Many people are turning away from big chain coffee shops. Instead, they’re visiting local coffee shops that offer a more personalized experience.
One of the most popular choices is Artisan roast coffee. This type of coffee offers a variety of benefits and is roasted in small batches. This allows the beans to be more flavorful.
Freshly Roasted Beans
Freshness is key to a great cup of coffee. Coffee beans are chock full of delicate oils and molecules that create the distinctive coffee flavors we enjoy. These are very easy to damage during the roasting process, which is why it’s important to use a professional artisanal coffee roaster who understands the delicacy of the beans and knows how to roast them perfectly.
Artisan roasters often roast in small batches and use the highest quality coffee beans available. Unlike the large coffee shop chains that rely on factory presets on their roasting machines, artisanal roasters use creativity and skill to get the most out of each batch. They carefully examine the density, size and uniformity of each bean to determine its ideal roasting profile. They also closely monitor the temperature and time of each roast.
When you buy a bag of coffee from an artisan roaster, you’ll know it was roasted recently and is at its peak flavor. Many artisan roasters label each bag with the date it was roasted so you can see how fresh your coffee is.
The difference between the experience of drinking a freshly roasted artisanal coffee and a year-old bag from a chain coffee shop is staggering. Coffee that has been sitting around can taste flat and stale, whereas a freshly roasted artisanal coffee will still have lively aromatics in the cup.
Rich Flavors
When a coffee is properly roasted and ground, it should have rich, intense flavors. Artisan roasters take great care to create coffee that tastes as good as it looks. Their expert roasting process is designed to bring out the natural oils and flavor of the beans. This process is hard to do well. A few simple mistakes can ruin the taste of a whole batch. Unlike regular mass-produced coffee, artisan roasted coffee is delicately handled in small batches to avoid burning or scorching the beans.
A lot of artisan roasters have also invested in high quality equipment to make the most of their coffee beans. These investments have helped them produce some of the best coffee in the world. It’s worth checking out some of their work for yourself to see how much better their brew is than what you can buy at a chain coffee shop.
A few of the many artisan roasters who specialize in creating delicious tasting brews include:
Health Benefits
Compared to mass-produced coffee that is usually shipped and stored for months before it arrives at your local cafe, artisan roasts are fresh. This allows the delicate flavors to be preserved and highlighted in your cup of joe. Artisan roasts are also known to have less bitterness and a more well-rounded taste profile.
The artisan coffee roaster is dedicated to the integrity of every step in the process — from choosing premium growers that practice sustainable farming methods, to expert knowledge of drying and roasting. This approach is a marriage of science and sensibility that ensures each batch of artisan coffee meets the high standards of a skilled crafter.
One of the best artisan coffee tools is the open-source software called Artisan, which helps roasters record, analyze, and optimize their roast profiles. It allows users to track graphs and data points in real time, which can be beneficial for achieving consistency and maintaining the signature flavors of artisan coffee. It also has features for event and phase tracking, roasting analysis, and statistics.
Artisan software can be connected to a wide range of roasters using protocols like MODBUS and Phidgets, and can be used offline as well. It includes features for recording and visualizing data, including temperature, time, airflow, and other variables during the roasting process. It can also switch between Fahrenheit and Celsius, and has roast comparators for comparing roast profiles.
Origins
Coffee production has come a long way since the days of machine-uniform, mass-produced coffees that helped the Greatest Generation build a prosperous post-war nation. While this first wave of local, small-batch coffee roasters (like Chock Full O’Nuts and Starbucks) brought the taste of fresh, quality-crafted artisan blends into the national market, they were only one step in the process of returning to the roots of the industry.
With the rise of the second wave, consumers began to place a greater emphasis on where their coffee came from. Rather than a generic, “country of origin” label, growers were encouraged to define their products by micro region, specific farms, altitude, soil composition and species of beans. This shift has prompted the third wave, where artisan coffee is now defined by these same principles.
Artisan roasters are able to select only the best coffee beans for their small-batch brews. These beans are carefully roasted to preserve the delicate oils and molecules that create the flavor of the bean. Improper techniques during the roasting process can ruin this delicate balance and result in a bad tasting cup of coffee. An expert coffee roaster will be able to evenly heat the beans and avoid scorching or under-developing them, producing a smoother cup of coffee.
If you’re tired of a boring, mediocre cup of coffee in the morning, then it’s time to try a new approach! Start your day with a fresh, hand-crafted artisan brew that will delight your senses and boost your health.
