We begin with only the highest quality of hand-picked Arabica green seeds, and perfect roasts taking into consideration many things;
1. The seed's overall condition, its age, moisture content, etc.
2. The region or altitude it was farmed at.
3. The ideal roast to enhance each seed's unique flavors and overtones.
4. The retail demand.
The Process
All roast cycles include periods of temperature and air flow increases/ decreases, which is a finely tuned art to balance from the moment seeds are dropped in the hopper. Coffee must be carefully roasted to their prime, then immediately removed from heat and cooled to "fix" the desired roast - or they continue to perpetuate heat and "cook". This is a very fast and complex process. The process is most complicated due to the nature of coffee seeds. It is estimated that seeds contain over 1,000 chemical substances that can be broken down or changed rapidly during roasting, producing thousands of varieties of "volatile aroma compounds". Various acids, oils, proteins, vitamins, sugars, starches, and caffeine are altered: some are enhanced and some are diminished, some are burned away if over roasted. Again, a real balancing act.
Types of Roasts
This is much easier to explain, types of roasts actually refers to the degree of roasting by color as follows (with popular references):
Light: referred to as “Cinnamon”, “half-city”. Dry in appearance.
Medium: “Full city”. Dry in appearance.
Medium/Dark: “Full city”, “Viennese”. Specks of oil on tips.
Dark: “French Roast”, “European”. Surface appears oily.
Near Black: “Espresso”, “Dark French”, “Italian”. Very oily.
Blended Coffee Flavored Coffee De-Caffeinated Coffee
and contains MORE caffeine.
and contains LESS caffeine.
Blending refers to combining different coffee regions and roasts. Some roasters may blend to increase profits by incorporating inferior seeds (see left side of picture below). We blend only premium seeds for the sole purpose of creating complexity and complimenting flavors for a more interesting cup!
Inferior vs Premium seeds - Our flavoring utensils
We apply only the highest quality, patented flavorings available. This takes place shortly after roasting, after coffee is thoroughly cooled. We flavor only to order, by hand with stainless steel and glass utensils. Although it is more labor intensive, we do not scoop already-flavored coffees from plastic bins and we never flavor to simply cover-up inferior roasts.
Green coffee seeds are actually de-caffeinated before their final importation. Caffeine will survive roasting, even at temperatures exceeding 475 degrees,
but it is completely vulnerable to liquid, and will pass from green coffee seeds very easily when soaked. There are two basic processes:
1. European KVW Process. this process produces the best tasting and most aromatic decaffeinated coffee.
2. Swiss Water Process: this process uses no additives to extract the caffeine, only pure water, but much of the desirable acidic tendencies are lost in the process.
Coded by Michael Adsit Technologies, LLC. - Content Copyright Two Rivers Roasting Co. 2014 - 2024