Home Roasting Coffee

Home Roasting Coffee

Home roasting is the process of roasting coffee from green coffee beans on a small scale for personal consumption. Home roasting of coffee has been practised for centuries, and has utilised simple methods such as roasting in cast iron skillets over a wood fire and hand-turning small steel drums on a kitchen stove-top.

Until the early 20th century it was more common to roast coffee at home than to buy pre-roasted coffee. Following World War I commercial coffee roasting became prevalent and, combined with the distribution of instant coffee, home roasting decreased substantially.

In recent years there has been a revival in home roasting; what was originally a necessity has now become a hobby. The attractions are four-fold: enjoying fresh, flavourful coffee; experimenting with various beans and roasting methods; perfecting the roasting process; and saving money.