A hands-on guide

Learn to roast coffee.

From the raw green seed to the moment you drop the roast, this guide builds your mental model one concept at a time — then lets you play with it. The principles are roaster-agnostic (they hold for drum and air roasters alike), with a dedicated section on your Kaffelogic Nano and a roast simulator you can drive.

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How to use this guide

Read in order if you're new — each chapter assumes the last. The interactive widgets are the point: drag the sliders, break things, watch the curves react. You'll learn more in five minutes of fiddling than five pages of prose. Everything runs locally in your browser; nothing to install.

Part I · Foundations

01Start here What roasting is, the family of roasters, and how heat gets into a bean. 02The green bean Anatomy, moisture, density, variety and processing — the raw material. 03What roasting does The physical and chemical journey: weight, color, oils, energy.

Part II · Anatomy of a roast

04The three phases Drying, Maillard, development — and how long each should last. ⚙ Interactive: Phase Timeline 05First & second crack The audible milestones you roast by, and what's physically happening. 06Rate of Rise The most important line on the graph — and why it should fall. ⚙ Interactive: RoR Explorer 07Development & the drop Development time ratio, and knowing when to end the roast. ⚙ Interactive: DTR Calculator

Part III · Flavor & roast level

08The chemistry of flavor Maillard, caramelization and pyrolysis — where taste comes from. ⚙ Interactive: Maillard Zones 09Roast levels & trade-offs Light to dark: how acidity, body, sweetness and bitterness shift. ⚙ Interactive: Roast Level Explorer

Part IV · The Kaffelogic Nano

10Roasting on the Nano Fluid-bed convection, automated profiles, and the Nano's own number scale.

Part V · Put it together

11The roast simulator Drive a virtual roast. Choose the roaster, shape the heat, watch it crack. ★ Flagship: Roast Simulator

Reference

AGlossary Every term in one place. BResources Books, communities and tools to go deeper.

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A note on the numbers

Temperatures, times and tasting notes here are typical teaching values. Real coffee varies by origin, density and your specific machine — and every roaster reads temperature on its own scale. Treat the guide as a map, your roast log as the territory.