My latest money making idea is inspired by a friend of mine, Peter Anderson at Bible Money Matters. He mentioned in a recent post that his brother makes money buying green coffee beans, roasting them, and reselling the roasted coffee in his local market for a profit.
I thought that was a great idea. So I thought I’d do a little research and share this great money making idea with you. Below you’ll find everything you need to get started roasting and selling coffee beans, along with plenty of free resources on coffee beans, equipment, and the roasting process.
Getting Started With Coffee Roasting
Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world. Anyone can roast their own if they know how. Surprisingly, roasting your own coffee beans doesn’t require a large startup cost or a ton of technical expertise. To get started, all you need are 3 things:
- A way to roast the coffee beans
- Green coffee beans
- Understanding of the roasting process
Start a Coffee Roasting Business With What You Have
According to SweetMarias.com, you can roast coffee beans in a conventional oven, an air popcorn popper, a stovetop popcorn popper, a skillet or even a wok. If you want to invest a little money, you can even invest in appliances made specifically for coffee bean roasting such as a drum roaster, an air roaster, or a stove top roaster.
Obviously, there are a lot of ways to roast coffee beans. My suggestion would be to start with a reasonably priced method first, and get a feel for the process before jumping in head first and buying expensive equipment.
According to SweetMarias, a hot air popcorn popper is the DIY method of choice if you don’t want to invest in dedicated coffee bean roasting equipment. If you don’t have an air popper at home, you can get one for relatively cheap at Amazon.com or your local department store. Of course, you might even be able to score one for just a couple of dollars at your local thrift store.
You Can Find a Complete List of Resources at the Bottom of This Post
I also put together a great Pinterest board where you can find green coffee beans, roasters, and books on how to roast your own coffee!
Buying Green Coffee Beans
Obviously, the other thing you need to roast your own coffee is green, unroasted coffee beans. Just like roasted coffee you buy at the store, there are plenty of varieties from every part of the world to choose from. For example, you can purchase beans from Brazil, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, India, Sumatra, Costa Rica and any other country that grows coffee. Any coffee beans you like roasted, you can buy unroasted as well.
You can even experiment by blending different coffee beans to get a unique flavor all your own. Consequently, roasting coffee is like making wine or brewing beer. There are a lot of variables you can use to get a very unique flavor that can be a big draw for your customers.
Roasting The Green Coffee Beans
The roasting process is where the magic happens. Understanding and controlling the different stages of the roasting process allows you to control the flavor and intensity of the end product to get exactly what you want out of your beans.
There are 8 stages in the roasting process you’ll need to know to get your coffee to just the right flavor:
- Yellowing- After a few minutes of roasting, the beans turn a yellowish color and start producing a grassy smell.
- Steam- Next, the beans begin to emit steam as the bean’s water content starts to dissipate.
- First Crack- The beans start to make a cracking sound, and the steam starts to become fragrant. Sugars within the beans begin to caramelize, and the oils in the beans start to migrate out from the inner parts.
- First Roasted Stage- Once the first crack happens, the coffee is completely roasted. You can now stop the roast for a lighter coffee, or continue the roast for a bolder, stronger flavor, according to your taste.
- Caramelization- The oils continue to migrate, and more caramelization happens. The beans darken and flavor becomes more intense. This stage achieves a City roast.
- Second Crack- After caramelization, a second crack can be heard. At this point, the flavor achieved by roasting can overtake the flavor of the bean’s origin. Just after you start hearing the second crack, you have achieved a City+ roast, also known as a Vienna roast.
- Darkening Roast- The sugars have completed caramelization and start to burn. The beans begin to break down at the end of the second crack. At this point, you have achieved a French roast.
- Burned- Once the sugars have burned completely, there is nothing left to roast. You’ll end up with beans that will not produce anything resembling a good cup of coffee.
Start Small and Grow From There
A little experimentation and refinement can make your coffee a huge hit. Start small by offering your coffee blends to family and friends to sample, and see which ones they like best. Then you can start selling your coffee to them. You can also offer your blends to local coffee shops and restaurants, your local flea market, or even start a home based business on Amazon.
Once you’ve cracked the local market, you could also try selling online in your own store, or even on Amazon.com among other sites.
Coffee roasting is the kind of business where the sky’s the limit. If you like, you can start small and just make a little extra money selling to people you know. Also, you can grow it into a large enterprise, selling your unique blends across the country.
I’ll be interested to see if any CFF readers decide to start a coffee roasting business. If you do, let me know. I’d like to see how it works out for you.
Question: Have you ever roasted your own coffee or started a coffee roasting business? Tell me about it in the comments.
Coffee Bean Roasting Resources
Want to learn more about roasting your own coffee? Here are a few good resources for you to check out.
You can also check out my Coffee Roasting Pinterest Board to find roasters, books on roasting, and green coffee beans from around the world!
Coffee Roasting Equipment
How to Roast Green Coffee Beans
Coffee Roasting Unlimited Guide: 8 Facts You Need To Know
Starting a Coffee Roasting Company In Your Basement
6 Home Coffee Roasting Methods Tested
How to Roast Coffee At Home On a Grill
Books and Articles About Coffee Roasting
How I Roast Amazing Coffee at Home by Jessica Crane-Munoz
The Art and Craft of Coffee- An Enthusiast's Guide to Selecting, Roasting, and Brewing Exquisite Coffee by Kevin Sinnott
The Little Coffee Know-It-All by Dr. Shawn Steiman
11 Ways to Use Coffee Grounds in the Garden
Remember to check the local Cottage Food Laws. Some states wont let you sell online from home and you’re only, legitimately, only to bring in so much money per year without having to have a building and health inspection.
Other resources
Green coffee buying club
Genuine origin
Hey, thanks for the article. I did read it 2 years back and started my coffee business. It took me by surprise because the first batch of 10 kg coffee sold over night just through friends, family and some promotion over Instagram. It’s been 11 months and we have sold 10-15 kgs per month on a regular basis without investing any money in marketing or promotion.
That’s great Sandeep! Glad to hear you’re making money with it!
Maybe you can test my own coffee i’m at Colombia Ibague(Tolima) we have a great coffee.
Hello Everyone,
My Name is Roman From Ethiopia the origin of Coffee,I am on the way to start a small coffee business and looking for a buyer of roasted and grounded coffee round the world. is there any one who work with me. please contact on romantef@gmail.com
Hi Marc,
Can you email me at marcduck11@gmail.com. I have a couple questions for you regarding starting your own coffee business.
Do I need special license for it if I want to sell my own brand coffee that I work in my basement
“Approve”
Hello everyone
I am in Lesotho, please advise how I can start roasting coffee and where I can get equipment as well as beans to start. Rorisang775 @gmai. com
Hello I’m Currently a Small Roaster. I Sell My Roasted Coffee on Facebook with my own business page and sharing to other sites. I have an Etsy Store and have Recently starting selling in bulk on eBay. Is there any suggestions as to how I can grow further also I understand health laws are different in each state. Any thoughts or Suggestions? Thanks!
You could open your own website in addition to the channels you’re already using. The profit margins would likely be higher. Also, you could create a brand, then bag it and sell it to brick and mortar stores in your area. You could also offer a service to create a custom brand for stores to use as their own- you roast it and bag it in their branded bags as an added service for an added fee. There are a ton of things you can do if you can think about the different types of customers you could cultivate.
You might even benefit hugely just by learning to grow your business as it is now. I know an expert on growing online businesses that you could get a lot of benefit from. His name is Steve Chou. You can sign up for his free mini course (I’m an affiliate) to get familiar with what he does and how much success he’s had teaching people to grow their online businesses.
Here’s the link to sign up for Steve’s mini course: https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?cl=156685&c=ib&aff=270835
Hello all, happy new year 2017 coffee lovers.
Well, this is Solomon from Uganda and glade joining this coffee discussion group. Here in Uganda, we do have better and high quality Arabica and Robasta coffee species.
However, of recent, I have managed to establish my own coffee roasting business and indeed, am now doing well.
Hello Solomon, am very pleased by your work. I am Esther from kenya and i got dried coffee berries which i want to start roasting, kindly advice on how to get market for this.njestar@gmail.com.
Hi Solomon! Can you email me, I have a couple question for you!
marcduck11@gmail.com
I got green coffee from my parents farm in Honduras for sale in Maryland email me coffeedelcerro@Gmail.com
Hi all , I am planning to start up roasting n grinding. Please suggest from where should we purchase roasting n grinding machine? Need to understand more. Will send mails seperately
Dear All,
i can provide you Grade A Arabica Green Bean.
The Coffee are from Indonesia, North Sumatera.
Email me Albert_hong88@yahoo.co.id
I’ve done exactly that:-). Thanks for the article, my mission is now to crack my local market. I’m selling to friends and got an online shop dsbeans.nz. Blessings. Derik
Awesome! You put together a nice looking website. Good luck in selling your beans!!!
Thank you :-). Blessings. Ps.D
My wife’s family has access to premium quality beans from Colombia (like Geisha) as her father has been growing coffee for more than 30 years. We have finally found a solution to bring it to the US and we are trying to get it to the market starting here in SF Bay area, what would be the best way to approach this?
You can get in touch with us here: marjohbel@gmail.com
Thx for your help!
I’m sorry, I really know nothing about importing, marketing, or selling coffee at wholesale. I’m afraid I could not be of any help to you.
Quick question. Let’s say you have access to land and could potentially grow your own coffee beans. How are costs compared to growing your own beans vs buying green and just roasting?
Sorry, I know absolutely nothing about growing coffee and the costs associated with that. I do know that it usually only grows well in certain climates, so where you live may or may not be conducive to coffee growing.
I’m not sure if it’s too late for you to see this, but you should understand that the “area” in which they’re grown is crucial to taste. For example, a bean coming from Guatemala as compared to Ethiopia will have different flavors to them. If your niche is “Grown right here in (enter state/city/etc.)” then that may work for you. But there’s a chance it won’t. You can look up the ratings of coffee beans from different locations. Ethiopia has recently taken a dominant stance as the “best” location to buy your coffee beans from, based on flavor, color, body, floral notes, sweetness, etc. I suggest you look into getting your beans from some of the top notch places of the world and making it known that you’re doing exactly that.
Heard. So you are recommending purchasing green beans from the “best” locations. Eliminating the variable of origin, that way you can focus on roasting which can be done from any where? (enter state/city/country etc.) Appreciate the input.
Im a farmer from Nicaragua and i have the idea of roasting my own coffee and sale it in Southern California. Does anybody knows the u.s government requirements to open a Coffee Roaster Business?
oarodriguezvs@gmail.com
Hello I recently inherit 120 acres of organic caffee and the harvest will start next month .but however I have no clue on how to sale it any ideas ? My company is permitted to export and is a good high quality caffee from the mountains of veracruz mexico .if any one can help me figure this out or is interested on buying we could both make a good profit. Please email me at santimolina79@gmail.com
Really know nothing about coffee exporting. Your best bet would be to Google “how to export coffee Mexico” and see what you can find.
To sell your own personal roasted coffee beans on Amazon, would you need a license to do that?
I’m not sure, that would definitely be a question for Amazon to answer for you.
Alyssa, to sell coffee on Amazon your business has to apply for approval to sell in that category. It’s a closed category like jewelry where Amazon has its own process of screening and approving vendors to see if their products and service satisfy Amazon standards.
I’m a farmer from Honduras, I have a lot of coffee to sale, I want to bring it to America what are the permits I need to have to sale coffee here, pls help..?
Sorry, I have no expertise in that area. You could probably do a Google search to find out how to do that.
Hey Daniel please email me, I am interested in buying coffee from Honduras from you and bringing it to the States. Crisojerez@icloud.com
Hello Cristian Jerez
I glad you are interesting in buying coffee from us, here is my info, pls send me details on what are you looking for and how much.
Daniel Baez
dbaezmo@gmail.com
(301)500-7881
I’m afraid this article dramatically oversimplifies things. Cal is absolutely correct that your state and/or municipal health department will almost certainly have regulations, possibly the same ones that pertain to any food-related business (unless your state/municipaiity has “cottage food industry” laws. In my area, any food-related business is required to have three sinks, a mop sink, inspections, licenses and all of the other accouterment you would want of people handling edibles and drinkables. I would also strongly recommend something more than an air popper from Goodwill to ensure consistency and ability to control the many variables that impact on a coffee’s quality. The last thing you want to do is start you business with subpar coffees that no one will want to buy a second time. Sorry to be a kill joy.
founded September 14, 2010. We are a company that is dedicated to bringing our customers the quality that they expect. Buying from us is as close to farming your self directly as you can get.
We work with a group of over 450 farmers. By doing so we can guarantee an annual production of no less than 2,000,000 pounds of organic coffee beans per season.
we have organic certified coffee ready to go. does anyone on this forum know someone that may be interested in being a potential buyer or can point me in the right direction? My business email is Guatemalaorganiccoffee@gmail.com
The issue here is licensing. Your local health & environmental dept will have to approve you, after some fees.
If you started small and just sold to friends and family that probably wouldn’t be an issue. But if you decided to branch out into retail sales it would definitely be a concern.
So how much are the green beans vs the roasted beans by the lb?
From what I’ve seen in my research, if you just buy green coffee a pound at at time, it’s not much cheaper than roasted coffee. It’s usually a hobbyist who wants coffee for their own use that would buy a pound at a time.
You can go to sites like CoffeeBeanDirect.com or Javabeanplus.com and buy it in bulk at the much cheaper wholesale price, and even get free shipping if you order more than 25 lbs. There may even be places you could get it for cheaper by getting the beans directly from a farmers cooperative or similar setup, but I’m not aware of how to find any of those.
Hope this helps Julie!
Whether the green beans are cheaper or not than roasted beans depends on what type of roasted beans you are buying. If you are referring to the typical store-bought beans like Folgers, Maxwell House, Dunkin Donuts, etc. than yes, you will most likely find these roasted beans to be around the same cost per lb. The issue with buying coffee from these major brands is the freshness. Roasted coffee beans are only fresh for around 2 weeks at most, and it’s practically impossible to find a bag of beans that are the fresh at the supermarket. There are even bigger problems with buying ground coffee beans. You really don’t want to grind coffee beans until you are ready to brew your beverage.
If you seek to purchase high-quality beans that are roasted with a few days of you receiving them, it’s best to look for small businesses (local or national). I typically use coffeekind.com to purchase roasted beans from small roasters, and I’m guaranteed beans roasted at the time I placed my order. When comparing these freshly roasted beans from small sellers to buying green beans, green beans are much more cost effective (around $7-$12 cheaper per pound). Also, you can store the green beans exponentially longer than roasted beans (months) and roast them when you’re ready to use for the next work-week!