Roasting Coffee in your oven

* * Oven Roasting * *

John T., a relatively new home roaster, sent these simple (unedited) instructions for roasting coffee beans in the oven. If you want to get started with the least amount of fuss (& equipment) give this a try. I would suggest not using Jamaican Blue Mountain as test beans like one customer did, but try something cheaper instead. Welcome to our world ! !

Roasting your own home brew could be simpler, but it would take effort to figure out how anything could be any simpler. Anyone that has the skill involved to turn on the oven, use a spatula or spoon, and having ordinary eyesight, pretty much has all that is required to become a "Master Roaster". The fictional Juan Valdez adds to the mystique that comes wrapped in the marketing agenda of the Columbian coffee folks. He does a fine job of selling coffee, but the ads portraying Juan may us feel as though we are less able to roast than the so-called Master Roasters. I like Juan Valdez and I like the ads. I also enjoy making my own coffee (pun intended) from the grounds up. The fact is, if you have an oven, a cake pan, a spoon or spatula, and fifteen minutes of time, all you really need is some green coffee beans. Here is how I do it. I spill out about a cup or so of coffee beans into a cake pan. I use a dark metal, teflon coated one. You might have a bright, shiny aluminum cake pan. That would be fine. (I use the one I do because it is on top of the others in my cupboard and its easier to get out.) The oven is set to 400 degrees, you may find yours is better a little higher or lower. I wait a few minutes for the temp to come up, but not always. Preheating the oven is crucial if you want to bake cakes, but it hasn't seemed to be a factor when I make roast coffee. I listen (and I am a little hard of hearing) for the beans to "pop" a little. It sounds a bit like popcorn but softer. This happens pretty quickly, maybe three or four minutes into the roasting. Your eyes will tell you more than the time or even the smell. I don't think of roasting coffee as smelling like, well, like roasted coffee. It does smell better to me when its finished than while its roasting in the oven. This is why I think your eyes are a better indicator. If you like your coffee really dark and shiny, go ahead. To me those beans are burnt and you can buy burnt coffee from some of the really swank, high falutin coffee vendors. They seem capable of burning it well enough to sell lots of it. My view of coffee is a lighter gentler approach. I like mine a nice brown color. The right color is really a matter of taste. And that I do mean, it is just a matter of taste. Keep an eye on those beans. When they become the color you like, pull the pan out of the oven. While they are in that oven, mind to matters at hand. I stir the pan every two or so minutes from the time they enter until they leave. This helps to make the roasting more even. Go ahead and make it a complicated job if you want, use a spoon AND a spatula. Wear an apron, or better yet, wear two aprons, one for the spoon and the other for your spatula. But if you like things easy, forego the apron and elect to use a spoon if that is what you have. I suppose a stick from a tree would work. You do have to stir them around. As the beans turn brown, they get browner quicker. This is how you spend the ten or fifteen minutes of roasting: you watch the beans, you stir the beans. If you don't they will get darker than you intended. My goal is to find that "just right" brownness that I have grown to enjoy. Each variety of coffee roasts differently, so play with this till you find out what you enjoy most. This is not rocket science. As long as you do not burn the beans, the worst you can do is better than nearly anything you can buy "pre-roasted". As the roasting continues the beans get a bit smoky. Don't be alarmed. If the beans are not blackened they probably are not going to catch fire and you won't either. Patiently stir them, watch for the brown color you like. As soon as they "arrive" at the brown color you enjoy so much, pull the pan out and cool it immediately. I use the brick porch and just set the pan right down on the bricks. I want to use my beans right away, and think that cooling them off quickly stops the roasting process right where I want it.

In a nutshell:
  • Oven set to 400 degress Farenheit
  • A cup or so of green coffee beans spread in a metal cake pan.
  • Stir the beans every two minutes or so with a spoon or spatula.
  • Watch for the color you like.
  • When the beans are brown enough, pull the pan and cool it immediately.
  • DO NOT put the pan in a freezer or refrigerator to cool, the beans will pick up moisture.

    Your beans are now ready to grind or store. I use one of those jars that has a seal around under the lid and also has a tight metal clasp. An old peanut butter jar works too. If you are a rocket scientist though, call NASA and see if you can get some leftover space part that holds beans, isn't worth beans, but the government paid for it with our money.