Is Becoming a Technician the best career progression for baristas? - Why do I think so? What transferable skills are developed in the barista role? What does the job market look like?

Getting into the world of tech is even easier than getting into roasting. In this episode I share examples of people who made the transition even with no coffee experience. I'll describe necessary skills, job market and potential further progression within and beyond being an engineer.

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What Can We Do About Tipping? - Can it be avoided? How? Why it matters?

It might be the best spend $5 on coffee roasting resource and I highly recommend it. I used to think tipping is all about the speed of the roast. But that didn't seem to be universal. I describe my experience in the context of sample roasters, old machines and reluctance to reduce drum speed. But even if you're not a roaster you might learn about altitude and the bean density.

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This podcast touches on what's close to my heart - new technology. Is innovation in coffee dead? Why is it so slow? And how to spot and imlement it in your business. I'll talk a bit about my favourite examples, including those from the roasting world and even touch upon some research and cool brewing methods like Tricolate.

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Specialty coffee industry is obsessed with freshness. We care about fresh, seasonal green coffee, minimise environmental factors influencing the shelf life of roasted coffee, sort it by roast date, grind to order etc. Most importantly we try to explain the importance of freshness to our customers. There's lots of reasons for that. However sometimes it can backfire as coffee can taste great even months after it's been roasted. In this episode I discuss the qualitative differentiation between specialty and commercial sectors, origins of shortening the path between roaster and consumer and pinpoint interesting phenomena that surprise seasoned coffee professionals.

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What is the most common brewing method at home? I can only speculate - I think that Bean to Cup machines are more common than we think (I don't instant coffee is a brewing method, it's already been brewed). While in speciality coffee filter coffee is more prevalent in retail sales, many of the espresso beans don't end up in espresso machines - they're used in Bean to Cups. In this episode I discuss why they are a viable choice for home user. I question the low quality associated with it and look into the origins of that. I also talk about roasting for B2C and why dark roasts are not ideal for this application.

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Profiling is arguably one of the most important things to do in the roastery. It takes a lot of skill and a great understanding of your roasting system and green coffee. In this podcast I outline my process of profiling step by step, with part two focussing on the the execution and evaluation of your roasting plan.

Steps:

1. Establish a goal of the roast

2. Analyse your green coffee

3. Points of reference - existing profiles, philosophy, experience

4. Roast in your head

5. Turn it brown

6. Evaluate and improve

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Profiling is arguably one of the most important things to do in the roastery. It takes a lot of skill and a great understanding of your roasting system and green coffee. In this podcast I outline my process of profiling step by step, with part one focussing on the steps before you put the coffee into roaster.

Steps:

1. Establish a goal of the roast

2. Analyse your green coffee

3. Points of reference - existing profiles, philosophy, experience

4. Roast in your head

5. Turn it brown

6. Evaluate and improve

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Email me at: [email protected]

In this episode we’re looking at water for roasting. Why coffee tastes different with different waters? What is the difference between general hardness and alkalinity? And how it will affect your roasting?

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In this episode I present a list of 7 books I think every roaster should read. When it comes to roasting knowledge a lot of it comes down to practice and being able to master the system that you operate. So roasting is not something you can learn from books. But having a basic understanding of heat transfer or chemical reactions certainly makes it easier. When it comes to profiling and quality management it becomes even more important as you need to be aware of much more variables.

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This episode focuses on roasting for espresso. Before we can determine what is an espresso roast we need to define the espresso itself, understand the solubility and think about consistency. The amount of variables influencing your approach is considerable - here I break them down for you, allowing you to streamline your decision process. 

This podcast answers these questions:

1. How brewing of the espresso affects roasting?

2. How to make coffee more soluble?

3. Can you trade off quality for consistency?

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