Video: The Basics of Good Coffee Roasting Technique

A good place to start before you even start up your Kaleido Roaster is with educating yourself on the the process of coffee roasting. Charlie from the YouTube Channel "Home Cafe by Charlie" talks about the "Basics of Good Coffee Roasting Technique. Be sure to subscribe to his channel. 

Transcript: 

0:00
this coffee is oily burnt and it tastes
0:02
like motor oil and while that might be
0:04
good enough for some chain cafes if you
0:06
clicked on this video it's probably not
0:07
how you like your coffee by the end of
0:09
this video you'll know how to create
0:10
profiles and roast coffee that tastes
0:12
amazing that you can share with your
0:14
friends and show off your awesome
0:16
roasting skills
0:17
[Music]
0:22
this coffee comes from a local roaster
0:24
here in tokyo and it costs around 1200
0:27
yen for 200 grams which is around eight
0:29
dollars it's a good coffee from brazil
0:31
competently roasted in japan but it's
0:33
nothing too special for something really
0:34
special like this costa rican geisha i
0:36
got from my friend at hachina coffee in
0:38
hokkaido you're looking at more than 2
0:40
000 yen for 200 grams now the roasters
0:42
do add a lot of value it's their job to
0:45
understand the coffee beans and how to
0:46
bring the best flavors out of them but
0:48
this does add a lot more expense to the
0:50
beans for you by roasting the coffee
0:52
yourself you can buy green beans much
0:54
cheaper i usually spend something more
0:55
like 2 000 yen per kilo of green beans
0:58
as opposed to something like 2 000 yen
1:00
for 200 grams from a speciality roaster
1:02
you also get to learn this new skill and
1:04
build your coffee understanding and
1:05
knowledge so what do you need to get
1:06
this 80 off the cost of your regular
1:08
coffee habits
1:12
of course you're gonna need some way to
1:14
roast your coffee whether it's a mesh
1:15
skillet a popcorn popper or a standalone
1:18
coffee roasting machine i recommend
1:19
getting a proper coffee roasting machine
1:21
rather than something like a mesh
1:23
skillet that you just roast over an open
1:24
flame it's just going to be a lot easier
1:26
to get consistently good roasts as with
1:28
a skillet you're not really in control
1:29
of the roasting process at all now it
1:31
might seem expensive at first but i paid
1:33
for my roaster within a year of even
1:34
light use by getting cheaper green beans
1:37
my first roaster was a jenne cafe
1:39
roaster it cost around 600 but with me
1:41
drinking 10 to 15 coffees a week i was
1:44
saving more than 50 on coffee per month
1:46
that savings of more than 600 a year
1:48
which basically pays for the roaster
1:50
outright there are different roasters
1:51
available for different sizes budgets
1:53
and needs you can get the fresh roast sr
1:55
800 which can do around 200 grams at a
1:58
time the baymore 2000 ab which can do
2:00
around 400 to 450 grams at the same time
2:03
or you can get something like the
2:04
sandbox smart roaster which i have right
2:06
now that can do only around 100 grams at
2:08
a time but has advanced programming for
2:10
much better roasts there are a whole
2:11
bunch of roasters on the market and new
2:13
ones being released all the time so i'll
2:14
leave links in the description below for
2:16
home roasters at all budgets
2:21
the first thing you'll notice about any
2:22
coffee is the roast level how dark is
2:25
the color of the coffee beans from an
2:26
almost yellow color to a deep black the
2:29
roast level is going to have a huge
2:31
determining factor on how that coffee
2:33
tastes lighter roast will generally
2:34
accent lighter flavors like fruity and
2:36
floral notes and darker roasts will have
2:38
a lot more chocolatey and toasty flavors
2:40
but roasting is so much more than just
2:42
the color of the coffee beans and later
2:44
on this video i'll explain how to
2:45
understand a rose curve to get the most
2:47
from your coffee for now let's talk
2:48
about the most important factor going
2:49
into your roast and that is of course
2:51
the green coffee beans obviously your
2:53
choice of green beans is super important
2:55
many people don't actually know that
2:56
coffee beans are actually a seed that
2:58
grows within a coffee cherry which is a
3:00
fruit depending on where the beans come
3:02
from they could be grown at anywhere
3:03
between 600 and 2500 meters above sea
3:07
level and different growing and
3:08
processing methods will have a huge
3:10
impact on flavor it's not uncommon for
3:12
beans grown in specific ways to have
3:14
natural flavors of cinnamon mango or
3:16
pecan i'll leave some links in the
3:18
description to a few green bean
3:19
providers in different places but in
3:21
general finding good importers of green
3:23
coffee beans is an incredibly difficult
3:25
part of the process and i recommend you
3:27
look around for a good local importer
3:28
the first part of the selection process
3:30
might be the country of origin but bear
3:32
in mind that different farms within the
3:34
same country can have radically
3:36
different flavors depending on a lot of
3:37
things including the processing method
3:39
the most common processing methods are
3:41
natural and washed process natural
3:43
process is where the coffee cherry is
3:45
laid out in the sun usually in a warmer
3:48
dry country where the coffee is produced
3:50
after a few weeks the cherry will come
3:52
off the coffee by itself when it's
3:53
reached a certain moisture content wash
3:55
process is as the name implies when the
3:57
coffee cherry is washed off the beans
3:59
and the beans are left out in the sun to
4:01
dry without the cherry these processes
4:03
have a really big effect on how the
4:05
coffee is going to taste with natural
4:07
processes tasting more fruity and earthy
4:09
because they've been in contact with the
4:10
cherry for longer and with wash process
4:12
tasting more clean and sharp two other
4:14
processes that i've really enjoyed are
4:16
honey process and carbonic maceration
4:19
honey process is where the beans are
4:20
de-pulled through a machine and then
4:22
left out with the mucilage still on in
4:24
the sun or in a greenhouse to naturally
4:26
ferment for a few weeks until the bean
4:28
reaches a certain moisture content
4:29
depending on the conditions you can get
4:31
a really interesting middle ground
4:33
between a natural processes fruitiness
4:35
and the sharpness of a wash process
4:37
carbonic maceration is where the beans
4:39
are put into an airtight container with
4:41
carbon dioxide pumped in to prevent
4:43
oxidization this leads to a kind of
4:45
anaerobic fermentation that brings out
4:47
some really unique flavors in coffee
4:49
without the sort of mustiness that can
4:51
come from other processing methods for
4:52
me this is one of the most exciting
4:53
processing methods and i usually enjoy
4:55
these beans a lot when you're choosing
4:56
your green beans keep in mind the
4:58
processing method the country of origin
5:00
and the age if you can get that
5:02
information if you notice that the green
5:03
beans you buy don't have a strong flavor
5:05
or smell it could be that they're not
5:07
being properly stored by the importer
5:08
order small amounts of coffee from new
5:10
suppliers first don't make the mistake
5:12
that i did of ordering a five kilo bag
5:14
of coffee from a supplier i'd never
5:16
worked with before i learned most of
5:17
what i'm going to share with you from
5:18
years of roasting with different
5:20
machines and also from reading scott
5:22
rayo's books like the coffee companion
5:24
and coffee roasting best practices
5:25
they're very very useful books from an
5:27
absolute master highly recommended and
5:29
they improved my roasts a lot okay so
5:31
let's jump into the structure of a roast
5:35
a standard roast will look something
5:36
like this you have the start of the
5:38
roast which is called the drying phase
5:40
where the beans will lose a lot of their
5:41
moisture at between four and eight
5:43
minutes depending on your roaster you're
5:45
gonna start the browning phase which is
5:46
where the beans become sweet and
5:48
aromatic once we reach the first crack
5:50
where you hear a popping sound we start
5:52
the so-called development phase which is
5:54
where the beans caramelize and add
5:56
sweetness and body at the cost of high
5:59
notes and aromatics if you continue the
6:00
roast much past that you'll reach the
6:02
second crack where the structure of the
6:04
bean really starts to degrade and you
6:06
end up with more toasty smoky and even
6:08
burnt flavors that are characteristic of
6:10
darker roasts at the end of the
6:11
development phase you have the drop
6:13
where you remove the beans from the
6:14
roaster and you start cooling them
6:16
quickly ideally within four minutes to
6:18
stop the transference of heat the shape
6:20
of this curve whether it's long and thin
6:22
or short and sharp will completely
6:24
change the taste of any coffee there are
6:26
also a lot of things that can go wrong
6:27
depending on your choices as a roaster
6:29
to raise or lower the heat or airflow
6:31
which i'll talk about a little bit later
6:33
in the video the first thing you need to
6:34
do is heat up your machine to a good
6:36
temperature to start at some machines
6:37
like the genna cafe roaster will start
6:39
from zero but this isn't good for
6:41
roasting as it doesn't dry out the beans
6:42
quickly enough and it'll slow down your
6:44
roast too much so you'll likely end up
6:46
with baked and flat tasting beans
6:48
depending on your roaster and batch size
6:50
you'll start your roast at at least 170
6:52
degrees c which is 340 fahrenheit this
6:55
is called the charge temperature which
6:56
is the temperature at which you put the
6:58
coffee beans into the machine and start
7:00
roasting the bigger the batch of coffee
7:01
you're using the higher the charge
7:03
temperature should be so for example in
7:05
my 100 gram sandbox smart roaster i
7:07
start at between 170 to 190 degrees c
7:10
but for something bigger like the ilio
7:12
bullet which is a one kilo roaster i
7:14
might start somewhere between 180 and
7:16
200 degrees c for a very large roaster
7:18
at commercial scale something like 10 to
7:20
20 kilos it's safe to go up to 210
7:22
degrees c as there's a big enough mass
7:24
of green beans to absorb the heat
7:26
without burning the beans you want to
7:28
heat your roaster and idle at the
7:29
temperature you intend to use for your
7:30
charge for at least a few minutes before
7:32
you put the beans in for consistent
7:34
temperatures from batch to batch this
7:36
will be affected by the weather and the
7:38
temperature of the day as well so in the
7:39
winter you might want to idle your
7:41
roaster for a little bit longer as the
7:43
beans will be cooler when they enter the
7:44
roasting drum ideally your machine will
7:46
have a temperature probe inside and a
7:48
way of tracking this on a graph without
7:49
a roasting graph it's pretty hard though
7:51
not impossible to achieve a good roast
7:53
and especially to replicate that roast
7:55
as soon as the beans go in you'll see
7:57
the temperature drop due to the cold
7:58
beans going in and absorbing a lot of
8:00
the heat usually at this stage i keep
8:01
the power of the roaster to around 50
8:03
until the turning point so that the heat
8:05
doesn't go into the beans too quickly
8:06
letting the beans come up to temperature
8:08
in a more ambient environment avoids
8:09
damaging the beans the point at which
8:11
the temperature stops dropping and
8:12
starts going up is called the turning
8:14
point once we hit the turning point at
8:16
between 30 seconds and one minute of
8:17
roast starting that's when i turn my
8:19
heat up depending on the machine you
8:20
have the power grade will be different
8:22
for my small induction heat roaster i
8:24
turn the power up to 95 but if you're
8:26
using a gas roaster 100 will probably be
8:29
too much power and you'll end up burning
8:30
or scalding the beans learn what your
8:32
roaster can do and find the upper limit
8:34
of how much temperature you can push
8:35
without burning the beans as you roast
8:37
the beans will turn from their natural
8:39
greenish color to a yellow and
8:40
eventually start browning at around four
8:42
to eight minutes into the roast this
8:44
enters the browning phase where the
8:45
moisture is low enough for mylar
8:47
reactions to start taking place and
8:49
interesting flavors and aromatics start
8:50
coming out of the beans at this point
8:52
you'll begin to smell that sweet
8:54
gorgeous coffee roasting smell this is
8:56
one of the big joys of roasting your own
8:58
coffee at home the next thing you'll be
8:59
looking or rather listening for is the
9:01
first crack this is where the pressure
9:03
buildup of gases will break through the
9:04
structure of the coffee beans making a
9:06
popping sound
9:11
this is where the so-called development
9:12
time begins though this is a bit of a
9:14
misnomer as development occurs
9:15
throughout the roasting process but
9:17
that's what they call it the longer this
9:18
goes on the more caramelization occurs
9:20
so you'll get more sweetness body and
9:23
richness but at the cost of the beans
9:24
unique flavor as your coffee gets darker
9:26
it will get more bitter and oily as the
9:28
roasting process continues eventually
9:30
all coffees become pretty
9:31
indistinguishable from one another if
9:33
they get too dark this is why you see
9:35
those charcoal looking filled hoppers at
9:37
your local chain coffee place they can
9:39
get away with ultra cheap coffee beans
9:41
if they just burn the crap out of all of
9:43
them because they'll end up tasting the
9:44
same i recommend keeping your
9:46
development time to between 15 and 25 of
9:49
your total roasting time once the
9:51
temperature has reached the desired
9:52
level you can drop the beans this is
9:53
called the drop temperature and more
9:55
than color this is probably the best
9:56
indicator of the final roast level now
9:58
all of this can happen in a short or
10:00
long amount of time which will give
10:01
drastically different flavor results
10:03
which leads me on to coffee roasting
10:05
speed
10:06
[Music]
10:09
the speed of the roast is super
10:10
important and if you roast your batch
10:11
really quickly in general this is going
10:13
to emphasize the innate characteristics
10:15
of the bean if you're roasting for pour
10:17
over or to accent fruity or floral notes
10:19
you'll probably want to roast a little
10:20
bit faster this means using higher
10:22
temperatures especially early on in the
10:24
roast and dropping the beans earlier
10:26
personally i recommend never dropping
10:28
the beans before the first crack i'm
10:29
sure people have done it before but in
10:30
my experience you'll get an almost
10:32
vegetable like flavor from a bean that
10:34
has zero development and i don't
10:35
personally want my coffee tasting like
10:37
grass different kinds of roasters will
10:38
operate at different speeds for example
10:40
fluid bed roasters can heat coffee a lot
10:42
more quickly than drum roasters without
10:44
the drawbacks of transferring too much
10:46
heat to the bean too quickly which can
10:48
result in scorching or tipping which is
10:50
where the beans or the edges of the
10:51
beans get burnt you can slow down the
10:53
roast by lowering the initial
10:54
temperature and the rate of rise which
10:56
will lead to more caramelization of the
10:58
compounds in coffee that lend themselves
11:00
to sweetness this is usually a preferred
11:02
way to roast for espresso as it will
11:03
limit the harsh flavors of a high
11:05
pressure extraction of light roasted
11:07
coffee however you do not want your
11:09
roast curd to be too flat or you'll end
11:10
up with boring tasting coffee so if you
11:12
don't have enough time or coffee beans
11:14
to do all of this experimenting yourself
11:16
how do you get the most out of your
11:17
coffee beans without having to go and
11:18
get a phd in it here are a few of the
11:20
best pieces of advice i got about my
11:22
roasting
11:23
[Music]
11:26
in his books about coffee roasting scott
11:28
rao talks about how a smoothly declining
11:30
rate of rise is generally preferable for
11:32
good coffee the rate of rice or ror is
11:34
an indicator of how quickly the
11:36
temperature is rising you want to fast
11:37
the rate of rise in the beginning of the
11:39
roast as you push through the drying
11:40
phase but you want to slow that down
11:42
gradually as you enter the development
11:44
phase to give the beans more time to
11:46
caramelize without burning them if you
11:48
just power through your roast at 100 the
11:50
hallway you're likely to get burnt beans
11:52
and you'll have craters appearing after
11:54
the first crack craters are what happens
11:56
when heat escapes from the beam too
11:58
quickly and creates these small holes as
12:00
they break through the structure of the
12:01
beans so you'll want to slow down your
12:03
roast in advance of the first crack this
12:05
is why you need to gradually step by
12:07
step lower the gas or power of your
12:09
roaster as you enter the browning phase
12:11
around four to eight minutes in i
12:12
usually do this in small steps as i want
12:14
to keep the temperature increasing but
12:16
slowing down as i enter the development
12:18
phase you have to do this carefully
12:20
though because you don't want the roast
12:21
to stall or crash look at this roast
12:23
curve here that dip in temperature right
12:26
after the first crack is a crash it will
12:28
probably make this roast taste less
12:29
clear and exciting than without it in
12:31
this case maybe the bean wasn't very
12:32
dense and the heat coming from within
12:34
the beans wasn't enough to continue
12:35
heating each other stalling is where it
12:37
takes too long to reach the first crack
12:39
you really really don't want this this
12:41
means there isn't enough heat in the
12:43
drum or coming from the beans
12:44
endothermically to continue the roast
12:46
and it will end up with coffee that
12:47
tastes unpleasant even stale it's not
12:50
really possible to recover a roast
12:51
that's stalled midway through so you'll
12:53
want to plan your roasts properly and
12:55
get to know the beans that you're using
12:57
this is why a lot of professional
12:58
roasters use a sample roaster to test
13:00
the beans before they go ahead and put
13:02
10 kilos into one of their big roasters
13:04
this is more common with certain beans
13:06
than others so be sure to test them out
13:08
and do a few different styles of roast
13:09
and taste them side by side with a
13:11
cupping to compare i did another video
13:13
on coffee cupping which you can take a
13:14
look at after you finish this video
13:17
[Music]
13:20
once you drop your coffee beans you'll
13:21
want to cool them as fast as possible i
13:23
have this cooler that came with my
13:25
sandbox smart roaster and this does a
13:27
really good job of removing chaff as
13:28
well make sure you always clean your
13:30
chaff out of your machine it can become
13:31
a fire hazard especially if you're
13:32
roasting back-to-back batches you'll
13:34
also need to leave your beans to degas
13:36
or lose the co2 from roasting for at
13:38
least a few days before you store them
13:40
unless you have a coffee jar that allows
13:42
air out but not back in again like i
13:44
have i'll link to a few different coffee
13:45
containers in the description but in
13:47
general you've got standard coffee
13:48
containers that don't let air back in
13:50
you've got containers like this one that
13:51
remove the air and don't let air back in
13:53
but do allow the beans to degas you've
13:55
also got vacuum containers like this one
13:56
that stop the coffee from aging and help
13:58
it last a little bit longer you should
13:59
leave your beans for at least a week or
14:00
so before you use them for brewing i
14:02
don't always take my own advice on this
14:04
because sometimes i'm a little forgetful
14:05
and i just start roasting as soon as i
14:07
realize i'm running out using coffee for
14:08
brewing only a few days after the roast
14:10
is going to have a little bit of
14:11
bitterness and smokiness from the
14:12
roasting process now if you're
14:14
interested in making your own coffee
14:15
blends at home i recommend taking a look
14:16
at this video i did about blending
14:18
coffee beans feel free to ask me any
14:20
questions or share experiences you've
14:21
had with good or bad coffee in the
14:22
comments roasting is a really tough
14:24
skill don't get disheartened if you
14:26
don't get perfect tasting coffee the
14:27
first time just always be willing to
14:29
learn more thank you so much for
14:30
watching all the way to the end you
14:32
wonderfully over caffeinated people and
14:33
i will see you on the next one