Roasting coffee used to be considered somewhat of a mystery. So called, ‘roast masters’ would claim to have their own secret techniques to manipulate flavours when roasting coffee, however often they were unable to explain, justify or repeat these methods. With the ever increasing push for transparency in the coffee supply chain, there’s more analysis carried out at each step. This analysis has naturally pushed us at Veneziano Coffee Roasters to delve deeper into the science of roasting to highlight the inherent quality in the green coffee we source.
At Veneziano we utilise Cropster; the world’s leading software package for producers, traders, roasters and cuppers. Cropster provides us with tools for analysing green coffee, roast profiles, quality and consistency. As well, it has allowed us to develop a library of data which provides us with insight into our green supply chain right through to the effect that a slight change in airflow during roasting has to a barista’s ability to extract sweetness from a coffee. We are now recording previously unmonitored aspects of roasting such as development ratio, inlet and exhaust temperature, total roast energy, density and colour. With this data available to us we have been able to better identify correlations between these elements and the taste of your coffee.
These are just a few of the steps we take to ensure we provide you with quality and consistency.
- All green coffees are analysed at three stages by our Q-graders; pre-shipment sample, arrival sample and monthly inventory sample. This information is stored in our roasting software, ensuring the quality and consistency of the green coffee year round.
- All roasts are graphed and monitored in real time to provide the roaster with constant feedback on how the coffee is roasting.
- Each roast is overlaid against an ideal target profile to ensure consistency.
- Each coffee has its own set of unique quality control parameters such as roast time, development and colour.
- Any roast that falls outside of these parameters is automatically flagged by the software for further analysis.
- Every roast flagged is tasted and checked for approval by our team of qualified Q-graders before it is blended and packaged.
- Our quality control team tastes and analyses each blend on a daily basis.
- Any roast that does not reach our strict quality parameters is discarded.
Utilising software such as Cropster has given us a greater window into the roasting drum. While it doesn’t tell us how to roast great coffee, it definitely provides us with questions and the tools to help find answers. We are constantly researching new technologies such as Cropster to help us better understand the relationship between roasting data and the flavour of your coffee.
