The Beans

Roasting
Once the coffee has made the journey to the consuming country (in our case the United States), it needs to be roasted. Roasting is a both a simple and complex process. In essence it’s just application of heat to the beans, however, to roast and preserve the subtle and complex terroir characteristics is a life-long journey of discovery and perfecting.

The science of roasting is one of applying high heat (between 365 and 465 degrees Fahrenheit) to the beans, which causes the sugars to combine with the amino acids, peptides and proteins. This causes a caramelization process known a Mailard’s reaction, which produces glycosylamine and melanoidins (brown, bittersweet compounds) and carbon dioxide.

The reactions caused by roast take the green coffee, which has approximately 250 volatile aromatic compounds, to roasted coffee, which has over 800. The subtle variations in the way it reaches its final roasted state can lead to vastly different results in the flavor as it creates and destroys these sometimes fragile compounds.

A “perfect” roast should just develop all of these compounds without overwhelming any of the bean with off “roast” flavors. This means that quality coffee should not be darkly roasted as the result is simply bitter carbon compounds. In fact, over roasting is one the major reasons the consuming public has come to associate coffee with a bitter flavor. Quality coffee roasted lightly (but not too lightly) is sweet, acidic, and complex.