Coffee Roasting

Mastering Roasting Concepts With Joe Marrocco

September 5, 2018 By Michael Leave a Comment

There are few jobs in the coffee industry as romantic or mysterious as roaster. Traditionally, the tradecraft of the making-coffee darker arts has been a closely guarded secret, passed on from roaster to roaster in old fashioned apprenticeships. Other than a couple of good books, there aren’t many resources available to aspiring novice roasters. Joe Marrocco is helping to change that. The longtime Cafe Imports educator recently moved on to work with Mill City Roasters, but the year-long video project Roasting Concepts is now free to view on YouTube. We caught up with “Roaster Joe” over email in the midst of his busy travel schedule to learn the thought behind the project–and how young roasters can develop their skills.

Over the last seven months Cafe Imports has been releasing a series of videos called “Roasting Concepts.” What inspired the project?

This is a project that I worked on with Cafe Imports over several years. I know that the videos seem very simple and short, but they took a long time to conceptualize, carve out time for and put together. The idea was born out of teaching people roasting at the Cafe Imports headquarters in Minneapolis….

You Can Now Roast Coffee With Your Smart Phone and the Ikawa Pro Sample Roaster

April 18, 2016 By Michael 1 Comment

Ikawa 2
For coffee importers and roasters, sample roasting is a crucial part of evaluating the quality of a coffee. Designed to highlight the intrinsic qualities of a given coffee, a sample roast is traditionally lighter than a production roast. This gives the taster a snapshot of a coffee’s aroma, acidity, and body. The intricacies of consistently roasting 100 gram batches with a conventional sample roaster require years of practice, skill, and maybe even a little luck. The Ikawa Pro Sample Roaster is trying to change that….

Introducing the Dominican Republic’s First Specialty Coffee Roaster, Gente de la Isla

September 29, 2015 By Michael 2 Comments

Coffee producing countries are beginning to roast and serve craft coffee. We recently came across an exciting new roastery in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic that is introducing specialty coffee to the Caribbean nation. As we learned more we became intrigued by Coral and Edouard, the wife and husband team behind Gente de la Isla. Naturally, we felt an interview was in order.

Tell us a little bit about Gente de la Isla. Who are you? What do you do?

Gente de la Isla is a specialty coffee roastery. We also bake our all natural granola and are currently working on developing other breakfast products. Everything is hand made by a small team of 4. We distribute our products via our online store and through 15 small resellers in Santo Domingo. We organize tastings and coffee tasting workshops.

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Empire State of Grind: Erika Vonie Leads Expansion at Brooklyn’s Variety Coffee Roasters

August 24, 2015 By Michael 2 Comments

One of the most rewarding aspects of competing in barista competitions is not the moment in the limelight or even the free swag, it’s the friendships one makes with other committed coffee professionals. We were excited to learn one of our barista comp friends just took an exciting new position with Brooklyn’s Variety Coffee Roasters. We caught up with Erika Vonie to chat about working with a new roaster, competing in barista competitions, and the best place to drink coffee in NYC. All photos by Ashley Revell.

Tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get started in the coffee industry?

My involvement in specialty coffee began when I moved to Philadelphia in 2009 and started …

Five Things I Learned From Scott Rao’s The Coffee Roaster’s Companion

July 4, 2015 By Michael 17 Comments

There are few things as humbling as trying to learn how to roast coffee. It might seem simple enough, but it’s a complex skill that very few people have mastered. Thankfully, coffee legend Scott Rao has finally published his magnum opus, The Coffee Roaster’s Companion. The book is the culmination of over 20 years of coffee roasting experience. Don’t be misled by the slim profile, the content is dense enough to engage a seasoned professional while the style is approachable enough for hobbyists. Over the last 9 months, I’ve read and re-read this book. Sometimes with eager curiosity, other times with frustrated desperation. The book is nicely balanced between technical theory and practical advice. Years ago, Rao’s The Professional Barista’s Handbook was formative for my barista career. The Coffee Roaster’s Companion has already proved to be as influential.

Unequivocally, if you have any interest in roasting your own coffee, you should buy this book. You may not agree with everything Rao has to say, but you will find your own opinions sharpened and informed by Rao’s careful thinking. Here are the top five things I learned from Scott Rao about coffee roasting….

Gear Review: Huky 500 Coffee Roaster

March 10, 2015 By Michael 15 Comments

The thought has crossed the mind of every serious coffee nerd: Can I roast my own coffee? We’ve debated it enough times that when we first stumbled upon a picture of the Huky 500, we were infatuated. The device looked like something between a hotrod and a spaceship – a vehicle to a new world of coffee knowledge and experience. When we found out roasting guru Joe Marrocco owns and endorses the Huky 500, we didn’t need anymore incentive to empty our piggy banks and place the order.

The Huky 500 is fabricated by Kuanho Li in Taiwan. Mr. Li does not have a website, just an email address. Judging by the serial number on our Huky, that …