You've taken the first step in your journey through the insanely vast world of coffee! Welcome! There are so many nuances and intricacies within the coffee world it can be a bit daunting. Fear not! We are here to help (and learn) along side you in your coffee trek.
Coffee has been a staple in every country in the world for almost 400 years. Over 1000 years ago, coffee was recorded to be consumed in Ethiopia, the birthplace of the coffee plant. Today, there are over 100 different species of coffee plant but 2 main species dominate the coffee production world.
Arabica has become the most prevalent species in the single origin and specialty coffee spheres. Known for its more timid boldness compared to Robusta coffee. Robusta is still regularly consumed in coffee blends and espresso, mainly due to its higher caffeine content than Arabica. Think of Arabica as the Johnnie Walker Blue Label and Robusta as the Jack Daniels of the coffee world. Arabica can be savored for its nuanced and extremely complex/subtle flavors of fuit/citrus/spice and Robusta for its tenacity and bold, in-your-face bitterness and energy inducing caffeine content.
All of our coffees (at the moment, will surely change) are Arabica coffees, offering smooth and delightful cups of coffee from single origin farms.
For your first delve into the mood altering, melatonin receptor dodging cacophony of origins, altitudes, processing methods and brewing methods, I suggest just starting with a good old cup o' joe. Either use a French Press (surefire way to make a strongly brewed cup), Mr. Coffee drip machine, or just go straight to the first thing WE (roasters) do when we roast a coffee for the first time, CUP!
Cupping is coffee at its most basic. You grind your coffee directly into your cup and pour boiling water over the top of the grounds. Allowing the coffee to settle and drink from the top after a brief brewing time. This is how roasters get tasting notes (the flavors you see posted all over their packaging). I will go into the logistics of cupping and how/why you should cup coffee (especially freshly brewed coffee).
Our coffee is a little bit different (a LOT) from the coffee you buy in the grocery store. Have you ever wondered how long coffee sits on shelves before it gets to your cup? That is ONE of the reasons why most coffee you make at home just cant measure up to that fancy cafe you went to on your last vacation. Freshness is a huge factor in how your coffee tastes. Cafes get their coffee straight from the roasters, no sitting on a shelf for months on end losing the best part of coffee, the flavor! We roast to order to ensure you are getting the freshest product available. We also AIR roast. Air roasting has only been done commercially for about 50 years. There are advantages and disadvantages to air roasting compared to traditional Drum roasting coffee.
Advantages of Air roasting coffee vs. Drum roasting:
Air roasting:
Produces smoother, less bitter coffees than drum roasting
Highly consistent, repeatable flavor profiles (your coffee will taste the same with less effort)
Higher quality roasts with more consistent temperature control
Smaller batch allowance (this is both an advantage and a disadvantage) maintaining a small-batch size enables the roaster to continue roasting with a more artisanal quality.
Disadvantages of Air roasting vs. Drum roasting:
Less "roast" flavor imparted into the coffee, if you like that bitter/"Deep"/smokey flavor from dark roasts, you won't get as much from an air roaster. We think this is acceptable seeing that Air roasting allows us to highlight the more natural flavors in the coffees we select for roasting. Even our Dark roast coffees have little to no bitterness in the cup, allowing you to taste the roasted flavor we do impart PLUS the actual complex flavors from the coffee beans themselves. You can actually taste very unique differences in our coffees at the same roast levels.
Not ideal for roasts past the traditional Dark roast. We more than likely won't offer Italian or French roast coffees. We focus on highlighting the origin (country/elevation) affected flavors more than getting your traditional mud-in-the-cup Dark roasted coffees. We aren't saying we don't think there is a place for those dark roasts within the world of coffee, but we do think they aren't right for our way of roasting.
Smaller batch allowance limits air roasting production productivity (don't worry, we have a LONG way to go before we get to machines that will be at the max capacity of air roasting).
TLDR: Try our coffee any way to would another coffee, or a new way you have never tried before!
Air roasting is pretty sweet!
Light, medium, dark. That's what we do. Each of those means something completely different to each coffee. Check out our single-origins to find out more on how we roast brings out their unique roasting profiles!