans

4. Beans get delicious

People are roasting coffee in coffee machines as well as at home in pans. They may get different flavors from it ranging on the temperatures, CO₂ levels, and space provided. But these steps hold in both the methods we have discussed here: Home Method and Machine Method.

What are cracks in Roasting?

Typically we can characterize the roasting process by 2 important phases- the First crack and Second crack.

First Crack

When coffee beans are brought into a high-temperature vessel, the first thing which happens is the evaporation of water from green beans. In very few minutes plant compounds begin to decompose and bean turns from green to golden yellow and eventually to light brown. There is a subtle smell of grass. As the temperature rises, the left out water forms steam in the beans and as this steams finds its way out, it pops the bean which gives us our First Crack Stage. The size of coffee beans increase and the coffee roasting machine starts to witness the smell of coffee.

Second Crack

The second phase or the city roast is when due to more heating, the beans start to form some more pressures due to the formation of oxides of carbon, nitrogen and other gases. There is a formation of a shinier looking layer due to the formation of coffee oils pushed out to the surface in this part of the roasting process. Continue roasting for getting darker shades.

In both the steps keep in mind the smell of roast, When it turns golden yellow from green, it should smell grassy. When it starts to roast, they will start to smoke and smell like true coffee.

Coffee Conversations

There is nothing for exciting and intimidating than a conversation over a cup of Coffee. Like they say, “A lot can happen over a cup of Coffee”. Going on a coffee date is the new go-to these days. And unlike most trends, this trend looks like it has settled for the people to enjoy the warmth of coffee to make it the most accepting beverage of the century. How about the most expensive coffee in the world? 

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