From Green Bean to Cup

During our visit to Bathurst we were treated to fresh coffee. This was the first time I had seen green coffee beans roasted and transformed into a cup of coffee.

Our kind hosts put up with my enthusiasm to see, and photograph, their coffee making process in full. The entire roasting process took about fifteen minutes and required surprisingly simple house hold tools to complete.

The green beans are placed in a container ready to be roasted with a hot air gun.

These beans took about twelve to fifteen minutes to cook with constant stirring. As they roasted the coffee beans’ husks came off and drifted out of the bowl.

The beans were roasted outside as the husks can settle in the garden without harm and the smoke created does not trigger fire alarms.

Once the beans are roasted, they are cooled. In this case the beans were tumbled from one metal bowl to another.

The once green coffee beans have now turned brown.

The cooled roasted beans are ground to a powder using an electric grinder. Previously the grinding had been done with a hand grinder, but unsurprisingly the process was not endearing and an electric replacement was brought in.

After being ground the coffee is put through a coffee machine and into the waiting the cups. The end result tasted fantastic.