Selecting Green Coffee Beans For Home Roasting

Many coffee lovers are choosing to roast their own coffee beans. Therefore, the selection of good green coffee beans is paramount and when selecting green coffee beans there are certain factors to consider. Those factors include the actual look of the bean where the green coffee beans were grown, and the best ways to purchase this product.

Home Coffee Roasting using the world's finest green coffee beans is a passion for many of us I believe the key to great coffee is fresh green coffee beans and the ability to roast your coffee at home just the way we like it.

For most of us breakfast is not complete until have a good cup of coffee. Many enjoy their coffee with cream, with cream and sugar or simply enjoy a good cup of coffee with nothing added.

For many a cup of coffee is simply brewed at home using an automatic coffee maker or by purchasing a cup of coffee down at the local diner or by ordering at a local coffee shop. However, for some us coffee drinkers it may come as a surprise that the original color of the coffee bean is not brown, but green. Brown is the color that the coffee bean takes on after it has been roasted.

The Green Coffee Bean

Coffee Beans are the seeds from the fruit of coffee trees.
Just as bananas are green when picked coffee beans are green also when taken from the fruit of the tree. It is the roasting process that changes them from green to the various shades of brown, depending on your roast preference. So in the coffee business, green coffee simply means un-roasted coffee beans, that are ready for roasting.

The first basic factor to consider when selecting green coffee beans to roast is the appearance of the bean. The green coffee beans that are preferred should be uniform in their shape and size. This is due to the fact that when you begin to roast the beans there should be a uniformity in that roasting process. This uniformity will allow for a consistent tasting cup of coffee.

Additionally, when looking at green coffee beans to roast it is important that the color of the coffee bean is of uniform color and texture. Any unevenness in the color and texture may suggest a problem experienced in the coffee bean drying process. This unevenness in texture and color may produce an unbalanced favor. If at all possible you want carefully selected, current crop green coffee beans.

The Different Types Of Coffee Trees

Arabica - the starting place of premium specialty coffees.

Robusta - a heartier, more prolific tree, with higher caffeine usually for lesser quality coffees as it has a slightly rubbery taste. To enhance profits and productivity, commercial coffee roasters will very often blend in beans from the Robusta tree. Specialty coffee roasters will opt for quality and always use coffee from the Arabica tree

Geographical Location

An important consideration when selecting green coffee beans is to find out where the coffee bean was grown. For example green coffee beans can be obtained from the mountains of Columbia to the mountains of Hawaii. Green coffee beans can be harvested from countries all over the world. Quite often these taste and aroma differences are tied not only to certain world region, but the altitude, sunlight, average temperatures, moisture, and a variety of regional environmental differences produce different taste characteristics from the same kind of coffee tree.

Additionally, decaffeinated green coffee beans can be obtained from countries such as Costa Rica, Columbia, Guatemala, etc.

Where To Purchase Green Coffee Beans

If in the market for green coffee beans the best way to shop and select this product is by searching the Internet. In addition, contact the local specialty coffee shop and ask for their input regarding the purchase of green coffee beans. Also, if you know of individuals who roast their own green coffee beans ask them for their opinion regarding their favorite bean as well as where they purchased those coffee beans.

Also, many companies offer sampler packages. These packages generally contain a variety of green coffee beans from various parts of the world. This gives the buyer an opportunity to sample a variety of globally produced green coffee beans. The first step in acquiring new coffee is to eliminate the ones that have any negative characteristics. You don’t want bitter or sour or rubbery tasting coffees.