dry-processed beans. However they often have
more aroma, and tend to be of more uniform
quality.
Roasting Raw green coffee beans are as hard
as unpopped popcorn, and about as tasty.
Roasting transforms them into fragile, easily
opened packages of flavor. Most people let
the professionals take care of roasting, but it’s
a fascinating (and smoky) experience to roast
coffee at home, as cooks in many countries
have long done and still do with equipment
ranging from frying pans to popcorn poppers
to special roasters.
Coffee beans are roasted to temperatures
between 375 and 425ºF/190–220ºC; the
process usually takes between 90 seconds and
15 minutes. As the bean temperature
approaches the boiling point of water, the
small amounts of moisture inside the cells
turn into steam and puff the bean up to half
again its original volume. Then at