Roasted, Part 2

Now that you know more about where we get our beans it’s time to talk about how we turn those little green beans into a delicious cup of coffee, in other words, let’s get down to roasting!

The roasting process takes the green beans we get from farms around the world and uses heat to extract as much of the unique flavor as possible. Sounds simple, right?

But the truth is, there is a lot more happening in the roasting process than just heat. It starts with knowing what type of bean is being roasted and extends to how long we allow it to heat and even how quickly we allow it to heat up. There are even different machines and methods for roasting, that’s why you can have the same type of coffee bean roasted at two different coffeehouses and taste different flavors.

So how are we roasting our beans?

In our brand new Roasting Room at Coffeehouse Five we have a fluid bed roaster. The fluid bed roasting process, also known as hot air roasting, uses forced hot air to agitate and roast coffee beans. The perfectly controlled hot air flows over a tilted bed and circulates through the beans, roasting each bean evenly. This hot air reaches temperatures of between 450 and 485 degrees Fahrenheit.

We truly believe this method of roasting creates some of the best coffee you will ever taste for a few reasons. First of all, it has a unique method of removing the chaff that the coffee beans shed as they heat. This is important because coffee beans are so absorbent if the chaff remained in the chamber during the roast it would soak up some of that unwanted flavor.

Another reason is its efficiency in heat transference. Our machine can reach higher temperatures in half of the time of many cylindrical roasters, which is absolutely essential to ensuring a smooth cup of coffee with the least amount of acidity possible. Before the roasting process can truly extract the essential flavors of a given coffee bean, the natural moisture needs to be extracted and the longer it takes to do this the more time it allows for acids to build up and block the real flavor of the bean and potentially cause stomach irritation. So by reaching a higher temperature faster we minimize acid buildup and truly showcase the natural flavors of the bean.

Finally, perhaps one of our favorite parts about roasting in-house is that we get to share it with you and you will know you are getting the freshest cup of coffee possible; you can even have a sip while you watch the roasting process happen!
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So stop by and try a cup and check it out!