In the book "Appalacian Cookery", I read how this one older lady would roast the green coffee beans, as a child at home. I found a discount coffee site online that sells green coffee beans and was wondering if anyone here has done this before and if the ground beans that you roast yourself makes a better tasting coffee than grinding the "already" roasted ones.

I haven't done any research on this yet but I have been wondering if there is any kind of a health benefit to roasting them yourself.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), November 08, 2003

Answers

I know people who attend pioneer reenactment kinds of activities who roast their green coffee beans on their campfire. It is a little hit and miss, as far as the roasting is concerned. I suppose you could do it in a frying pan if you wanted to experiment, maybe do some research first on the history of coffee, and also on just what the kinds of roasting that commercial coffee folks do means. One of our local coffee shops roasts all of their coffee, and the owner is emphatic in his belief that fresh roasted coffee is healthy, and that the problem is when it gets older and deteriorates--maybe a matter of days after roasting. I'm no expert, just like good coffee. If you can get the beans cheaply enough, experiment a bit.

Jim

-- Jim (jiminwis@hotmail.com), December 03, 2003.