COFFEE ROASTING
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A LABOR OF LOVE
parkbrew
By the time coffee reaches the consumer, it has been through quite a journey.
The harvest
After about 3-4 years, a coffee plant produces cherry-like fruit with a pit or seed: the coffee bean! The cherries are picked once mature.
The processing
The coffee beans are removed from the fruit and dried.
The beans are then exported into the United States and roasted domestically.
coffee roasting
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The drying stage.​
The green coffee beans are slowly dried to become a yellow color, and the beans begin to smell like toast or popcorn. This stage usually takes about 5 minutes. At the end of this stage, the temperature is usually around 320 °F.
The browning stage.
In the second stage, at around 400 °F, the bean doubles in size, becomes a light brown color, and loses about 5% of its weight. The coffee starts to smell like toasted bread and hay. The roast naturally slows, and towards the end, the coffee begins to pop, often referred to as the “first crack.”
The development stage.​
Finally, the temperature continues to rise, the beans darken in color and develop an oily sheen, and they lose another 10-15% of their weight. The roaster continues until the coffee reaches the desired toast degree (as you would expect, darker coffee is roasted longer).
