Last Updated on January 22, 2022 by John Moretti
For coffee lovers who want to roast their beans at home, unroasted coffee beans can easily be bought, but before you start buying, you need to know which unroasted coffee beans are the best. Here, I cover all aspects of these 8 best unroasted coffee beans to help you make the right choice.
Coffee is grown in many countries, each with distinct flavors. The best unroasted green coffee beans include Primos Unroasted Nicaraguan beans, Martini Guatemala Atitlán, Fresh Roasted Unroasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans, Heirloom Brazil Adrano, and Anthony’s Organic Unroasted Mexican beans.
Roasting your coffee beans at home is not complicated at all if you do it in small batches. Why not try your hand at roasting coffee beans yourself. In this article, I list the best-unroasted coffee beans available for home roasting.
When I refer to green or unroasted beans, it means the coffee beans are raw before roasting. Coffee beans are the seeds of coffee fruits called berries that carry the beans, and inside each fruit are two coffee beans. Sometimes only one bean is found inside the fruit, and these are called peaberries.
1. Fresh Roasted Coffee’s Unroasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Beans
These high-quality Ethiopian unroasted coffee beans are perfect for home roasting Kosher Certified Kosher, sustainably grown and packaged in the United States in 5-pound packages.
The Yirgacheffe coffee beans grow at high altitudes, where the coffee flavors become lighter the higher it grows above sea level. Yirgacheffe coffee beans notes range from fruity, earthy, citrusy, nutty, chocolate to spiced wine.
The Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans grow in Kochere, a small town that sits almost 2000 feet above sea level and wet-processed then sundried in the African sun.
Temperature, rain, and humidity all affect a coffee’s flavor and quality. The quality of the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans testifies to that grown under near-perfect conditions. Harvesting takes place from September to December.
The recommended roast for this coffee bean is light to medium to highlight the flavorful fruity body. Green unroasted coffee should be roasted and not consumed without roasting.
2. Stone Street Colombian Supremo Unroasted Coffee Beans
Colombian supremo unroasted coffee beans are grade one Arabica coffee beans. They have a golden color with intense flavor and rich aroma. The Colombian supremo Arabica beans are grown in the highlands of Colombia and have a fruity sweet flavor with a gentle acidic taste.
Because of the colder climate, the coffee beans are grown in Colombia; they take longer to ripen, which helps the beans to preserve more sugar. Colombian supremo beans are extra-large, and the fresh beans are packed in a 3-layer foil bag packaged in 1- and 5-pound bags.
It is recommended to roast these coffee beans anywhere from light to dark.
3. Primos Unroasted Nicaraguan Coffee Beans
Primos Coffee offers green unroasted coffee beans for home roasting. Their premium Arabica unroasted green beans originate from Caturra micro-lots at their fourth-generation Nicaraguan family-owned farm.
These green unroasted-coffee beans are famous for a gentle aroma full of rich sweetness that offers a smooth, well-balanced coffee. The sweet flavor is paired with a distinct citrus aroma and delicate cacao undertone.
These coffee beans are grown under shady trees, hand-picked, washed, and dried naturally with the highest sustainability methods. The recommended level of roast is medium to highlight the delicate aroma of this coffee bean.
4. Martini Unroasted Guatemalan Coffee Beans
These unroasted coffee beans are from the San Lucas Tolimán region on Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. The Arabica beans are grown under the shade that produces the best-flavored coffees.
These coffee beans are hand-picked once they reach perfect ripeness and are processed at Café Juan Ana’s facilities.
Before shipping, the coffee berries are washed, sorted, de-pulped, fermented, dried naturally in the sun, and stored in humidity-controlled cellars.
This processing and natural sun drying produce a balanced, rich, distinct flavor with citrus, floral, and chocolate undertones. They are available in packaging of 10 -, 20- and 40 pounds.
5. Smokin’ Beans Guatemala Unroasted Coffee Beans
These 100 % Arabica Bourbon coffee beans are grown in volcanic soils that present a unique flavor. The Guatemalan coffee beans are sweet and deliver a medium acidity level.
Roast the Guatemalan coffee beans in any grade you prefer. However, the flavor develops well when it is medium-dark roasted, which provides a full-bodied taste with undertones of butter, cinnamon, dark chocolate, raisins, and toasted nuts.
The single-origin beans are packaged fresh on the Finca Nueva Granada Guatemalan farm at 1800 meters above sea level.
This coffee is grown in the shade in the rich volcanic soil of the farm, wet-processed in spring water. The beans are harvested from October to December.
This exceptional coffee is Rainforest Alliance Certified for sustainable processing. The beans are packaged in burlap bags sourced on the farm.
6. Heirloom Coffee – Brazil Adrano Volcano Unroasted Coffee Beans
Brazilian Adrano heirloom coffee is a complex, intense coffee with a unique flavor of floral, earthy tones with a slight chocolate undertone.
The recommended roast for these unroasted coffee beans is light to a medium where the smooth fruity flavors come alive. When this coffee is dark roasted, the caramel flavor notes are surprising buttery. This is one of our favorite home roasting coffee beans.
The unique microclimate where these coffee beans are grown is perfectly sitting towards the sun. The soil is an enriched mix of fertile rainforest soil and volcanic minerals, adding minerals to this coffee.
Brazilian Adrano Volcan coffee beans are grown sustainably and UTZ certified. In a resealable poly bag for home roasting, unroasted coffee beans are available in 1-,3-,10-and 20-pound packages.
7. Anthony’s Organic Mexican Unroasted Coffee Beans
Even though most coffee enthusiasts who like to do their home roasting love unroasted coffee beans, we should not forget that various pesticides and chemicals in non-organic coffee beans can affect our cup of coffee.
This is why Anthony’s Organic unroasted coffee beans are our favorite because it contains none of those harmful substances and is sustainably grown.
It comes with an Organic certification from the USDA. Coffee beans are grown in volcanic soil from Mexico but packed in California. Available in 2-pound bags for small-batch roasting.
8. Teasia Green Unroasted Honduran Coffee Beans
This single-origin Honduran coffee is grown at 4,500 feet which produces a more flavorful and dense coffee bean. The Honduran beans have a subtle aroma with gentle acidity and a nutty honey undertone, giving this coffee a smooth, light, and sweet flavor.
These high-grade coffee beans are grown near San Pedro de Copán in Honduras on the Guatemalan border. The beans are hand-picked and wet-processed in small batches and naturally sun-dried.
They are available in 5-pound bags for small-batch home roasting.
Roasting Green Coffee Beans
The raw coffee beans undergo several stages of transformation when coffee is roasted. Roasting transforms the physical and chemical structures of the raw beans into roasted coffee beans. Roasted coffee beans are the coffee we use to brew our cups of coffee.
Green coffee beans have almost no taste; the aromas and flavors of coffee come alive during roasting by the Maillard reaction, the same reaction that changes a slab of meat into a delicious steak and slices of bread into toast.
When the green coffee beans are roasted, it increases sugar, protein, caffeine, acids, and sugar. Roasting coffee beans creates carbon dioxide. Roasted beans are filled with CO2, which the beans expel over the first few days.
The coffee beans cannot be brewed at this phase, and if you brew them while they are still filled with CO2, the coffee will taste sour.
You should wait five days to a week for the carbon dioxide to dissipate before you attempt to brew the beans. Take note that as soon as the coffee beans reach this point, time is of the essence.
When most of the carbon dioxide has dissipated, oxidization begins. This turns beans stale quickly when oxygen comes in contact with the coffee beans. The only way to prevent this process is to vacuum seal your coffee beans in a one-way valve vacuum bag.
Home roasting has become ever so popular these days.
It makes no difference if you have never roasted coffee beans; it is not complicated at all. Green coffee beans can be roasted with a coffee roaster you can purchase online. If you don’t have a coffee bean roasting machine, you can use a frying pan.
In this case, I find this Fresh Roast SR540 make roasting easier. It has a Real-Time Temperature Display, has 9 levels of heat and fan settings, and can roast 4oz (120 grams of raw coffee beans. It comes with a 1 year warranty.
Fresh Roast SR540
Four Levels of Roasts for Unroasted Green Coffee Beans
There are four different levels of roasting, and each one offers a unique profile. Let’s explain the four roasting profiles commonly used by roasters.
1. First: Light Roast
This level is a light roast that starts at 385°F when the beans crack the first time. This roast level lets you only experience hints of the green bean. A light roast doesn’t have any roasted flavors rather a raised acidity and gentle taste.
- Cinnamon Roast, 385°F – Fruity and Earthy tones
- England roast – 401°F
2. Second: Medium Roast
When the beans crack, the medium roast starts. The roasting should end when the second crack occurs; at this point, you reach the medium roast. You can taste the origin character within the roasting. With this level, roasted coffee beans are more caramelized with higher acidity that offers a nutty, sweet, full-bodied taste.
- American roast – 410°F Nutty and caramel
- City – 426°F
3. Third: Medium-dark Roast
The medium-dark roast is done quickly. The medium-dark roast level offers a bold flavor and full-body with raised levels of acidity and sweetness.
4. Fourth: Dark Roast
This is the last level of roasting. When the coffee beans heat up and collect the oil from the inside of the beans, the color of the beans begins to change from light brown to dark brown. Dark roasted beans have low acidity, smoky and bittersweet taste.
The body becomes lighter the more you roast. Most people disagree on which roast is better, dark or light. It all boils down to personal preference.
- French roast – 464°F
- Vienna roast – 446°F
- City – 437°F – Spicy, bittersweet and smoky
- Italian roast – 473°F
Conclusion
Roasting your favorite unroasted beans allows you to experiment with different roasting levels and learn more about the different flavor nuances.
You can roast the beans yourself to the roast level you choose and achieve a unique flavor when you chose to buy unroasted raw coffee beans. And home roasting coffee beans is a leap forward.
There are not as many unroasted green coffee beans available as the roasted varieties, but there are enough to pick, choose, and experiment with. It doesn’t matter if you are an expert roaster or novice first-timer. Roasting green coffee beans is not complicated at all. Give it a try.
I hope you can find a favorite among the eight unroasted coffee brands I listed from around the globe to try your hand at roasting beans yourself. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t find the ideal coffee bean you prefer right away. Keep experimenting until you find that special bean.
For several reasons, Primos Nicaragua unroasted beans are my favorite pick in this selection because it offers a delicious smooth, rich flavor and affordability all in one.
