ALBANY PARK — Coffee and beer are equally popular with American consumers, yet there are nearly four times as many craft breweries — many of them founded by home brewers — as roasters in the United States.
"I don't know why there aren't more people interested," said Cory Creighton, a former roasting hobbyist turned professional.
Cory Creighton makes adjustments to his roaster's temperature. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]
The Decatur native, who lives in Albany Park with his wife and two small children, began roasting beans at home more than a decade ago. This spring, he's set to open his own micro-roastery, Brü Coffeeworks, at 3005 W. Lawrence Ave., joining the likes of Bow Truss, Dark Matter and Groundswell as part of Chicago's growing boutique roaster scene.
Brü's three-kilo custom-built commercial roaster, made by U.S. Roaster Corp. in Oklahoma City, set Creighton back $12,000.
But he started with a much smaller home roaster — capacity 64 grams — and gradually worked his way up to a one-pound roaster, which can be had for $300.
Regardless of scale, the roasting process starts with green beans and finishes with brown. Creighton walked us through the steps along the way.
Green Beans
Coffee beans, before roasting. [Flickr/Aidan]
Coffee beans are actually seeds — they're the pit of coffee "cherries," which grow on coffee plants.
Pre-roasted or "green" beans have a high moisture content, Creighton said, meaning that to produce a pound of roasted coffee requires approximately 20 ounces of beans.
At this stage, coffee beans give off an earthy aroma, smelling more like hay or grass than, well, coffee, he said.
Creighton sources his beans from a supplier in California who caters to small roasters and has relationships with growers in South America, Africa and Indonesia.
"I'm getting beans usually within three months of harvesting," Creighton said.
The Roaster
Creighton pulls a sample scoop to check the beans' progress. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]
The whole point of the roaster — whether it can accommodate 64 grams or 64 tons — is to heat the beans.
Because he's an admitted control freak, Creighton's drum roaster is as manual as they come, allowing him to make minute adjustments to the temperature. Some beans he might heat up quickly for a short period of time, others he might bring to heat slowly over a lower temperature.
"Coffee beans have lots of natural sugars. I'm shooting to caramelize them without burning them out," he said. "Really bitter coffee is burned out."
Sight and smell play a key role at this stage. Small batch roasters will pull out frequent sample scoops to check the beans' color and aroma but surprisingly it's sound that signals the most important phase in the roasting cycle.
First Crack
"I could roast with my eyes closed," said Creighton.
What he's listening for is something called "first crack," the sound beans make — louder than a bowl of Rice Krispies, quieter than popping corn — when the moisture inside them expands to the point of bursting.
"Coffee's not even palatable until first crack," which happens at 400 degrees, Creighton said.
Light roasts can be discharged from the drum at this point. For darker coffees, roasters will wait for "second crack," which occurs at approximately 450 degrees.
As serious as some folks take their coffee, it would be hard to compete with University of Texas professor who quantified the acoustical differences between first crack and second crack, which has practical applications in terms of automated roasting.
Cool It
The cooling tray is often mistaken for roasting. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]
Before beans can be packaged, they need to cool. This step is perhaps the most visible in the entire process, which is one reason why the uninitiated often mistake the sight of beans swirling around the cooling tray for roasting.
Once they've cooled, beans can be ground but Creighton recommends holding off for a few days.
Flavors and oils continue developing and reach their peak around the fifth day after roasting. By day 10, "throw them out," he said.
But don't try to extend the life of beans by freezing them, Creighton cautioned.
Water and oxygen are coffee's enemies, he said. The freeze-thaw cycle, and the resulting moisture, will ruin the beans' flavor.
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