ROASTING WORKS - PRODUCTION

Green coffee arrives in 60 or 70 kilo burlap bags by truck after having made its way across the seas from origin. Hopefully when it arrives at our Roasting Works, it is stacked neatly on pallets, which we unload and store in two-tiered racks. Green coffee can be stored in this state for up to a year.

After coffee is roasted and cooled, the beans are placed in food-grade bins and marked with the country of origin and the date. If everything goes according to plan, at the end of the day we will have very little surplus roasted coffee.The bins of roasted coffee are wheeled across the floor where Packers either scoop directly into bags if someone orders a single-origin, or blend the coffees in 15 lb increments. For blends that we sell in larger quantities, such as Black Cat™ we have a large blending tray similar to the cooling trays without a fan that blends in 500 pound increments.

The idea behind the blending of different coffees is to achieve a cup that offers more than any individual coffee can provide. Much like a painter combines colors to create new shades and hues, the skilled Coffeeman can sculpt a blend that combines the most appealing characteristics of several different coffees. The result is a complete cup that offers tremendous complexity and depth, with the added advantage that as coffees change and mature over time, the blend can be reconfigured or fine-tuned to maintain a consistent flavor profile.

Every bag is roast-dated before it leaves the warehouse. Coffee this fresh is still chemically reacting, releasing carbon-dioxide, so each of our bags is equipped with a valve to vent the pressure created by the beans de-gassing. The bags are heat-sealed, rolled down and taped or tin-tied shut. Our coffee is roasted to order, and shipped that same day. For home use, two weeks is the very longest we recommend keeping coffee. We deliver and ship to coffeehouses, gourmet grocers, cafes, and restaurants once or twice weekly. Currently, we have wholesale customers in over 40 states and Canada. This year, we will roast over a million and a quarter pounds!