Roasting Specialty Coffee

Small Batch Specialty Coffee Roasting

At Bell’s Beans we roast in small batches of 3-8kgs of coffee at a time. The coffee is then stored to “de-gas” this is when CO2 that was produced in the beans as they were roasting escapes. This step is important as a very fresh coffee that hasn’t been aloud to de-gas may taste “toasty” or sour due to the CO2 trapped in it. This is especially true with espresso as this brew method doesn’t allow a “bloom phase” which lets the CO2 escape.

The coffee is then bagged to order.

We also only buy coffee in small batches, maybe only 1 sack at a time, so once the coffee is sold out it is usually sold out until the following year, if we can get it again. This keeps the stock fresh and lets you enjoy new coffees through the year.

Understanding Roast Profiling – The Difference between Medium, Medium-Dark and Dark Roasts

One of the most important factors that determine the taste of coffee is the degree to which the coffee beans are roasted. The process of coffee roasting starts with raw, green beans that have little to no taste and transforms them into aromatic and flavourful crunchy coffee beans.

The most common way to determine the roast level of a coffee is by the colour of the roasted beans, ranging from light to dark (or extra dark). As coffee beans absorb heat in the roasting process, their colour becomes darker and oils appear on the surface of the beans at higher temperatures. Once the coffees have dried out from around 12% moisture down to less than 4%, interesting things start happening. First the acids in the coffee begin to develop, and as it gets darker the sugars will develop. The acids then begin to be consumed, with some turning into new sugars. Eventually the sugars begin to caramelise and crisp (known as Maillard reaction, as found in browned toast); and finally, if you go on too long, the fibres will begin to burn.

Preferred roasting levels can vary depending on where you are in the world. Europeans have traditionally favoured dark roasts, which is why a coffee roast may be described as French, Italian or Spanish, as these are particularly dark. Also, In the United States the West Coast tend to prefer darker roasts than those on the East Coast. Australia and New Zealand have moved more to the medium roasted coffee and have pioneered the 3^rd Wave coffee culture from roasting to speciality coffee shops serving both espresso based drinks along side pour over and drip style coffees. Some Nordic cultures prefer a very lightly roasted coffee that sometime has barely reached first crack in the roasting process.

All these different roast levels will give you different balances of acid, sweetness, body, bitterness within the chosen coffee and every coffee will give you different results at each roast level. The possibilities are endless!

How we approach specialty coffee roasting at Bell’s Beans.

At Bell’s Beans we are following the “3^rd wave” coffee ethos. That is moving away from the dark roasted, oily coffee beans (2^nd wave) and more to a lighter style of roasting. This brings out more of the origin notes, sweetness, acidity of the beans rather than the roasty, bitter, smoky flavour that comes from the darker roasts.

Ultimately why would we buy speciality grade coffee that has been treated and tended to with so much care to make sure its the best it can be, only to roast it and make it all taste the same, completely ignoring the unique flavours of every region, plant variety, farm and processing type.

Medium
Medium roasted coffees are medium brown in colour and have no oil on the surfaces, with a balance of flavour, aroma and acidity.

Medium-Dark
Medium-dark roasts have a richer/darker colour with some oil beginning to show on the surface of the beans. A medium-dark roast has a heavier body in comparison to the medium roast. The flavours and aromas of the roasting process become noticeable, and the taste of the coffee may be somewhat spicy.

Dark
Dark roasted beans are dark in colour, like chocolate, and may sometimes be almost black. They will have a sheen of oil on the surface, which is usually evident in the cup when the coffee is brewed. Dark roast coffees will generally have a more bitter and smoky taste.

Caffeine levels

At each roast level is a highly debated topic but in general the amount of caffeine in each bean does not change through the roasting process, but the bean as a whole gets larger and looses weight. So as the bean is loosing weight but the caffeine weight is staying the same, then it can be said that the % of caffeine of each bean increases.

As beans get darker through the roast process they become less dense, bigger in size and loose weight, this means there are more beans for any given dose of coffee, so a 20g dose of dark coffee will contain more beans than a lighter roasted coffee and there for could contain more caffeine, compared to a 20g dose of lighter coffee. Although this then depends on bean type, age, brew style, extraction etc.

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