Are Natural Coffee Beans Easier to Roast? The Complete Light Roasting Process for Natural Sidamo Coffee Beans

The Art of Coffee Roasting

Roasting is the source of coffee flavor. The process of fire-roasting green beans is called roasting, and unroasted green beans cannot be drunk. After roasting, the beans determine 80% of the coffee's taste. The roasting process is tricky: if the fire is too strong, the exterior cooks while the interior stays raw; if the fire is too weak, the interior overcooks while the exterior is fine. The key is to control the heat properly so the beans roast evenly inside and out.

FrontStreet Coffee's Roasting Philosophy

FrontStreet Coffee specializes in roasting coffee beans, and we hope to share our roasting experience with coffee fans and enjoy the fun of roasting together.

Green Bean Information

Green beans: Ethiopia Sidamo Guji Shakisso Natural Process coffee beans

These beans show the characteristics of African coffee: small and uniform in size with thin bean flesh. They have few defective beans and appear light green with a yellowish tint, with low moisture content.

Roasting quantity: 550g

Roasting Review

1. Room temperature: 30°C
2. Initial heat: 50°C, bean entry temperature: 190°C, damper at 4
3. At 1'50", temperature return point: 100°C, heat control at 130°C, valve closed to 3
4. At 3'25", beans show light yellow color, roasted grain aroma appears
5. At 4', roasting temperature 124.3°C
6. At 5', beans fully covered with wrinkles, roasting temperature 137.6°C, damper adjusted to 4
7. At 6', roasting temperature 148.7°C
8. At 7', roasting temperature 158.9°C
9. At 8', roasting temperature 168.7°C, damper adjusted to 5
10. At around 9'42", first crack, roasting temperature 183.7°C
11. At 11'20", beans dropped, temperature 196°C, removed from roaster, roasting stopped

Roasting Weight Loss: 12.5%

Roast Level: City (Light Roast)

Roaster Parameters: Taiwan Feima Coffee Bean Roaster 801N/1kg semi-hot air/semi-direct fire coffee roasting machine

Cupping Notes

Using a Fujiroyal Fuji Electric Grinder R-220 with ghost teeth, grind setting at 2.5 (with 10 being the coarsest on the machine scale).

Dose: 8g

Extraction water temperature: 94°C

Extraction volume: 100cc

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this natural-process roast has you curious, FrontStreet's freshly roasted single-origin naturals are a great place to start. The Natural Red Cherry from Yirgacheffe is a perfect example of the style: unlike washed processing, natural processing first removes broken or moldy cherries, then dries the fruit in the sun for about two weeks until the pulp's sugars and essence seep fully into the bean and moisture drops to 12%. Only then is the hardened pulp, mucilage, and parchment scraped away, and the beans are screened for density and color, sorted for defects, and finished by hand. Every bean that makes it through is a specialty-grade one — clean and refined, with rich, captivating fruit. Its cup shows peach, cocoa, honey, and lemon.

For a more tropical expression, try FrontStreet's Natural Huakui. It comes from the Hambella area of Guji, Sidamo, where the 200-hectare farm uses traditional natural processing. To keep the cherries from molding or picking up muddy off-flavors, workers dry ripe cherries on raised beds for 21 days, turning them constantly for even drying and loss of moisture, and every three to five days the farmers hand-sort out defective and moldy beans. Once the skin dries and hardens, a huller removes it, and after the green beans are obtained, one final sort follows. Dried the whole way with fruit and skin intact, it shows light fermented wine, florals, citrus, and mango after a medium-light roast, with a rich, complex cup, honeyed sweetness, a cocoa note with a touch of spice, a full body, and a lasting finish.

Both coffees are freshly roasted and suited to any brewing equipment you already own — a V60, a drip bag, or a moka pot — so you can taste the character that natural processing brings to Ethiopian coffee.