cal
change. After it has been in the cylinder a short time, the color of the
bean becomes a yellowish brown, which gradually deepens as it cooks.
Likewise, as the beans become heated, they shrivel up until about half
done, or at the "developing" point. At this stage, they begin to swell,
and then "pop open", increasing fifty percent in bulk.[327] This is when
the experienced roasterman turns on all the heat he can command to
finish the roasting as quickly as possible.

_"Dry" and "Wet" Roasts_

At frequent intervals, he thrusts his "trier"--an instrument shaped
somewhat like an elongated spoon--into the cylinder, and takes out a
sample of coffee to compare with his type sample. When the coffee is
done, he shuts off the heat and checks the cooking by reducing the
temperature of the coffee and of the cylinder as quickly as can be done.
In the wet roast method he will spray the coffee, while the cylinder is
still revolving, with three to four quarts of water to every 130 pounds
of coffee. In the dry method he depends altogether upon his cooling
apparatus.

Roasters generally are not in favor of the excessive watering of coffee
in and after the roasting process for the purpose of reducing shrinkage.
"Heading" the coffee, or checking the roast before turning it out of the
roasting cylinder, is quite another matter and is considered legitimate.
Where coffees are watered in the cylinder at the close of the roast to
reduce the shrinkage, it is possible to get back only about four percent
of the shrinkage by such treatment and the practise is frowned upon by
the best roasters.

Generally speaking, water is turned into the roasting cylinder to quench
the roast. The amount varies with the style of machine, whether gas or
coal. Usually the water turns to steam, and the result is not an
absorption of the water but a momentary checking of the roast with a
tendency to swell and to brighten the coffee. This is, comparatively
speaking, a "dry roast", but not an absolutely dry roast. It is doubtful
if more than one percent of American coffee roasters employ an
absolutely "dry" roast--it does not give satisfactory results. The word
has been abused for advertising purposes. Of course, a dry roasted
coffee is a better article for making a satisfactory beverage than one
that has been soaked with water; but the word "dry" must be given a
definite meaning, which the trade generally will agree to uphold, if it
is to have any real meaning