Roasting

[Reza]

Hi guys,
Having experience as a barista, now I am very interested in start roasting coffee in commercial range.
At the moment I need informations regarding different commercial coffee roasters, how to learn roasting and ....
please let me if you can help me in this lovely and interesting field.
Best wishes,
Reza

 

[ensoluna]

hi reza, your questions are too general and wide.
it will be better to search web for your answers and if you have any specific questions to ask and post them here, you will get some good replies.
good luck to you.

 

[topher]

It is a hard trade to get into. I would suggest speaking to local roasterys and see if they are looking for an apprentice. I am going to be honest with you, it is a hard job. Some of my friends laugh when I say that...they say "all you do is drink coffee all day" Trust me it can be a bust ass job. If you have any more specific questions let us know

 

[John P]

Reza, I do think that solid barista knowledge is absolutely necessary to be a competent roaster, so that's a good thing.
That being said there's "experience" and there's experience. So it does matter what you are capable of on that end to be able to ultimately diagnose and understand how your coffee and/or espresso does work and will work when brewed properly.

As mentioned in the previous answers, yours is a very broad question. The first thing I would ask is "What are you currently roasting on?"

If the answer is "I'm using a barbecue cage roaster" or "I have an ABC home roaster" or "A Quest M3" or X, Y, and Z, then a productive conversation and direction can be given. If the answer is, "No, I'm not roasting yet," then you might want to think about why that is. If you wanted to roast, you'd be roasting on whatever you can find to start with, and THEN ask about commercial roasting. If you were looking to roast as a hobby, you'd get a different answer, but once you say you want to look into commercial roasting, we can only give answers relative to the commitment you've given to the craft.

There's a lot of information out there. I would encourage you to read and make educated decisions on what you read, and what you observe and taste based on what various roasters are using. For these beginning types of questions, you should start finding answers yourself, doing so will be directly related to your self sufficiency in the future.

So learn something, and then come back with what will be a decidedly different set of questions. :coffee-bean:

 

[AndyP]

Read Scott Rao's 'The Coffee Roasters Companion' a few times - and then get a few pounds of green coffee and start roasting it in a cast iron pan and popcorn popper

 

[expat]

Reza, read the website, there's lots of useful information compiled over years. Your question has been asked and answered before.

And I'll second Topher's statement that it can be "a bust ass job". I'm sure you're no stranger to hard work, so be prepared. 20 hour days around the holidays aren't unusual!

 

[kbsvisuals]

Read Scott Rao's 'The Coffee Roasters Companion' a few times - and then get a few pounds of green coffee and start roasting it in a cast iron pan and popcorn popper

+1 He also mention the same technique in his book "The Professional Barista's Handbook"