2 years ago I did my first roasts. 40kgs of seasoning roasts. I managed to convince a friend to “help” / make sure I didn’t burn the place down and we fired up the roaster for the first time.
This was the first time I’d used a coffee roaster bigger than the little gene cafe roaster I’d been home roasting 250g batches on for the previous few years. I panicked at every step esp when I thought the coffee was way too hot and was going to burst into flames, it didn’t 😅
At the end of the day I had 40kgs of black oily coffee that was no good to anyone, that is how seasoning roasts are supposed to be, but each roast had taken around 20+ mins as I was charging so low and using such low heat input, but it was a successful day!
2 years on, still full of imposter syndrome 😅, but I’ve roasted over 2 tonnes of coffee, real small levels compared to many other roasteries, I’ve read and re-read whatever I can and am still learning, I’ve messed up some batches and also roasted some amazing coffees, meet loads of new people, roasters, suppliers, traders and customers, giving me great support and help.
As a business it is slowly growing, slower than I’d hoped or anticipated but then I’m not very ferocious and getting contracts or sales, but I’m still growing and the business is just about supporting itself. I’ve had customers buy from me once and then disappear, obviously giving me sleepless nights that my roasting is terrible 😅 but I’ve also got people that buy from me time and time again, have bought coffee for their friends and family, have signed up to subscriptions and give me amazing feedback.
So this long post comes down to me saying thank you for all the people that have supported me, bought from me once or multiple times, sent me coffee to try, visited the roastery or tracked me down at events and markets. Without you I wouldn’t be where I am today and won’t be anywhere in the future.
Thanks ☺️
