Roasting Coffee Beans at Home

There are two types of home coffee bean roasters available, the heat drum and fluid bed. The fluid bed roasters are the most popular because they are to clean and maintain, and are relatively inexpensive.

Roasting beginners love the fluid bed type roaster because they are easy to use. The average roasting time is between seven and twenty minutes. The roasting chambers are made of glass, which is pretty nifty because you can watch the roasting process take place, then stop the machine when the coffee beans have reached your desired doneness. A batch of roasted beans yields between 8 – 20 cups, this of course depends if you want a light roast or a deep dark roast. 

Models like FreshRoasts, Hearthware I-Roast, or Zach and Dani’s range in price from seventy dollars to one-hundred and seventy dollars. A good point to remember about these roasters is that they are not made for commercial use, so read all the operation instructions very carefully. There is a set cool down period between roasting processes as to not damage the roaster, or cause voltage problems in your house. It is also a good idea to roast your coffee beans under some kind of ventilation system, all roaster exude a certain amount of smoke, therefore it is just a safe practice to do so.  A If you drink lots of coffee and enjoy roasting your own coffee beans then the Bravi model is the machine for you as it has a higher roasting capacity and is more closely related to the commercial type models.

The roasting process itself is a relatively easy procedure.  Coffee bean roasters contain three working components, the chaff collector, roasting chamber, and the heated base. Depending on the size of your roasting chamber bean portions will vary. Place the coffee beans in the roasting chamber, replace the chaff collector, set your timer to desired cooking time, remove the chaff collector, carefully lift out the roasting chamber as it will still be hot, dump your beans into a bowl, Let set to room temperature, then package the coffee beans in an airtight container for later use.

Roasting coffee beans at home is fun, inexpensive, and let’s you grind and experiment with your own blends. Just what every coffee fanatic needs.