Wheatfield Village Baristas tour PT’s Roasting Co.
It's always a special day when we have visitors at the Roasting Co., and last week was no exception! Our Wheatfield Village baristas Kyler, Dakota, and Joseph swung by our roasting facility for a tour and some hands-on coffee education.
It was all smiles as Mike, our head roaster, greeted these three baristas and ushered them into the roasting facility. Their first stop was the cupping room, where they got a quick overview of the three most commonly used coffee processing methods: Natural, Washed, and Honey.
“Honey-processed coffee is where they harvest the cherry, peel the skin off, and leave mucilage on. So you have white honey, red honey, yellow honey, and black honey...and all that depends on how much mucilage they leave on…”
Next up, a full tour of the roasting area and a sample roast! Surprised by the size of the area, our baristas listened intently as Mike discussed the everyday ins and outs of the roasting facility, walking them by pallets of green coffee and explaining how each of our roasting machines—a Diedrich IR-24, Diedrich IR-5, and German Gothot—are utilized.
Before moving on to the sample roast of Finca El Socorro Maracaturra Washed, Mike showcased the difference between beans that had yet to be roasted, aka green coffee, and beans that had already been through the roasting process. To the surprise of our baristas, green coffee is significantly harder than the roasted coffee beans they’re used to working with.
Mike leads our baristas, step by step, through a basic overview of roast profiles as they huddle around the black Diedrich IR-5. Together, they walk through a sample roast of Maracaturra Washed, a coffee all three baristas are familiar with, roasting it at a higher temperature than the traditional roast profile for this specific coffee so they can taste the difference.
“Sampling—that's when we smell the different roasts as they're going on—don't worry; you're not missing anything right now. The beginning of the roast is the most boring part for people observing. So I'm going to get some beans in here, and I'm going to hold them out to you, and I want you to smell them.”
After completing their sample roast, our baristas head back to the cupping room for a guided cupping with Lara, PT’s production manager. Together, they walk through cupping etiquette and then get straight to cupping the four bowls in front of them—beginning with dry fragrance, smelling the aroma after filling each bowl with water, then breaking the crust at 4 minutes, and beginning to slurp at 12 minutes.
After taking guesses about different origins and what these coffees might be, our baristas were surprised to learn that the coffees they’ve cupped are actually a deconstruction of our John Brown Signature Blend—with three of the cups being the three different origins that make up the blend, and the fourth being the complete John Brown that’s on tap every day at our cafes!
Before they left, each barista got a printout of the Coffee Flavor Wheel so that they could continue to accurately describe their coffee-tasting journey with a helpful visual guide. A great way to close out a fun and educational afternoon at the Roasting Co.!