Coffee Roasting Technique Tip 2. Density of green beans

 

Greetings, ‘Always be happy with Coffee’ Catch Mind. Today I am going to talk about one of the coffee roasting tip, the density.

 

 

What is “Coffee’s density”?

Density of the coffee before roasting process is the ‘hardness’ of the beans. It is usually indicated as number between the range of 720 to 900. The Kenyan green bean, which is known for its high density has the density greater than 860.

 

You do not have to know the physics formula to calculate the density. You can simply indicate the density as hard, medium and soft, or by using the numbers as I mentioned above. But if you see the beans with your own eyes or knowing their terroir would help you to indicate their density.

 

 

Green beans density gets greater as it grows in higher altitude. Thus the Kenyan beans has greater density than Brazilian beans.

 

Let's talk about the roasting tips depending in the different density

Let’s talk about the roasting tips depending on the different density

You must construct the roasting profile by considering the green beans’ density. This is deeply related to the heat control.

 

Like all the food do, they taste better when it’s well cooked. There’s nothing taste worse than uncooked foods and so does coffee. Poorly roasted coffee hardly taste better even with different brewing technique.

 

 

 

Beans with greater density tend not to burn even in the later part of roasting process. This means that you must take a look into their density in order to avoid any burn.

 

If I would elaborate more.

In the roasting process, moisture in the beans evaporates till the temperature rise to 150 degree Celsius. After this phase, the actual roasting begins. But!! the beans with higher density do not absorb heats as much as compare to the beans with lower density. Thus, the amount of heat used must varies.

 

 

The beans with higher density tend to be harder and the heat cannot go through. On the other hand, it also does not burn as much in the later part of the roasting process. Thus, if you control the heat at the beginning of the roasting process, you can construct a roasting profile that can bring up the unique characteristic of the coffee.

 

However there is one variable to take consider into, which is the amount of water inside the bean. As this variable is significant in the roasting process, we must assume the water content must be sufficient and not low. I will link the posting about the roasting method depending on the beans’ water content below.

 

 

The way to insert heat in the roasting process.

In the roasting process, the heat must be greater in certain phase, the timing before beans lose its moisture. But, when we say “exert heat in the beginning”, it means the temperature may rise in the process or in the later part due to temperature appreciation. This must be taken note.

 

 

And the answer to the question “how much heat must be added?” is that “it depends on the situation”. There may be some variation due to the type of machine, the amount of beans, the turning speed of drum. That’s why the

reference must be set through test.

 

How would I measure the density without the equipment.,

 

The professional density measuring equipment can be costly and not many people own it. The price made me shock.

 

When you want to compare the density of two unroasted beans,

You can comparing by weighing them with similar volume.

Density is volume/mass. And when you compare the two beans with same volume, you just need to see the weight. You can also calculate if you know the measuring unit, volume of the container.

 

But you wouldn’t have to measure the two obvious beans such as Kenyan and Brazilian, right?

 

 

In conclusion...

Today we talked about one of the roasting tip, the density. But the most important variable in the roasting process is the amount of water in the bean. I recommend you to read the previous posting about the amount of water in the link below together.

 

If you control the amount of heat in the beginning, the beans with greater density tend not to be burnt so easily in the later process. It will be helpful if you link “density and beginning” together.

 

Kenyan bean is not the only beans with higher density. For instance in Indonesia, the beans has greater density.

 

How about a well roasted, full bodied cup of Kenyan coffee today?

 

2018/11/09 - [행복한 커피] - Useful Roasting Technique Tip according to the moisture of green beans

2019/03/22 - [행복한 커피] - The standard of the ideally extracted coffee

2018/12/11 - [행복한 커피] - To make a cup of cold brew, Things you must never do!