What the average consumer does not know is just how fresh is "fresh roasted" Coffee? Most people do not realize that Coffee begins to lose flavor almost immediately after it is roasted. After a few days, as much as 15-40% of the flavor is lost. Roasted coffee stays "semi-fresh" for about 7 days when kept in an air-tight atmosphere, on the other hand, green coffee beans stays fresh for 2-10 years, depending on the storage method. Once a bean has been roasted, is is best kept in a whole bean form until brewing time. Ground coffee loses its flavors at a much quicker rate than whole beans.
Home roasting is simple, and allows the average coffee lover to experiment with different bean types, roasts, and blends, to suit their own personal preferences. Even if it takes you one or two batches of beans to achieve the roast that suits you, your worst roast will be much better than ANY store bought coffee! And you will also begin to realize just how horrible those high priced cups of coffee are that are sold in those "popular" franchised coffee shops. Their number one goal is revenue, not creating the best cup of coffee you could possibly have, like a fresh cup of home roast.
Beans from each region of the world vary widely in characteristics, and home roasting allows you to experience these characteristics in the purest form: non-blended roasts, which are difficult to come by when purchasing pre-roasted coffees. For example, its difficult to realize just how delicious a cup of Hawaiian Kona is when purchased already roasted from some grocery chain, because the "Kona blends" those chains carry are almost always mixed with low-priced, inferior beans to keep their costs down.
Purchasing green beans are also at least half the price you can purchase comparable quality beans that are pre-roasted in a coffee shop.
More and more Coffee aficionados are turning to home roasting to achieve the results only previously achievable through "World Class" Cafes. Using a variety of methods - from clay pots to popcorn poppers to home roasters - they are roasting and blending their own FRESH ROASTED Coffee Beans.
