For the most part, Americans stuck to a medium or dark roast, one size fits all kind of coffee through the mid 1980’s. It wasn’t until that time that the coffee craze began to catch on and people began to realize that there is life out there beyond a cup of Folgers’ coffee in the morning. In fact, broadening your coffee experience can greatly enhance your morning routine if you give it a chance.

One way hat people are doing that is by roasting their own coffee beans. We’ve learned over the years that the fresher your coffee is the better it tastes in your cup. This doesn’t only apply to coffee that is freshly brewed but also beans that are freshly roasted, and then freshly ground. Your morning coffee is only as good as the beans from which it began its journey to your cup.

Roasting your own coffee beans in this country has become a hobby for many and a passion for some. While there are all kinds of gadgets and gizmos that enable you to roast your own coffee quite effortlessly, there are those that consider it not really roasting your own coffee if you are not suffering for the sake of your art. I, however, am not one of those people. I like convenience and am a member of the modern age of coffee drinking by choice rather than accident.

As a thoroughly modern coffee drinking girl of the new millennium, I am all for the convenience that certain coffee roasting equipment affords. This is not my first choice, however, for my first cup of coffee in the morning. The good news is that you can store about three days worth of roasted beans without worrying about loosing freshness. This means that those who aren’t quite prepared to get up early enough on any given weekday morning to roast their own beans may still have a great and fresh tasting cup of coffee.

I recommend that you do your research and find a coffee roaster that suits your style. If you are a god or goddess of domesticity then by all means go the old fashion route with a cookie tray and a preheated oven. If you are domestically reluctant you might actually do well with a mid range coffee roaster. If you are domestically handicapped however, you might want to look into the full service coffee roasters. These simply ask you how you want it and they make all the pertinent decisions.

Roasting your own coffee though is a great way to experience many different types of roasts in order to make educated decisions as to what your true favorite is when it comes to coffee. Roasting coffee is very different from adding flavor or drinking gourmet coffee. When you roast coffee you are literally affecting the bean of the coffee rather than simply adding something to the coffee. When you roast coffee yourself you are affecting big change in the flavor. It’s a great way to allow yourself to try new things if nothing else.

Roasting coffee truly is an art form to those dedicated enough to do it by hand. For the rest of us, there is wonderful equipment that can keep us on track and on target for a great cup of coffee that has been roasted to perfection at just the perfect degree for our delicate palates.

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