Coffee does not grow ready to use. All coffee must be roasted before it can be ground and brewed. In contrast to roasted coffee, green coffee has a shelf life of about a year. Green coffee beans are small, dense and very hard. They may be unrecognizable to those outside the coffee trade.
Green coffee has a grass-like smell.
It bears little resemblance in appearance or flavor to what we commonly think of as coffee beans. It is the process of roasting which produces the characteristic flavor and wonderful aroma we know as coffee. The Roasting Process Generally speaking, the process of coffee roasting is a time-temperature dependent process whereby physical and chemical changes are induced in the green coffee. The average temperatures range from 370 degrees to 450 degrees for a period of 8 to 20 minutes depending on the volume of beans in the roaster. When the green beans are loaded into the roaster they drop into the roasting chamber, a rotating cylinder filled with internal paddles that keep the coffee tumbling over itself.