# Roasting Ground Green Coffee



## kenthudd (Dec 9, 2020)

Now this is just speculation, but imagine we could grind green coffee at a fairly coarse grind with great precision in particle size and then roast that ground green coffee at a much shorter roast time. How do you think that would impact the flavor with more surface area during the roast? I would appreciate if you guys have any solid science behind this or just speculation from experience! Thanks.


----------



## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

For me it wouldn't work.



My roasting drum has holes in it (ventilated drum), it would fall out


My kaffelogic roaster is a fluid bed, so it would all blow out the top


My Sandbox Smart drum is a mesh, it would fall out


All my cooling trays have holes...so I couldn't cool it


My other concern would be the chaff, which would be ground up with the bean and form small charred particles?

I used to have solid drum roasters and have roasted on quite large probats...they all have a gap (1/8 inch) at the front of the drum and there is airflow around there, with the coffee pushed up against the front plate....so it won't work in those either.

You might be able to do it in a frying pan, like toasting spices...probably your best bet, if you can find a grinder that can grind the green coffee without jamming?


----------



## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Guessing if the idea had legs, would have been tried by now. Also, why would shortening the roast time be helpful? In roasting light, the aim is, I believe to stretch the time from first to second crack, or just before to enable the complex chemical changes that take place at this point to happen.


----------



## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

I am sure it is possible. I would say the advantage would be fast roasts and therefore lower fuel consumption and associated costs. I would imagine if it could be done successfully then large commercial roasters pumping out stuff for supermarkets would already be doing it.


----------



## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Even if you could find a grinder capable of doing what you want. And even if you could achieve an even roast with whatever method you have in mind (a frying pan?)...

You'd still have the same problem all ground coffee has relating to freshness. You'd be destroying the structure of the bean before it's even roasted. I imagine it would be pretty much the same a roasting a full batch of chipped and cut beans (only taken to an extreme).

So in short it would impact flavour negatively, letting aromatics escape, exposing more oils to air turning them rancid...


----------



## Mpbradford (Jan 28, 2020)

I guess it would also impact the whole kinetics of the roast, no cracks, breaking the structure down could also make it highly sensitive to control.


----------



## Beeroclock (Aug 10, 2015)

Ok, I've resisted so far, but all roasting systems, I know of apart from using a skillet or sealed drum, use air for convection heating and to expel smoke and chaff Therefore one wouldn't end up with much as it would be lost through the exhaust.

Non scientific thoughts - I'm fairly certain that how the beans transition from endothermic to exothermic behaviour is fundamental to the release of specific chemical and the development of certain desirable sugars and their subsequent caramelisation.

Cheers Phil


----------

