The art of hand-roasting We believe coffee roasting is a unique skill that is easy to pick up, but takes years to master. Thankfully we have been roasting for years, and that’s why we call our talented coffee roasters “roastmasters”. We don’t rely on automated machinery to roast our coffee to perfection, instead we control the development of the roast by hand, using sensory skills to monitor changes in colour, aroma, and physical changes in the beans. The ability to craft roast to produce an accurate roast profile (how the temperature changes during roasting), is key to the consistency of each batch of coffee we roast. We also cup (taste) every single batch of coffee post-roast for quality-approval before it’s sent out to you. Not one roast fits all We work with many different coffees; grown at varying degrees of altitudes, with a multitude of varieties, different bean densities, and crafted with different post-harvest processing methods. This means each coffee requires a specific roast profile to achieve a balanced expression of flavour. Add to this the seasonal weather changes and our roast masters are presented with a series of questions when approaching our daily production roasts. When coffee is roasted perfectly, the physical appearance of the beans will change during the roast – the beans will expand in size and any wrinkles on the surface will be smoothed out. The beans will also crack open as they explode like popcorn. This is caused by the increase in pressure as water vapour ruptures the cellular structure of the coffee and the natural oils in the bean reach critical mass and move to the outer surface. It’s these oils that contribute to the overall flavour of the drink. This stage in the roast causes the fruity notes in the coffee which are delicate and can be destroyed if too much heat is applied initially. The key is getting the heat balance just right so the fruity notes are balanced and complemented by the sugar browning in stage two. We design our specific roast profiles tailored to the post-harvest processes and thereby highlight these different flavours. We seek to bring out the wild strawberry fruits of a natural coffee, jammy redcurrant, sugar cane and brown sugars of the honey process, or the vanilla, chocolate and caramel and fudge of the fully washed process coffees.
