Step 1 : Introduction to the question "3. After picking and processing, we have green coffee beans, which are stable for up to a year if properly stored. This is the form in which most coffee is shipped. What is the name of the usual last step in preparing coffee beans for the consumer?"
...1. cooking 2. roasting 3. baking 4. grilling Roasting produces dramatic changes in the flavor of the coffee, but also reduces its subsequent shelf life. Some people choose to purchase green beans and do the roasting themselves. Increasingly, green coffee beans are being used in blends because of their supposed health benefits. Beans are heated for varying lengths of time in the roasting process, depending on their type and on the desired flavor outcome. The longer they roast, the darker they become, and the more the roasting flavor takes over from the subtle differences between beans from different regions and species. Coffee which wants to emphasize the regional variant is lightly roasted, stopping at the first crack stage. Longer heating leads to medium roasting, full roasting and double roasting, at which stage the beans are starting to smoke and virtually none of the original regional flavor remains in the resulting intensely-flavored but light-bodied coffee.