Coffee Roasting Part 1 (RR08)

Roast and Reason: A Coffee Podcast

Coffee roasting is part magic, part science, and part art. This process takes a green coffee bean which doesn't smell or taste very good and transforms it into the delicious drink that we all know and love.

One of the most obvious changes during coffee roasting is the change in color as the coffee beans go from green to yellow and eventually brown. This process results from a set of chemical reactions that we will briefly highlight in this episode.

A variety of structural changes also occur during the roasting process. Coffee beans nearly double in size during the 10-20 minutes of roasting! The beans become more brittle and pop loud enough for you to hear them as they release water vapor and pressurized gases.

The color and structural changes are also accompanied by the formation of several hundred different flavor and aromatic compounds during roasting. We will highlight the major changes and chemical reactions that occur during coffee roasting.