Never roasted before?  No problem!  We'll teach you how!  You'll be an expert in about 5 roasts!  After your purchase, for your first roast, we'll walk you through the entire first roast so that you get the hang of it quick!  If you have any questions afterwards, we'll be around to help you out there.  Your roasts should always be simply spectacular, the best coffee you have ever tasted, if for some reason it isn't that way, then let's talk about it and we'll offer some suggestions to get people knocking down your door to get at your coffee!  For a good start read the guide below, or feel free to call or email.

At some point in the future, we'll be doing some video tutorials on the RK Roast process that should give you a great idea on how to roast providing as many visual cues as we can show you.  This will document the roast process from start to finish and will show you how we do it. 

Roasting Guide

A.  The Art of Coffee Roasting 

Coffee roasting really is simply an art form.  Nothing is more true of this than when you roast on the RK.  The reason for this is that you don't have any computer controls or any automation to roast for you.  With this form of roasting, you will become a true expert of the trade very quickly as we roast entirely with sights, smells, sounds, temperatures and times.  What I will document here is what works for us and what seems to work really well for most of our customers.  Undoubtedly there will be someone who will say that roasting should be done this way or that and you'll get better roasts if you do this or that. 

That is simply the beauty of coffee roasting.  Every coffee roasts differently, has an ideal roast temperature, and even a roast time.  The quality of the coffee you choose will determine the ultimate perfection of a coffee.  Conversely, you can ruin a near perfect green coffee by roasting it incorrectly.

 A Colombian coffee may have an optimum roast at Full City and a particular Salvadoran coffee may not be too great at Full City, but begins to really shine at Full City +.

So if you truly wish to master the art of coffee roasting, then you really should study each individual coffee that you buy, and understand to what degree the coffee should be roasted in order to achieve maximum flavor in that given coffee.  Tom Owen at Sweetmarias.com has a database of coffees and what their ideal roast should be and should serve as an excellent reference as to what you should try for on your roasts.

I, personally, have only scratched the surface in obtaining excellence in coffee roasting.  And will always be learning. I once had a conversation with someone whom I consider an expert in coffee and he told me that even after 20 years, he is still learning new things about coffee every day...

I suppose I have a long way to go.

B.  My Personal Approach on the Art of Coffee Roasting

Now I'm sure someone out there will want to burn me at the stake for taking this angle.  I suppose I am a bit of a practicalist and frankly have entirely more to do on a daily basis than what the average person should have.  I basically run 3 businesses and have a family too.  As much as I would like, I just don't have the time in the day to be ultra-focused on the art of roasting like some folks do.  I'll just settle for happy customers, repeat orders and real good coffee.  If you have the time to become a top-notch expert on roasting, then I am truly envious of your skill and dedication and sincerely, we need people like you to teach the rest of us how to roast better and to perfect the art and tradition of excellence in coffee roasting.

Personally, however, I find that just about no matter how I roast, or for that matter, what coffee I roast, my customers are just flat out obsessed with the coffee that I give them.

I suppose that is a testament to the excellence of Ron's drum design.  It just works very well on any coffee, and as well as the really expensive commercial roasters.

The reason that I tell you this, is that particularly if you are new to coffee roasting, then you simply don't need to be afraid of roasting, or producing bad coffee.  The system is very forgiving and in my opinion, you actually have to work at it to make bad coffee.

In my experience, the vast majority of Americans are simply accustomed to drinking Folgers and other low quality brands.  They drink it because it is cheap.  Even the national brand that you see hocking $4 cups of coffee on every street corner in every major city nationwide is peddling terrible dark sludge in a cup that supposedly is the public standard for good coffee.

Quite simply, most Americans have no concept of what fresh roasted coffee is.  Even to the point of people saying "I don't like coffee, it's too bitter."

People don't know that good coffee simply isn't bitter! 

So for that reason my tips to the new roaster would be:

When you get the general hang of it, you can start learning more and take your skills to perfection.

Continue on to Green Coffee Prep

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