Coffee roasting is that chemistry that transforms a blend and gives it the unmistakeable aroma and flavour so characteristic of what is known the world over as coffee.

Coffee roasting is one of the key coffee processing steps and is what makes the green coffee bean drinkable.

Coffee roasting: the roasting process

Coffee roasting involves applying heat to coffee beans and increasing the temperature and roast time in line with specific roast profiles.

With traditional coffee roasting, green coffee is added to a large rotating drum and the beans are exposed to a gradually increasing source of heat (with temperatures reaching between 200 and 230°C) for 8 – 20 minutes.

By roasting coffee for longer, the balance between acidity and bitterness is altered.

Over-roasting can ruin the flavour of the coffee, which is why the beans should be air-cooled as soon as they come out of the roaster to quickly bring the coffee back down to room temperature.

This air-cooling step is as important as the coffee roasting as it stops the beans from continuing to roast, locks in all the wonderful aromas and preserves the coffee. For this reason Varesina Caffè does all its coffee roasting the old-fashioned way.

Coffee is a natural product with many different species and varieties that all come from many different countries; as such, more than a technical skill, roasting and blending coffee is a true art. During the roasting process, the thermal treatment applied means coffee reacts differently depending on specific sensory and structural characteristics and humidity content.

At Varesina Caffè, the art of coffee roasting has a strong historical connection with Italian coffee tradition that has been passed down by generations of roasters.