What should you pay attention to when choosing a coffee roastery? Find out!
So before you choose a coffee roastery, get to know these 4 factors that determine whether your coffee will be high-quality and brilliant in taste!
Excellent quality and verified origin of beans
When choosing the right coffee roastery, you should first pay attention to the type of beans offered. Most specialty coffees come from the arabica species, but not all arabicas are equal. So how do you know which ones are worth your attention? Well, it turns out that high-quality coffees are usually grown at altitudes of at least 1000 meters above sea level. The cultivation process at such altitudes is slower, resulting in beans with a more complex flavor and aroma. It is commonly believed that the best coffees come from Italy, but interestingly - in the world of specialty coffees, this is not true! The best coffees come from Indonesia, Brazil, Colombia, or Kenya.
To assess the quality of coffee, you can also refer to the SCAA's global scale, according to which the best roasteries rate their beans. When coffee scores between 90 and 100 points, it indicates the highest quality, but less than 1% of coffee production worldwide achieves such high scores. Then, coffees scoring from 89.99 to 80 are considered high quality, and those scoring below 80 points are considered commercial coffees.
Professionalism and experience of the coffee roastery
Sourcing and roasting high-quality coffee is a complex process. Of course, having specialized equipment is extremely important, but it is only the tip of the iceberg and not the most important factor. To have access to high-quality coffee, it is good to maintain direct contacts with farmers, build a trust-based relationship with them, and ensure the shipment of beans directly from the origin plantations to the roastery.
Precise control of the taste of coffee and its freshness is the task of experienced specialists with whom the coffee roastery should cooperate. Why? Because often the final taste and quality of coffee are determined literally within a few seconds. Roasting coffee involves chemical changes occurring in the beans - initially, the beans are brought to very high temperatures, and after a certain time, they should be rapidly cooled to stop the roasting process. If this process is ended too late, an entire batch of coffee can be wasted.
A good coffee roastery ensures freshness of roasting!
Natural coffee beans that have not yet been roasted are green and durable, so they can be stored for a long time without losing quality and taste. However, coffee that has already been roasted should be used as quickly as possible without compromising its quality. The coffee roastery from which we want to buy coffee or use while running our own shop must be relatively close to us. Coffee that has been roasted before being imported into the country is unlikely to preserve many unique flavor and aroma characteristics.
The better the quality of the beans and the more the roastery cares about the freshness of roasting, the more confident you can be that the coffee will be delicious and worth every penny. You can brew good coffee in various ways and it will still be excellent in taste, while lower-quality coffees will not be helped even by the most sophisticated brewing method.
