While you may have heard the phrase "green coffee" thrown around at your local cafe, many people are still unaware of what it actually is. No, it isn't oddly colored java or moldy beans! Essentially, green coffee is coffee that is unroasted. When you purchase brown, glossy beans at the store, these beans have already been roasted and are ready for grinding - however with green coffee, you do all the roasting yourself.



Why choose green coffee? In truth, the choice between green and pre-roasted really depends on personal preference of freshness. Coffee beans begin to lose their freshness immediately after roasting, which causes both the flavor and aroma to slowly diminish until you finally grind the beans and make your morning cup o' joe. While companies certainly strive to ensure the beans have minimal exposure to the air before packaging, there's never a guarantee that you won't come home with coffee beans that are just a little bit stale.

Buying green allows coffee connoisseurs to store their green coffee beans until they're ready to have a cup of coffee - whereupon they will roast the beans, grind them, and make their coffee with the freshest coffee beans you can get! Home roasters aren't very difficult to find either, and are relatively simple to figure out after only a few uses. The longer the roasting time, the stronger the flavor will be - simple as that!

And yet, it can still be perplexing as to why anyone would go through this hassle just for a fresh cup of coffee now and again. In actuality, green costs less to purchase than beans that are already roasted! This is because labor costs are significantly reduced, since no one is roasting the beans for you. Green beans also last longer than beans that have already been roasted - they'll last up to several years when stored in a canvas bag between 10 and 30 degrees Celsius.

Essentially, the choice of using green coffee beans comes down to quality vs. convenience. While store-bought beans are certainly less hassle and tend to taste fine, there's always the risk of getting beans that have been sitting around in the dispenser for quite some time. With green coffee, you'll have to invest in a home roaster and take some practice runs through before you feel comfortable with it and figure out your preferred coffee strength. It's quite the dilemma - green coffee lasts longer and costs less, but you'll have to do some extra work ' though you'll also have a fresher cup of coffee in the end!