Does a Roasting Style Actually Exist?
Two roasters can buy the exact same green coffee, use the exact same machine, and read the exact same textbook—yet end up with two completely different products. Why?
Because the idea that we can just "step back and showcase the untouched potential of a bean" is a myth.
Is a roasting style a creative limitation, or your roastery’s most valuable asset? Discover why defining a signature style is the key to operational stability and customer loyalty.
What Do We Really Know About Roasting Coffee?
A 40-year-old specialty coffee industry behaves like everything about coffee roasting is already settled. But what if coffee beans don't really care about a pretty line on a monitor—we do? Let's play a game of Specialty Coffee Roasting Bingo and look at the rigid, unverified dogmas we’ve blindly accepted.
Planning for Roasting: Sample Roasting vs. Production Coffee Roasting
Ever feel like you’re emerging from a black hole of time and space after a roasting session? Hours passed, you’re exhausted, and you don’t remember a single batch. That is what happens when you roast without a plan. Sample roasting and production roasting aren't just different tasks—they are two entirely different skills that require two completely different roadmaps.
The Automation Dream: total repeatability and implementing of AI in roasting coffee
The dream of a fully automated roasting machine—one that requires only an operator to press a button—is a business owner’s paradise and a roaster’s nightmare. It’s the ultimate trade-off: saving on labor and knowledge in exchange for stability. But as we move closer to this reality, a critical question remains: Are we roasting the coffee, or are we simply roasting for the probes?
Does a "Perfect" Roast Curve Actually Guarantee Better Flavor?
We’ve all been there: staring at a perfectly declining RoR curve, convinced the coffee will be spectacular. But does a "pretty" graph actually guarantee a balanced cup?