If you’re a coffee lover, you’re probably curious about this fantastic beverage. How is coffee made? What gives each brew its distinctive flavor? Is there a way to control these factors? The main process that takes coffee from a piece of produce to identifiable brown bean is roasting. Roasting raw coffee causes a chemical change that develops the signature flavors that you identify as being distinctly coffee-y. Much of coffee’s specific flavor is inherent to the bean based on variety and growing conditions. However, controlling parameters like relative humidity, moisture, temperature, and roast time can give each roast a unique spin. That’s what we do at Dunn Brothers Coffee.

The Maillard Reaction Causes a Big Change in Food

If you’ve never heard of the “Maillard reaction,” you’re not alone. This label describes a set of chemical reactions that are responsible for the flavor and textural differences in browned foods. A seared steak, baked bread, and even coffee beans rely on the Maillard reaction to produce the delicious flavors you associate with baked or roasted foods. This set of reactions really gets going around 300 degrees Fahrenheit, which is why so many oven-based recipes use temperatures starting in this range. As temperatures increase, caramelization reactions begin to occur and contribute to the flavor profile.

What Does This Mean for Coffee Beans?

Before roasting, coffee beans are green. They’re actually higher in components like proteins, caffeine, and acids prior to roasting, but they don’t have the same flavor as roasted beans. Roasting ignites coffee’s signature flavors. Coffee beans can be roasted at a commercial level, or in individual small batches. Roasted on a commercial scale is more efficient, but individual roasting batches give roasters more control over the parameters and effect they have on the coffee beans.

How Can You Affect the Roast of Coffee?

Much like any other chemical reaction, the conditions of the reaction can affect the end products. When you roast coffee, you can control the amount of moisture in the roast, and the moisture level that you are trying to achieve with your final product. Typically coffee beans lose about 15-18% of their mass during the roasting process, and yet they grow in size. This is due to the expansion of the structure of the beans as gas is released during roasting. You can also control the temperature at which you roast. This in turn affects the roasting time. Making small tweaks to these parameters can create a unique finish to coffee beans.

Find House-Roasted Coffee at Dunn Brothers in Coralville

If you’re looking for people who love coffee and are serious about their craft, come to Dunn Brothers. We house roast our coffee in small batches to give us control over the roastin parameters. This gives us room to experiment and create a final product that is truly unique. To learn about all of the coffee roasts we offer, contact Dunn Brothers Coffee in Coralville, IA at 319-665-2020.