Coffee Roasting Resources

There has never been a better time than now for women to be roasting coffee!

Thanks to organizations like She’s The Roaster, women have lately been enjoying increasing opportunities for training, mentorship, and visibility. We’re excited to see the community continue to grow, and we’re here to help.

For beginning and intermediate roasters, we are continually updating our resource library to help you further your education.

Advanced roasters, would you consider mentoring a woman in our community? We'd love to connect with you!

 
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Comprehensive Reports

 

“While there are indeed some ‘heirloom’ varieties still widely grown — ‘landrace’ is gaining popularity as a more specific term for these — Ethiopia is hardly bereft of agronomy research. Critical genetic banks of arabica are kept at the Jimma Agricultural Research Center (JARC) and two fields maintained by the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute (EBI). JARC in particular has been proactive in selecting and breeding coffees for cultivation, as well.”

“Arabica’s first commercial variety to leave the Arabian Peninsula, Typica traces its lineage to an unknown landrace in Yemen, which grew and evolved there after originally arriving from Ethiopia likely after the middle of the 15th century. Typica was “selected” and taken to India, either by the Indian Sufi pilgrim Baba Budan or by the Dutch — merchant Pieter van der Broeke frequently receives credit for snatching a tree from Mokha and bringing it to Amsterdam’s botanical garden around 1616.”

 

“Both variety and cultivar are a taxonomic rank below species, but a variety occurs naturally, and clones itself readily from seed. Typica and Bourbon are examples of varieties. Conversely, a cultivar must be propagated by human intervention. Catimor and Castillo are examples of cultivars.”

“The term heirloom has often been applied to Ethiopian forest coffees, and more broadly to global varieties like Typica and Bourbon. Many plant growers now use heirloom as a marketing term, though the word more directly relates to family artifacts, passed down through generations. As a result, the agricultural definition of heirloom is both contested and inconsistent. In one sense, it can broadly be used to refer to any variety that has not crossed with another strain. Since arabica can reproduce through open-pollination (i.e., by the natural spread of pollen from a flower’s stamen to stigma by a bird, the wind, or by hand), Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, and Mokha could all be considered a type of heirloom variety.”

Articles and Research

 

“Roasting coffee is the management of heat in order to change the physical and chemical composition of coffee beans. Or as Candice Madison, Director of Roasting at green bean supplier Royal Coffee, puts it, ‘you are literally playing with fire.’ 

“You are probably already aware that there are different types of heat at work during roasting, and that their behavior varies during the roast. Let’s review conductive and convective heating and how you can improve your roasts by managing them.”

“Candice tells me, ‘If I’m going to approach a coffee with a view to accentuating the floral and fruity notes, I’ll either apply a large amount of heat right from the start, from the turning point, and/or charge the drum at a higher temperature.’”

 

“You may have two different roasters that show the same temperature on a probe, but due to the heat retained in the roaster walls, the beans may respond differently. Get to know your own machine and don’t assume that you’ll get the same results with another model just because you use the same temperature.”

“Bean density, humidity, and size will affect the absorption of heat, so it’s important to understand the green beans you are roasting. If you know the density, water content, and size of the green coffee, you can reasonably calculate the energy required to develop those beans.”

“By understanding how batch size and capacity can impact the roasting process, you will be able to make more informed choices. This means you can do start sample roasts with some insight and avoiding costly green coffee waste.”

 

“What is the difference between PSS, SAS, and fresh crop samples? What should you consider before ordering samples? And what do you do when you receive them? 

“I spoke to Christopher Feran, Director of Coffee at Phoenix Coffee Company, and Erik Stanek, Specialty Green Coffee Sales at green coffee importer Balzac Brothers, to find out the answers to these questions and more.”

“Deciding which coffees to sample can be almost as hard as the evaluation. Ask yourself what you will use it for. Is it going to be part of a blend or featured as a single origin? Will you roast it for espresso or filter? 

“Erik tells me that it is vital that you know how you will use the coffee prior to sampling and purchasing it, since this will affect all of your decisions. Knowing its intended use will also help you decide how much you can pay for it, based on what you anticipate charging for it and what your operating costs will be.”

“‘If you don’t know how to sample roast,’ Christopher says, ‘talk to your importer. Chances are, they may want to roast it for you and will roast it properly. I have seen so many roasters reject excellent coffees because, in some ways, their sample roasts were out of calibration with their importer or the rest of the industry.’”