A Toronto company is determined to persuade coffee lovers that unroasted beans are the way to go. "Is your coffee fresh?" inquires a neat little brochure from The Merchants of Green Coffee, an eight year old company on Toronto's east end. Odds are it isn't. Most homemade and takeout coffee is stale, because roasted beans lose their freshness in about five days, acquiring a characteristic bitter taste as carbon dioxide escapes and oxygen turns them rancid. But unroasted beans will last for years on the shelf, ready to be roasted and brewed at a moment's notice. That's why Merchants, an importing company, wants to spread the gospel of green. "A hundred years ago, everyone was roasting their own coffee," says company co-founder Derek Zavislake. "If you've never really tasted high-quality fresh coffee, you don't know what to compare it to." Green, unroasted coffee beans have no taste. The aroma and flavour of coffee are released during the roasting process as the sugars and carbohydrates inside the bean begin to caramelize. Merchants sells only premium-grade Arabica coffee from Africa, Latin America and Indonesia. "Our mantra," Zavislake says. "is fresh coffee, fair trade, green business." All the coffee they import is organic, shade-grown by independent growers in ecologically sustainable conditions. In order to spread the word, Merchants has a beans-of-the-month plan that delivers two pounds of premium-grade green Arabica coffee to members' doors for another $25 plus shipping a month. For another $180, they will sell you a counter-top coffee roaster that works on the same principle as a hot-air popcorn maker. The beans are also available at such Toronto locations as The Big Carrot and All the Best Fine Foods for $8-$12 a pound. Ashley's on Bloor Street sells the coffee roasters. But Zavislake stresses that an ordinary oven works just as well. "Our overall thing is quality," Zavislake says. "Politics are important, because small, independent producers grow the best beans. And what it takes to get quality are three things: good beans, a fresh roast and proper brewing." The most important factor in brewing at home is water temperature. "Get the water to 195 to 205 degrees." Most home coffeemakers don't get hot enough, so Zavislake recommends the French press, there's the fact that 50 per cent of people like fine particles in their coffee, 50 per cent don't. Those fine particles that sit in the water are still extracting. French press is good for the first five minutes." After that, he says, it becomes bitter. But he says the best brewing method of all is to steep coffee like tea. He places the grounds in a teapot, pours boiling water over them, allows the coffee to steep for a few moments, and then strains it into a carafe through a paper or cloth filter.