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Defining A Roastmaster

by Amer Haveric

I have roasted coffee for a living on two continents, for two different cultures, and for two distinctly different markets, for nearly two decades. I have trained numerous other coffee roasters including my two current partners. I am not sure I would qualify myself as an expert on the roasting process ( that designation, I believe, should be reserved for chemists ), I would however, call myself a most excellent craftsman. My craft being the purchasing, roasting and blending of high-grade arabica coffees. I currently roast exclusively for the retail gourmet coffee trade, including my own small retail store. I speak only of the experiences of gourmet (specialty) roasters. I am not concerned with nor do I know of the concerns of the large commercial roasters. We do not roast for the same markets, use the same equipment, or buy the same quality green coffee.

Purchasing is perhaps the most important aspect of the roasting process. No amount of roasting can cover a poor quality coffee. A good deal of my roasting time is consumed with purchasing. On the issue of quality I would like to borrow a maxim from the computer industry “garbage in, garbage out”. Conversely, if you pay too much for your green coffee you may be inclined to change your roasting technique to reduce shrinkage instead of roasting for the best possible flavor. Thereby degrading your own product.

Just as superior coffee is a direct result of good purchasing, superior roasting requires good equipment. Here in America I roast a much wider variety of coffees and roasts than I did in my native Sarajevo, but I use the same equipment (AMBEX Coffee Roasters). By and large we roast the majority of our coffees to an American roast. Although, we custom roast for wholesale accounts. It appears to me that the south in general ( Louisiana excepted) prefers lighter roasts than the West Coast. Whatever the reason, roasters must know and roast for their own market. It is true that we can and should educate coffee consumers, but we must not and can not dictate regional tastes.

All of my roasting experience has been on one brand of roaster (AMBEX Coffee Roasters) although the sizes have varied between 30, 15, 10 and 5 kilo machines. This brand of roaster is a traditional gas-fired drum roaster utilizing a combination of radiant and convective heat, I have no roasting experience on either fluid-bed air roasters or electric infr-red roasters. We roast most of our coffees between 15-18 minutes, this allows the coffee to fully develop. I do not finish my roasts by increasing the heat at the end of the roast because of the relative lightness of the majority of our roasts. The primary measuring instruments I use are my senses of sight and smell and hearing , color, aroma and cracking are my criteria. I also use two thermometers; one bi-metal mounted on the face of the roaster to monitor drum temperature and one electronic

About The Author:

Amer Haveric is the Chief Exec of AMBEX, Inc. Coffee Roasters in Clearwater, Florida. You can visit his website at www.ambexroasters.com.