Gourmet coffee beans may be purchased directly from a retail gourmet coffee store, or through the Internet. Gourmet coffee beans are different from regular over the counter coffee beans in the fact that gourmet coffee beans are always roasted to order. This is a big improvement in both freshness and taste compared to other coffee beans.
Gourmet coffee beans may be roasted to order, or if you prefer, you may roast them yourself. When choosing gourmet coffee beans for roasting, the coffee beans are called, "green" beans. This is due to the fact that the gourmet coffee beans are the color green before roasting. Not only will roasting your own green coffee tastes better, it is also less expensive to purchase green coffee beans compared to roasted coffee beans. Roasting your own coffee beans is not as difficult as it may seem. In fact, it only takes about 5-15 minutes to roast your own coffee beans. By roasting the green beans yourself, you are ensuring that your gourmet cup of coffee will be the most deliciously fresh cup of coffee you have ever experienced.
You can purchase a home coffee bean roaster from anywhere between $30.00- $100.00. It is very simple to use a home coffee bean roaster machine. Think of using an electric popcorn machine to pop popcorn, if you can operate a popcorn machine and create popcorn, you can also roast your own gourmet coffee beans and create the perfectly roasted bean. If you don't want to shell out the money for a home roaster, you can always pan roast.
During the early 1900's pan roasting and air roasting was a part of every American home. These were the days before mass commercialized roasted gourmet coffee beans, and the easiest, simplest, and most inexpensive way to get a delicious cup of coffee was by roasting your own coffee beans.