Grades of coffee roasting; from left: unroasted (or "green"), light, cinnamon, medium, high, city, full city, French and Italian
Roasting
Coffee berries and their seeds undergo multi-step processing before they become the roasted coffee that we sell. First, the coffee berries are picked in the hills of Nayarit, by hand. Then, the flesh of the berry is removed and the beans—are fermented to remove the slimy layer of mucilage still present on the bean. When the fermentation is finished, the beans are washed with large quantities of fresh water to remove the fermentation residue. Finally the seeds are dried, sorted, and labeled as green coffee beans.
The next step in the process is the roasting of the green coffee. The roasting process influences the taste of the beverage by changing the coffee bean both physically and chemically. The bean decreases in weight as moisture is lost but increases in volume, causing it to become less dense. The density of the bean also influences the strength of the coffee and requirements for packaging. The actual roasting begins when the temperature inside the bean reaches 200 °C (392 °F). During roasting, caramelization occurs as intense heat breaks down starches in the bean, changing them to simple sugars that begin to brown, changing the color of the bean. During roasting, aromatic oils, acids, and caffeine weaken, changing the flavor; at 205 °C (400 °F), other oils start to develop. One of these oils is caffeol, created at about 200 °C (392 °F), which is largely responsible for coffee's aroma and flavor.
