There are many ways to roast coffee, from home appliances made specifically for this purpose, to simple pan roasting.
Most methods are extremely simple and the results are excellent…without investing much time or effort! This is especially true of the Air Roasting process (also called “fluid bed roasting” or “convection”), which roasts the coffee in a hot air stream. Air roasting takes 8 to 12 minutes, roasts very evenly without scorchingPatches of discolored burn marks on the coffee bean, due to a high-heat roast environment or other roast error.: Scorching refers to a roast error that can be..., and results in coffee of exceptional quality. The other type of roasting is ConductionThe transfer of heat between matter. In coffee, conduction heating is contrasted with convection heating, which occurs in a moving fluid. – in a solid or perforated drum, or a simple pan, wok or stovetop popper .
Before you get started, we highly recommend checking out our General Roasting Instructions and Visual Guide to the Roast Process.
Dedicated Coffee Roasting Appliances
There are small, dedicated home roasting appliances, and we carry a number of these machines. Our article, Choosing a Home Coffee Roaster is a good introduction to the various models; the Roaster Comparison Chart compares the all the roasters we carry. These machines can make the process simpler and more easily controlled, but are not absolutely necessary.
In choosing a roaster, the main issues are 1) how much coffee you generally drink and 2) how much you want to spend. You don’t want to have more than 3 days supply of roasted coffee around since that defeats the purpose of home roasting – which is to always drink freshly roasted coffee. In terms of price, generally the more a roaster can roast at a time, the more expensive it is.
Air roaster with built-in smoke reduction system and auger-driven bean agitation
Our most inexpensive drum roaster, with up to a 1 pound capacity and many built-in profiles.
Large capacity drum roaster, with the easiest to use controls out there
Large half-pound capacity drum roaster, with programmable roast profiles and external cooling.
Our most inexpensive air roaster, now with adjustable fan and heat
Air roaster with programmable roast profiles; a great first roaster.
If you’re patient and want a simple gadget-free way to roast, look into stovetop roasting!
