This is
my 4th time visiting this café (in fact the name is called ‘Roaster’
because there is roasting operation at the back of the premises). Shortly after entering the entrance, your
eyes will definitely be attracted by the huge machine sitting in a glassed
room. There it is the heart of the
production line – the Chinook (air-flow) coffee roaster. I met Dan, Managing Director of The Coffee
Roaster in my last 3 visits as well and each time he was more than helpful to share with me his knowledge about coffee industry in Australia and his roasting
experience. Today, he gave me an even
more detailed explanation of the operations of their roasting production.
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| I like the drawings on the floor |
Those
having knowledge about roasting should know conventional drum roasting (direct
heat) method is the prevalent means of roasting all over the world. So, my question was why he took the risk in
1992 in using air roasting (seemed to be a pioneer at that time). My question was then well-answered by the
following half hour of explanation and actual demonstration.
Air
roasting allows beans to be evenly heated up by hot air, preventing the burning
of beans which is common in conventional drum roasting methods. The overall roasting procedure is well-monitored
by the computer. More than saving man
power, thermostats, air-flow rate and air temperature can be carefully adjusted
to achieve the desired results. While
roasting, graphs are shown instantly in the computer system. After roasting, the beans are tested and
grounded for retested by a machine using infrared light reflectance (so scientific!). This determines the external and internal
degrees of roasting for quality control.
They
are using computerized records to keep all the data for generating consistent
production. Awesome! With such scientific methods, no wonder they
are proud of gaining customers’ support and was awarded one silver and seven
bronze medals in Sydney Royal Food Show 2012.
Today, the roasted beans are supplied to about 50 cafés in Sydney.
When
discussing about beans, I told Dan Costa Rican beans are one of my favorites. He then took some Costa Rican beans and demonstrated the whole roasting procedure which took about
15 minutes (including cooling).
Amazing!! And there I got them as
a gift!!! Yeah Yeah Yeah!! ^-^
這是我第四次到訪這家咖啡店(事實上，它的名稱是烘焙店，正因這地方的後半部分是作烘焙用途的)。正對大門的玻璃小房內，就是整條生產線的心臟地帶－一座以熱空氣運作的烘焙機。過往3次來訪中，董事經理Dan都很樂意解答我的問題，分享他對澳洲咖啡業的了解及烘焙經驗，今天，他給我更詳細講解他們的烘焙生產運作流程。
對烘焙有了解的朋友，都該知道傳統的直火鼓筒式烘焙大概是全世界上最流行的烘焙方法。因此，我的第一個問題就是，為何他們會在1992年冒險用這非傳統的方法(他們大概是當時的先驅吧!)
其後約半小時的講解與實際示範中，我的疑團終於解開！
熱空氣烘焙讓豆子可以平均地被熱空氣烘焙，不像傳統直火烘焙方法，豆子較易被燒焦，而且整個過程都由電腦監控，除了節省人手外，恆溫器、空氣流動速度及溫度都被好好調節致期望的效果。烘焙的同時，電腦即時顯示所有有關數值。
烘焙後，豆子會用紅外線機器測試數值，然後被磨粉後，再作測試(實在很科學化!) 數據用作豆子外與內的烘焙度參巧。
他們用電腦記錄資料，作參巧用途，確保質素穩定。因為這些科學化的方法，難怪他們為贏得顧客支持而自豪，並在2012的Sydney Royal Rood
Show中榮獲一個銀及七個銅獎。現今，他們為悉尼約50家咖啡店的供應商。
當我們談論豆子的時候，我告訴Dan來自加斯特黎家的豆是我所喜愛的豆子之一，於是他取了些加斯特黎家的豆，即席示範了整過歷時約15分鐘(包括冷卻)，還送我作為禮物！Yeah Yeah Yeah!! ^-^
Mon-Sat
0600-1430
380
Botany Road, Beaconsfield NSW 2015
1800
811 0309
www.thecoffeeroaster.com
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| This is interesting... seeing myself from the reflection in the window... enjoying a cup of coffee watching the rainy street outside. |
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| The air-flow roaster |
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| Mini-sized roaster for small-scaled production |
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| Beans from all over the world |
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| You can see the roasting data on the computer. Hahaha.... I'm the Roasting Operator this time! :D |
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| Print-out of the roasting chart |
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| With Mr Dan Fitzsimmons, Managing Director of The Coffee Roaster |
