The Simple Pleasures of Roasting

Our expert coffee roaster, Em, breaks down a typical day at our Roastery…

My favourite days in the Roastery are those where it is nothing but back-to-back roasting. Tuning into the machine, there is a certain rhythm that sets in as batches roll out seamlessly. Although not for everyone, the routine and repetition of the job is one of my favourite things about being a roaster. 

But what does a day of roasting coffee involve? 

The Warm-Up 

After arriving at the roastery and having savoured my first coffee of many, the next step is firing up the roaster. The machine requires at least 30-40 minutes to warm up to optimum temperature, hovering around 200°C, ensuring ample heat inside for the first batch of the day. 

Green Bean Preparation 

Whilst the machine warms up slowly, I make my way to the stacks of green bean sacks in the corner of the Roastery. Having arrived from Brazil, Guatemala, and Colombia to name just a few, these sacks hold the key ingredients for our roasts. 

Depending on the agenda of the day, I prepare the buckets of green beans, allocating one batch per bucket, each around 15kg of one variety of bean. Lining up all the buckets next to the roaster, they await their turn to be loaded into the machine, dropped inside, and transformed into roasted coffee

Roasting 

Once the machine reaches a stable, high temperature, the exciting stage begins. The first batch is loaded up, ready to be dropped. 

The beans enter the machine at just above 200° C and roast for 10-13 minutes, depending on the bean variety. Many factors must be considered; bean size, processing method and even the weather that day can all have a huge impact on the way the machine behaves, so I must meticulously monitor every batch, to ensure consistency throughout the process. 

A typically busy day consists of 12-15 batches and amounts to around 170 kg of roasted coffee. This is emptied batch by batch from the machine into fresh buckets, ready to be packed. 

The Cool-Down 

After a full day on my feet with senses on high alert, both the machine and I need time to cool down. For the roaster, this takes around 30 minutes for the temperature to decrease far enough, preventing thermal shock when the moving parts are switched off.  

For me, this involves a sit-down and a well-earned cup of coffee.