If you’re just starting out in the world of coffee, your main goal is to find great-tasting beans, you don’t have to know a ton about coffee to do that though, as a lot of it is just a matter of personal preference.
For the most part, you’re looking for robust, complex coffees that are sweet and have a distinct flavor, if you’re looking for a light, refreshing coffee that is likely to leave you feeling lighter and less burdened, you may be looking for something different than what we’ve laid out here.
Some people prefer coffees with a more robust flavor to help them get through the day or even to help them relax and destress. To be clear, there are a lot of ways to enjoy coffee, but the two most important things to keep in mind are the quality of the beans and how you make them into the coffee.
When to Buy Coffee Beans
Coffee beans can be stored for many months and even years, so you don’t need to be super careful about when to buy them, however, as a beginner, you’ll want to be careful not to buy bad beans, when you’re just starting out, you’ll want to focus on quality over quantity.
- Generally, you want to buy whole beans and not ground coffee, ground coffee, unless it’s very fresh, is likely to be very old by the time you drink it and is also less flavorful than whole beans.
- Store best coffee beans in an airtight container, preferably in a cool, dark place.
- Buy beans that are as fresh as you can, if possible, beans that have been sitting around for a while will be less flavorful and taste stale.
- If you can, buy beans that were grown nearby many studies have shown that certain coffees are better when grown nearby, so you can even buy that specific type of coffee beans.
How to Roast Coffee Beans
Roasting coffee beans is one of the most important steps in the process of making coffee when you roast them, you essentially expose them to heat and certain chemicals that cause them to oxidize or age, thus, the more roasted coffee is, the more oxidized or aged it will be.
The level of roast you choose will depend on how you plan to use it, if you’re going to mix it with other flavors or if you’re going to add sweetener to it, you may want it to be lighter in flavor, in the other hand, if you’re just drinking it black, you may want a more robust cup.
Before you begin roasting, take note of the following:
- You can roast coffee beans in a few different ways: at a low temperature for a long time, at a higher temperature for a shorter time, and at a high temperature for a short time.
- The level of roast you choose will depend on how you plan to use the coffee.
- If you’re roasting whole coffee beans, you should roast them on medium heat until they turn light brown.
- If you’re roasting ground coffee, you can roast it at a higher temperature in a pan or in an oven.
- When roasting, keep a careful eye on them and don’t let them burn.
- To make sure they don’t burn, stir the beans every so often.
- When they’re done roasting, they’ll be a deep brown color.
- Store roasted beans in an airtight container, preferably in a cool, dark place.