The Science of Roasting

On the bean's long journey from tree to cup, the roasting process is the juncture where it changes direction most dramatically.

Using patience, knowledge and fire, our master roasters have tremendous influence in coaxing out each bean's true character and highlighting its greatest contribution to the cup.

Depending on the coffee's profile, we'll bring the beans to an optimal temperature for a precise amount of time until they reach the perfect shade of brown. The design of our roasting equipment allows us more flexibility and control than most other roasters, enabling us to create a consistently excellent cup of coffee.

The Roast Master

Mike Parker watches as a stir bar gently swishes through a batch of just-roasted coffee. The bar goes around and around, cooling the beans and sending up a wave of aroma with each pass. He dips a sample cup into the pile and pulls up a smattering of still-warm beans.

He'll use a photo-spectrometer to make sure these beans have been roasted to the perfect shade of deep brown necessary for Organic Espresso Blend ... but he already knows they have. Like all our Roast Masters, Mike has developed an almost intuitive ability to know when each coffee has reached its perfection.