Roasting unroasted coffee beans

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On Monday, I ordered some coffee beans from Rave Coffee. To my surprise, they were green and unroasted. When purchasing these beans, I had no idea what I ordered, which isn’t like me when I’m buying coffee beans.

First roasting attempt

Yesterday morning, I decided to try and roast a batch in my oven. I set my oven to 200C and kept a close eye on them. I read that you need to listen out for a popping sound to signify a light roast. A second popping sound means it’s now a dark roast.

However, this didn’t go to plan, and I couldn’t hear any popping sounds. It might have been because of the oven fan or because I was feeding my cats, and there was a lot of noise. Also, it might have been because of the fact they weren’t in there long enough. The whole situation wasn’t perfect, and I was playing a big guessing game.

Some beans looked very dark, while others seemed very light and possibly under-roasted. I thought that overall, it would have been okay, but it wasn’t. I had my second coffee using this batch of roasted beans, and it was pale and tasted like the beans weren’t fully roasted.

Second roasting attempt

For my second roasting attempt, I decided to use a large frying pan on a hob and see how it would fair. It seems to have worked a lot better than placing them in the oven. I used a smaller batch, and it seemed to cook through without burning.

Third roasting attempt

I still had beans leftover from the second batch, so I tried to put them in the oven again at a lower temperature of 150C. The outside looked a lot better, and the beans maintained an even roast. However, I still don’t think it quite got to the middle enough, and they still smell undercooked which is unfortunate.

Fourth roasting attempt

Today, I will attempt a fourth roast but using a coffee roasting machine purchased from Amazon. We’ll see how it goes, and I’ll keep you updated on the process. Hopefully, I will maintain a better, more equal roast, but we’ll see.

Conclusion

So far, I haven’t done very well when it comes to roasting beans. However, I’m keeping a positive attitude, and I’m hopeful the next batch will fair a lot better. I’ll write another post to show how my process went with the fourth and fifth batches.

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