20 facts on coffee roasting
GREEN BEANS
1. Before roasting, quality green beans contain
around 8-12,5% moisture.
2. Did you know that green beans weigh more than
roasted beans? This is because the moisture
from the green bean is evaporated during the
roasting process, which makes the bean lighter
in weight.
3. Does this then mean that roasted beans are
smaller in size? Wrong! The bean does lose
weight but expands in size due to the pressure
of the heat.
DRYING PHASE
4. There are three phases coffee beans go
through while roasting: the drying, maillaird and
development phase.
5. The first phase of coffee roasting is driving as
much water out of the bean so that the flavor
can be developed at a later stage. 
6. The beans need around 6 to 8 minutes to
complete the drying process.   the end of the roast.
7. After the drying phase, the temperature of the
beans will be around 160 °C.
MALLAIRD PHASE
8. It is named so because of the sugars that are
broken down due to their exposure to high
temperatures.
9. The beans are still absorbing heat
endothermically, which means they are
absorbing the heat from the drum.
10. During a roast and especially during the maillard
phase, the beans smell like hay and toasted
bread.
DEVELOPMENT PHASE
11. The first crack appears around 196 °C.
12. At the first crack, a large amount of moisture of
the beans has been evaporated, and the beans
will increase in size. 
13. After the beans contain such pressure that they
crack, they harden and release the parchment
otherwise known as chaff, that was trapped in
the groove of the beans.
14. After the development time of your roast, the
coffee will have balanced acidity with excellent
body and sweetness. 
15. The average development time can vary from
one roaster to another.
16. The development time is a term that refers to
the period after the onset of the first crack until
 
17. When the second crack appears, the temp-
erature in the roaster has risen around 224 °C.
18. The average roast takes 12 minutes.
19. Robusta beans contain more caffeine than
Arabica beans.
20. Dark roasted beans are suitable for the Italian-
and French coffee roast.