Home Roasting Coffee Beans for Espresso Coffee

Home roasting bulk green coffee beans has become a hot new trend. Many coffee lovers have embraced home roasting techniques using wholesale green coffee beans that are purchased from green coffee bean suppliers. Home roasting green coffee beans allows you to enjoy the absolute freshest cup of coffee and experience the full flavor and aroma of premium coffee beans.

Roasting bulk green coffee beans at home is fun and easy. You can roast coffee beans in your oven, in a skillet on the stove top, or you can re-purpose an air popcorn popper, or buy a fancy coffee bean roasting appliance. Whatever method you choose, home roasting is the first step to enjoying a much better cup of coffee. For green coffee bean roasting techniques and tips for proper browning of the coffee beans, click here.  

Many green coffee enthusiasts prefer to use a special roaster for green coffee beans. There are 3 types of roasters: air roasters, drum roasters and stovetop roasters.

Air Roasters

An air roaster uses hot air to roast and move the green coffee beans around. It usually takes about 10 minutes, and it roasts without scorching the green coffee beans. If you roast too quickly, the coffee flavor can be underdeveloped, and if you roast too long, it will dull the flavor. Air roasting tends to create a brightness to the coffee flavor.  

Drum Roasters

Drum roasters allow you to roast a larger batch of green coffee beans but requires more attention and generates more smoke. The rotating drum moves the coffee beans around. The roasting process takes longer, about 15-20 minutes. Drum roasting tends to create more body in the coffee flavor.

Stovetop Roasters

You can use a cast iron skillet or a wok to roast green coffee beans, however, be prepared for a lot more smoke. Make sure your stove has an overhead fan and run the fan on the highest setting. You can also roast on the stove near an open window with a box fan to blow the smoke out the window.

There is always smoke when home roasting green coffee beans. If you roast in small batches to a light or medium roast, the amount of smoke is less. If you roast green coffee beans to a dark roast, be prepared for more smoke. No matter which roasting method you use, make sure you have proper ventilation. The biggest risk with roasting green coffee beans is that the chaff can ignite and start a fire. Every roasting device comes with a warning label. The #1 rule is never leave a coffee roaster unattended.

It is important to watch the coffee beans very closely and learn to develop a sense of where the roast is by color, smell, and taste after the coffee beans are roasted. The most expensive coffee roasting machine will not help if you have not learned how to properly judge the roasting process. Roasting green coffee beans is just like cooking, it is part art and part science, and as a roaster you will develop a feel for the roasting process.

The advantages of home roasting green coffee beans are that you control the temperature, time and movement method of the coffee beans, and you pay a lot less for green coffee beans than roasted coffee beans. The cost of green coffee beans is anywhere from $3-6 per pound, depending on the region where the green coffee is sourced. You can buy it here. 

Now that you have purchased bulk green coffee beans, and you have roasted green coffee beans at home, your next step may be to brew espresso coffee. All great coffee starts out with wholesale green coffee beans, especially the best quality coffee bean that is sourced from the best coffee-growing countries. Check out this page for how to roast coffee beans by each region. Keep in mind that espresso coffee is a brewing method, not a coffee bean. Home roasting bulk green coffee beans allows you to create a dark roasted coffee bean, and dark roasted coffee beans make the best espresso coffee.

Espresso Coffee

Espresso coffee is made by using pressurized extraction that forces very hot water under very high pressure through a compressed, or tamped bed of roasted ground coffee. Sometimes espresso coffee is mistakenly spelled and pronounced “expresso.” Any type of coffee bean can be used to make espresso coffee. The most important part of making espresso coffee is to have the proper grind of the bulk coffee beans, which means you need the right coffee grinder.

The espresso coffee beans themselves may be a blend of coffee beans, or they may be single origin coffee beans. The espresso coffee blends are often blended with robusta coffee beans, which are coffee beans grown at lower altitudes. These coffee beans are known to produce a better crema and have a higher caffeine content than high altitude coffee beans.

Espresso Coffee Bean Grinder

When grinding bulk coffee beans, use a conical burr grinder instead of a blade grinder. A conical burr grinder will give a more consistent grind size, and it keeps the coffee beans from getting overheated during the grinding process.

When you have successfully roasted bulk green coffee beans to an aromatic dark roast, and you have finely ground the roasted coffee beans to an espresso grind, the last step is to prepare your espresso and enjoy the taste of this exquisite coffee drink.  And if you prefer to buy roasted espresso coffee beans instead of roasting them yourself, feel free to explore our espresso coffee selection by clicking here.