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| Green Coffee Beans | |
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 Menu |
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| Growing | |
| Harvesting | |
| Processing | |
| Roasting at home | |
| Stovetop | |
| Oven | |
| Popcorn Air Popper | |
| Degrees of Roast | |
| Caffeine | |
Actually most processed, dried coffee beans are
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Growing
COFFEE ARABICA - The Arabica species
is the sole source of fine specialty coffee. Arabica trees are delicate, more expensive to
cultivate and probably most important, grow at higher altitudes. All other things being
equal, the higher the altitude at which the tree is grown, the finer the quality of the
coffee will be. The Arabica bean is harder and denser than the Robusta bean, has a far
superior flavor, and has the wonderful aroma that we associate with coffee. (It is illegal
to grow Robusta coffee in Costa Rica.)
Arabica coffee beans originated in Ethiopia. They were brought to Europe in the 15th century and eventually reached the Caribbean in the 1720s. Costa Ricans first started cultivating coffee in 1790.
Coffee beans are called "El
Grano de Oro" or "the Golden Bean" in Costa Rica. When a coffee tree is
ready to bear fruit it will first put forth clusters of white flowers which look and smell
like jasmine. Unfortunately, these beautiful flowers only last a few days. After they
wither and fall, small green cherries appear which take anywhere from six to nine months
to ripen and become red.
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Harvesting
During the harvest season a coffee tree produces a maximum of three to five
pickings. The coffee cherries rarely ripen all at the same time, but the most abundant
quantity of perfectly ripe cherries are available at the center picking. This center
picking is the best, producing the most exquisite and beautifully ripe cherries.
Picking excellent coffee is a highly labor intensive process. All the cherries must be hand-picked and the picker must be very selective as to not include twigs, leaves, blossoms, or unripe cherries. Only mature, ripe fruit will yield a high quality coffee. This is the key to the quality of the coffee.
The average yield of a mature coffee tree is
2000 cherries. Coincidentally, it takes about 2000 hand-picked cherries to produce 1 lb of
roasted coffee. This entire harvesting and picking process only happens once a year.
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Processing
Throughout the processing and milling stage, the coffee is graded and
separated several times .
The freshly picked coffee cherries are transported to the mill within hours of being picked. It is extremely important that the coffee picked during the day is processed that same evening. The optimum flavors are developed within this time frame.
Most coffee uses "washing", which means that the outer skin, pulp, and fruit is removed to reveal the coffee bean within.
Once at the mill, the ripe cherries are passed through a pulping machine that squeezes out the two coffee seeds. Each cherry has two coffee beans inside. The process exposes a sticky inner protective coat, which surrounds the parchment. Sometimes there is only one coffee bean inside. This is very special, like finding a four-leaf clover. The single bean is processed completely separately and is called "Peaberry."
At this point the coffee beans are again screened for quality depending on size, weight, and shape. The perfectly formed beans travel on one path for further processing in the fermentation tanks, while the smaller, less developed beans proceed along a totally different path for their processing.
The beans are then soaked in tanks of water to loosen the covering and are left to ferment. The timing of fermentation is critical to the ultimate quality and flavor of the coffee.
The coffee is then washed and laid out on open cement patios to dry evenly and slowly. The beans, now called parchment coffee, are manually turned and heaped with large rakes to ensure that the coffee dries uniformly.
The best coffee is sun dried. Sometimes, weather conditions require use of rotary dryers.
The next step in the process is to hull and polish the coffee bean. This involves rubbing off the parchment layer and polishing the bean for an attractive appearance.
At this point the coffee beans are a light green to a gold or bluish color and smell like a field of hay and is called "green coffee".
Golden beans
The coffee is then graded. This basically means that the coffee is sorted by size, shape, and imperfections. It is important to grade the coffee well so that small and large beans are not roasted together. When this occurs the small beans burn and the large beans do not receive their proper roast. A national grading system specification define the grades.
The coffee is now ready to roast.
(back to Coffee Info) or (back to
buying coffee)
Coffee roasting at home
The Ingredients:
The Ingredients: Green coffee beans
The Equipment: There are a variety of choices for home roasting. The least technical, but somewhat messy method is to simply roast the green beans on your stovetop. Other roasting methods include Oven Roasting, Popcorn Poppers, and Home Roasters that are becoming increasingly available.
General Roasting Instructions: Usually takes between 6-16 minutes depending on the roast color.
When you first begin to roast, the beans will begin to change from green to a lighter yellowish color and will release a grassy smell.
The process forces the beans to steam from the inside out. The internal water content begins to dissipate.
After a few minutes, you will hear the first "pop"; a popping sound as the real roasting begins. The sugars begin to caramelize, water escapes and the chemical structure of the bean begins to breakdown. At this point the oils begin to move outward.
Once you hear the first "pop" you can stop the roast at anytime depending on your taste.
If you choose to continue roasting, caramelization continues and the oils rise to the surface. The bean expands in size and the roast darkens even further.
Then you will hear the "second pop" which is usually louder than the first pop. Careful - sometimes small pieces of the bean are blown away.
At this point the roasting process accelerates very rapidly and the sugars in the bean begin to burn. The roast is getting darker and darker. Remove the beans once they reach your desired roast color, but be quick. Here is where a few moments can result in a burnt batch.
Cool coffee completely allowing all the CO2
(Carbon Dioxide) to vent for at least 12 hours before storing in an airtight container. If
the beans are not cool when transferred to an airtight container, the continued release of
CO2 could result in the container bursting from pressure. For the best taste, allow the
beans to cool for at least 4 hours before grinding and brewing. The fresh roasted beans
can be stored for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
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Stovetop Roasting- Gas or electric stove.
You’ll need a lightweight skillet with a good tight lid, an oven thermometer, a big spoon, a bowl or metal colander for cooling, and oven mitts. We also strongly recommend plastic safety glasses.
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Turn on the fan or open the kitchen window. |
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Measure 9 oz. of coffee by weight or 12 oz. by volume. |
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Preheat skillet over low flame/medium burner setting with the lid on. Place the oven thermometer inside. Monitor the temperature until it reaches 500Š and then stabilize at 500Š. |
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Remove the thermometer and pour the beans into skillet, cover and SHAKE well. |
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Now it’s time to use your ears & nose! Listen for the "first pop", smell for smoke around 5 minutes. Wait a minute and lift the lid to check the color. Taper off the heat after the first pop and check the color every minute or so. |
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Remove the beans from the heat as soon as they have reached a color slightly lighter than the desired roast color since roasting actually continues until the beans are cool. |
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Pour the beans out of the skillet into the colander. |
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Shake the beans in the colander or turn them in a bowl with a big spoon until they are warm to the touch. |
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If beans have a light chaff (shell like skin) simply keep moving them around in the colander or bowl until this chaff removes itself from the bean. |
This is definitely not a fool-proof method! It takes a lot of intuition and is certainly not exact. If you want a more consistent and refined method use either the air popper or home roaster.
If you are using a covered pan you may need to
clean it periodically to remove the build-up of coffee oils.
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Oven Roasting - Gas oven, do not use electric.
This method is good for producing Full City to Espresso Roasts (see below). You’ll need a gas oven, a vegetable steamer (with folding leaves), a cookie sheet, a big spoon, a metal colander for cooling, oven mitts and plastic safety glasses.
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Preheat oven to 500 degrees using a thermometer. |
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Place the steamer on the cookie sheet and spread the beans one layer deep and close together. |
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Place the cookie sheet and steamer on middle shelf. Wait about 5-7 minutes for the first pop, then 2 minutes more and start checking for color. Pop the oven open quickly if you must. Oven roasting is slower than other methods, but if it takes more than 12 minutes to reach the medium brown color then you should turn up the heat to 520-530 degrees as the initial temperature for the next batch. If a batch takes more than 20 minutes to roast it will taste flat. |
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Pull the beans out of the oven using the oven mitt once the roast color is slightly lighter than your desired roast color since roasting continues until beans are cool. |
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Place beans in metal colander and shake until cool with big spoon. |
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This process can
create a lot of smoke so be sure to have good ventilation. |
Popcorn Air Poppers
Use a popper in which the hot air enters the popcorn chamber from side vents. These types swirl the chaff upward and out of the popper. Such poppers are new in stores, or on Ebay, or you may find them in second-hand stores. I often have a few, email me if you want to purchase one - or if you have questions.
Do not use a popper in which the hot air enters the popping chamber through a mesh covered orifice on the bottom. This design is not safe for home coffee roasting and could ignite the chaff (silver skin).
You will also need a fan to blow the chaff away, a metal or glass chimney to keep beans from escaping, a wooden spoon or stick, a metal colander for cooling, and an oven mitt. Plastic safety glasses are recommended. The metal chimney I often use is a can open at both ends.
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Place popper in a well ventilated area, using the fan behind it to blow the chaff away, or out a window or door. Place the same amount of beans in the popper as the manufacturer recommends for popcorn, 4 oz. or so. Be aware that putting too few beans in can affect the time of the roast, it may take forever! I experimented around with my Poppery II until I found that 5 handfuls works best. |
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Turn on the machine. Holding the wooden implement with the oven mitt, stir the beans till they rotate by themselves (they will become lighter as the moisture is roasted out). Place the chimney on the popper opening before the beans begin to escape. |
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Watch for fragrant smoke and listen for the "first pop" after about about 3 minutes. Monitor beans closely for desired roast color by looking into the popping chamber and listening to the crackle. (This is best accomplished by using a glass chimney so the beans are visible from the side, versus using a can or metal chimney and looking down into the popper chamber - risking burns on the face from the hot air.) |
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Total time for a lighter roast should be around 4 to 10 minutes, full city roast around 10 to 15 minutes, and darker roasts approximately 6-7 minutes more. These are the times I use in N. CA, but the time a roast takes can be very different due to differences in geographical location, climate, termperature, etc. |
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The final portion of the roasting process occurs very quickly so be very watchful. When they reach a slightly lighter color than the roast color desired, turn off the popper, remove the chimney, and immediately pour the beans out of the popper into the metal colander. |
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They will still
be making crackling sounds so immediately shake and stir beans in the colander to
cool, moving them around with the big spoon until the beans are warm to the touch.
They can be stored in a loosely covered jar, refrigerated or not, and used right away. |
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Light Cinnamon Cinnamon American or Light
City, or Medium Full City, or
Viennese Light French, or
Espresso French Italian |
Caffeine The ultimate quality of
coffee depends on: Here are some caffeine
comparisons: |
