Developing the skill to roast coffee takes time and patience. Doug Bond who roasts coffee for SF Coffee Roasting Company has been roasting quality coffee for 20 years. The profiles {or degrees of roasts} that Doug has created as a Roast master for SFCRC have taken years to perfect. These profiles are the basis of the consistency and quality that Doug {the Fresh maker} takes very seriously.
The Nature of Coffee
The coffee plant family orgenus Coffea. There are two significant varieties coffea Arabica and coffea canephora. The coffee Arabica is what we know as specialty coffee. If left alone, the plant will grow 8-10 meters high. But to make the cherries easier to get to the farmers keep them pruned to about 3 meters. The leaves are in deep rich green and resemble a Laurel leaf with a dark green sheen. The flowers are white and always grow in clusters of two or three together. They resemble jasmine's very pleasant perfume like smell. The fruit the bush creates is a thick pulpy skinned cherry. Inside this cherry is the seed, which is enclosed in a thick white parchment. After the parchment is removed there is a thin flaky skin. And then you will find 2 beans or seeds as they are. At the end, the fruit and parchment have been removed by a milling process and we are left with the coffee bean in a raw state. At this point the coffee is dried either mechanically or naturally. After the drying process the beans are inspected and sorted to all the different grades that the bush has yielded and then it is exported to roasters all over the world. At this point, San Francisco coffee roasting Company steps in.
The Roasting Process
Depending on a variety and roast style of the coffee depicts how it will be roasted. For instance a medium roast will be dropped at 420° of French roast will be dropped at 435°. The humidity, the temperature of the room. The water content of the green coffee. The exterior temperature are all factors that need to be taken into consideration before roasting a batch of coffee. After all these factors have been considered. We weigh out the green coffee batch and it is placed in the roaster for a period, anywhere from 15 minutes to 22 minutes, depending on the roast. We roast in a vintage Probat drum roaster. After about two or three minutes in the roaster. The coffee begins to change from green to light brown and has the smell of fresh-baked bread. A few more minutes pass, and we get to what we call the first crack, which is the sound the Bean makes when the moisture first escapes the surface as it tumbles in the roaster. A large round cast-iron drum is where the roasting takes place the heat of the drum is monitored and calibrated by the roast master. He must keep careful eye on not to roast it too fast or roast it too slow. He must keep careful attention to keep the coffee roasting cycle consistent. After about 15 minutes or so, the coffee begins to smell like coffee and looked like coffee. When it gets to that perfect point the drum is opened and a freshly roasted coffee spills into the cooling tray, where it is cooled down as quickly as possible. This roasting process is what San Francisco coffee roasting Company does best. We take pride in the fact that all of our coffees are roasted by us for you.
Proper Storage & Care
Store your coffee and airtight container in a cool dark place. Do not store your coffee in your refrigerator or your freezer fresh coffee acts as a sponge to. When it comes to absorbing odors, roasted coffee is very absorbent. Also the moisture that is created in your refrigerator kills fresh coffee. Coffee does not take well to moisture. It deteriorates very quickly. So Tupperware or anything with an airtight lid that you can wash periodically is perfect for storing fresh coffee.
Keeping it Fresh
Coffee has many enemies; oxygen, moisture, light, and time, all of which effect of quality. We recommend high quality sealed container
The entire staff SF coffee roasting Company share the same passion for fresh roasted coffee, and they know how important it is to prepare, handle and serve coffee in the proper manner. FRESH this is the word we use on a daily basis all 21 staff members live, Breathe and drink coffee it is our goal to make sure our customers are in well-informed and choose the right coffee that is exactly right for them.
How to Make the Perfect Cup of Coffee at Home
First off, you want to start with fresh and filtered hot water at 190° . Anything below that will not extract the coffee to its optimum flavor. So check your Brewer and make sure that it's brewing at 190° an easy way to do this is just a taken thermometer and check the water temperature as it comes out of the brew head. If it is not least 180° get a new Brewer. Make sure that you are using fresh roasted coffee, an easy way to tell if your coffee is fresh is to place a bean between your index finger and thumb and break it. If it's crisp and has a nice aroma. Its fresh, another easy way to tell if your coffee is fresh is of course to buy it from SF coffee roasting Company.
Grinding your coffee fresh at home is also an absolute if you want the best tasting cup.
Grinding properly is also important, which we recommend getting a sample grind sample for whatever type of brewing method you are using and referring to it. The Chemex brewer is one of the best home brewing systems available. Due to the fact, you heat your own water. So you have total control of the temperature. We highly recommend the Chemex. Which you can purchase here on our web site.