Roasting
specialty coffee

Learn how we roast specialty coffee directly in our coffee shop

The roasting machine in our shop is not a decorative element!

Every week we roast coffees from different origins depending on the demand of our customers.

We’ll tell you more about the specialty coffee roasting process!

1. Reception of green specialty coffee

We bring to our premises coffee beans qualified as speciality coffee by the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association). We store them, ensuring the right temperature and humidity conditions for their subsequent roasting.

Once we have the green beans in optimal conditions we can proceed with the roasting process itself.

Sacos de café de especialidad de Nicaragua (Nueva Segovia) y Colombia (Huila) en HeyMyCoffee Madrid. Bags of specialty coffee from Nicaragua (Nueva Segovia) and Colombia (Huila) at HeyMyCoffee Madrid.
Introducción de café de especialidad en tostadora de café. Intake of specialty coffee in coffee roaster.

2. Preheating of the machine

We heat the roaster, specifically the drum where the coffee will circulate through electrical resistances.

Thanks to the touch panel, we set a target temperature at which we will introduce the coffee (this will depend on the bean, but let’s say between 180 and 220 degrees).

At the same time, we preheat our smoke burner, which will eliminate the smoke generated during the specialty coffee roasting process.

3. Coffee drying

We open the upper hatch that will let the green beans fall into the roaster’s drum, where they will begin to rotate, giving way to the first stage of roasting, drying.

During this stage the moisture will be removed from the coffee. This will give way to the first pronunciation of the temperature curve of the coffee profile. The appearance of the coffee bean hardly changes at this stage. It maintains its shape and colour.

You will notice how the temperature drops considerably until the point called “Turn Around”, from which the temperature of the drum becomes equal to that of the coffee bean and will start to increase.

Tostado de café de especialidad dentro del tambor de la tostadora. Specialty coffee roasting inside the roaster drum.
Perfil de tostado de café de especialidad mostrando la diferentes fases del proceso (Secado, caramelización, first crack, desarrollo...). Specialty coffee roasting profile showing the different stages of the process (drying, caramelization, first crack, development...).

4. Caramelisation

This is a chemical reaction between sugars and amino acids that will give the roasted food its characteristic flavour and colour. This will give a yellow colour to the coffee bean.

The bean will begin to expand and detach from its chaff, which will be collected by the suction and stored in a specific deposit.

Finally, we will observe how the coffee acquires brown tones thanks to the caramelised sugars.

5. "First Crack"

 

The accumulation of CO2 and water vapour inside the coffee bean will increase the pressure of the bean to a small explosion that we can hear perfectly well (similar to a popcorn popping). The bean can double in size.

At this point the coffee can be used to make coffee, but it will depend on the type of roasting we want to do, whether we decide to take it out or let it continue to the next stages.

Café de especialidad en muestreador justo después del first crack. Specialty coffee in sampler right after first crack.
Salida del café de especialidad del tambor de tostado a la base de refrigeración. Specialty coffee is discharged from the roasting drum to the cooling base.

6. Development

At this stage the roaster will decide when to remove the coffee depending on the flavour he wants to obtain. The longer the bean is roasted after the “First Crack” the less acidic and sweet it will be as the sugars and acids will caramelise.

If we wait too long, the bean will undergo a second explosion, which means that the structure starts to be destroyed. The bean will become darker and oils will start to appear, and it will taste more bitter at the same time. Basically, the grain is burnt.

7. Refrigeration

Once the grain has been removed from the drum, through a second hatch, it will fall into the cooler. This is a tank in which the grain will rotate, lowering its temperature for about 5 minutes so that it can then be bagged.

Café de especialidad en el mezclador de refrigeración tras su tostado. Specialty coffee in the cooling mixer after roasting.
Empaquetado de bolsas de café de especialidad en HeyMyCoffee Madrid. Specialty coffee bag packaging at HeyMyCoffee Madrid.

8. Packing / storage

Once the roasting process has been completed, it is important to store the beans in special containers. These are the ones that insulate the beans from humidity and oxygen, but allow the carbon dioxide contained in the coffee to escape after roasting. We must store it for at least 1 week before serving or selling it, to ensure that the bean is ready for consumption.

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