The roasting side

I was always a little apprehensive to roast, as I thought it would detract from what I did behind the bar. Mainly because every time I watched someone make the transition from barista to roaster, roasting always took all their attention and they dropped their bar skills. However, I was really lucky that roasting only served to improve my knowledge and what I was capable of. Tim and I worked really closely to redevelop the espresso profiles during my time there and I think that the way they are roasting and serving espresso at the moment is some of the tastiest in the world.

The thing I was really disappointed to learn was that even at the top, there is no known knowledge, only trial and error. Everyone, even Tim, is kind of bumbling along in the dark, looking for the light switch. It bothers me to see people be looked up to so much when it’s all so unknown. The things I do know are: if your raw coffee is delicious, it’s actually pretty hard to fuck it up.

I was offered the position to roast mainly because I did CrossFit and was really physically strong. Varney had me lifting bags with him as a test. I also attribute it slightly to my analytical mind and ability to be able to perform under pressure (on an old Probat, stuff goes wrong ALL. THE. TIME). People are always interrupting you whilst you are listening for first crack to ask you where the toilet is.

The thing that I struggled with the most was the monotony of it. We often have the same producers year after year at TW, so there isn’t an enormous amount of experimentation that goes on. Whilst it’s interesting to see how the different harvests perform, it does get a little boring. Also most of your job it’s measuring green, cleaning and packing coffee. I’m sure it looks glamorous from the outside though

The interesting thing is getting to see how tiny changes can influence everything in taste. Also getting to be responsible for so much and nailing it feels really great. The challenges of keeping it consistent but also improving also keeps it interesting.

bobbee schreef:Zo jammer dat de groene boon niet meer is, die hadden tenminste goede groene boontjes voor particulieren...

bobbee schreef:"The things I do know are: if your raw coffee is delicious, it’s actually pretty hard to fuck it up."

Zo jammer dat de groene boon niet meer is, die hadden tenminste goede groene boontjes voor particulieren...

fransg schreef: Maar we zijn nu toch juist een netwerk aan het bouwen voor de logistiek om aan uitstekende groene bonen te komen?

Ik wist trouwens niet dat De groene boon ermee op was gehouden, weet je waarom dat is gebeurd?

Pti schreef:Zo is het ook absoluut niet opgevat hoor Bob!

Ik heb afgelopen week 3 samples van het Kamaroen Boyo project binnengekregen van DSC. Als je kijkt naar het sociaal/duurzame een prachtige koffie, maar helaas is west afrika niet hetzelfde als een mooie sprankelende Ethiopische koffie. Ik ben niet

Ik ben nog niet aan de samples toegekomen maar het is wel een koffie die klein kan worden ingekocht en direct leverbaar is, dus misschien heeft dat potentie voor ons?

http://smartgirlsmakecoffee.tumblr.com/ ... alorbrowne