Recently, my husband decided to start a coffee roasting service. This new enterprise has been wonderful for both of us, already. Only a month has passed since the shiny new roaster arrived through customs, to function so well in its setting, a space built for the purpose, which is only for the roasting of those beans.
I thought it was such a good idea, and it was really exciting to see the
roasting machine. It is quite big- four feet long.
Research taught us both
that the roast shade of the coffee (or, the amount of time that it is heated)
determines its flavour, to some degree.
Formerly, I had held the belief that dark coffee (which I absolutely love) came from a Parisian business, and also that it was a special coffee hybrid.
I have learned, now, from basic reading, that there are three really dark shades of coffee. Darkness and some shininess appear during what the coffee experts call "the end of the first crack", or the start of the "second crack". By this, they refer to the sound of bran splitting away from the raw beans, as they roast. The perfected and shiny dark brown bean is called, universally, "Inner City Dark".
I used to purchase coffee called by this name, and it was from a reputable coffee industry, always beautifully packaged. I thought it was a trade name, like "Floral Ranch", or some such romance.
Back to Mr Wonderful. He roasted his first pounds of beans with great enthusiasm... you buy these in bulk, and they are a soft avocado green as raw dried beans.
He did buy two types of coffee; one is called Santiago. He told me that the actual types of coffee do express different tastes, for instance one of them is fruity and sweet, the other is more chocolatey.
When he first mixed the beans, purchased through a dealer from two different growing regions, he knew you could try blends of different types, shading them to the correct roast for taste, and more than that. I had never heard this before, but the more deeply a coffe bean is roasted, the less caffeine remains in the bean. This is because the oils start floating to the surface of the bean, so if you are buying freshly roasted beans for their purity, look for dark and shiny if you want less of a coffee buzz.
To my enormous delight, my husband produced two types of coffee blends and roasts, one being a smooth fruity breakfast blend and the other a perfect Inner City Dark, the first try!
I am not a squeakingly perfect whole foods freak, but - close. Both my palate and my metabolism were more than satisfied with the freshness and depth of taste and aroma.
Watching the beans as they roasted was also really fascinating - the modern control panel goes on, the temperatures are shown and many bright lights start flashing and glowing. The machine itself has a shiny brass oven barrel set into a green enamelled fixture. It is handsome to see.
There are many sites on the internet that tell you about blends and also coffee roast shades. We of course, made several videos about the first roast, and my husband put a few of them onto YouTube.com. I made him a small website (this is a little, local part time businesss in Kanata, Ontario) and we are building the together. He is adding customers' testimonials, so there will be a page that reflects clients' appreciation of the beautiful, fresh coffee.
NB: Brents' business is now on hold, (2015) so sites are down. He'll be back!
Click to Brents' site address here.
His business is called Simply Fresh
Roastery", and you can click the text
here to link to the site. (Top left hand corner of each page will link to text-equivalent, print-friendly pages)
All he does is to freshly roast beans for you, but
you are assured that there is no tainting by tin or plastic wrap, no storage
time - you visit us and take them out still hot from the roaster (which you and
the kids can watch) or pick them up a day later - depending on your needs. You
need to make an appointment if you want them roasted while you wait. It
certainly is a pleasant experience. The fragrance is lovely,and the taste of the
coffee is excellent. What else could it be?
Bye for now!
Sue
copyright Sue Risk Northdays Image 2004 - 2015