Home Coffee Roasting 101: 3 Helpful Tips

All you need are a few kitchen essentials and preparations to get you started. 

• Before you start to roast your own coffee beans at home, there are some coffee roasting basics you need to know first.
• You don’t need special, expensive coffee roasting equipment to begin your new hobby.
• Grab a fan and open the door because your house will get smoky and fast.
• Expect your first roasting session to take at least one hour.

Coffee roasting is often thought of as a practice that should be left to the professionals. You may have visited a coffee shop in the past where you’ve seen those commercial coffee roasters that roast the beans you’re drinking right on site. Watching what looks like a complex process is a pretty amazing thing to watch.

However, coffee roasting is something almost anyone can do at home. You can start enjoying THE FRESHEST coffee in the comfort of your own home as soon as today.

1) Invest in a good, cast iron pan & a sturdy metal whisk that you will use solely for coffee roasting.

It’s a good idea to dedicate a single cast iron pan to your new coffee roasting hobby. You don’t want your coffee beans to take on the flavor of other foods you have previously made in that same cast iron skillet.

I have one cast iron that I use specifically for roasting coffee and another skillet that I use for all other foods. 

While you’re looking for your new cast iron, it’s wise to look for a sturdy metal whisk if you don’t already have one. You will use this to stir your beans in the pan. I strongly advise against using plastic, as it may melt during the coffee roasting process.

2) Open a window and/or crack the door because your home will likely get filled with smoke.

I cannot stress this enough: make sure you open a window and/or your front door to get the ventilation going. Also, if you can, place a fan (facing outside) in your window or doorway to push the smoke out. When my husband and I first started roasting, our fire alarm went off several times! There’s just a TON of smoke.

This is essential when you’re first starting out because it’s hard to predict how much smoke to expect since every home is different. 

Also, you can expect your whole kitchen and the surrounding area to reek of coffee for the day or at least several hours. Yes, I love the smell of fresh coffee just as much as your average Joe. But when your entire home is filled with an overwhelming smell, it quickly gets to you and starts to become pretty rancid.

3) Plan for the roasting session to take at least one hour when you start out.

Once you get the hang of it, you can finish a home roasting session in about 30 to 40 minutes (from start to finish) to roast about 16 ounces of beans. 

However, when you’re first starting out, you can expect it to take about an hour. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes for the pan to heat up and another 15 to 20 minutes to roast the beans. There’s also an additional 15 to 20 minutes of clean up. Yes, there will be a big mess in your kitchen from the chaff that flies off the coffee beans during the roasting process. 

Stay tuned for a fleshed out blog post on how to roast coffee at home!