Begginer in need of advise

[Gianul]

Hi everyone,
I'm planning to open a small Caffe in Romania and I purchassed a 1kg batch roaster shown in the picture.
Truth is, I've never done roasting caffe before and I could use some info about how to do a light, medium and dark roast, what kind o beans are prefferable.
I am trying to bring a new concept to this city and to make a good impression.
Roaster works on gas and comes with all the necessary technology to adjust temperature, timer etc.

Also for start,
How to do a light, medium and dark Roast (timming and temperature wise)

What variety of beans I should have for start

How are green beans stored (temperature wise).

How long they can be stored till they can't be used anymore?.

Can I run the roaster in the shop (Regarding smoke emissions, 1kg capacity roaster).

How can I store roasted caffe beans to keep their freshness till they'll be used.

What type of Roast is largerly preffered by customers. ( bean that has flavour and also a decent price)

I know that it will take time and experience as I go.
Thank you in advance for every bit of info you can provide.
Best Regards, Dan

 

[topher]

First thing I would do is find a local roaster and pay him to teach you the art of roasting. Second, invest in a water fire extinguisher or a hose. This takes years to master and it seems you have no experience at all. I wish you luck..find a local roaster.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

If you do not have access to the local roasters, check with company who sold you the machine. They should give you some advise or check out Youtube.com and see how others roast their beans on their machine. that should give you ideas. And purchase some green beans and start roasting until you feel confident about roasting.

Green beans can be kept in cool well ventilated area for about a year or two.

You can run the roaster in the shop if you have it properly vented out so smoke doesn't stay inside.

The roasted bean can stored inside for about 10 days before you package to sell them...but not much longer then that....

Here in US, people prefer medium roast but you have to see what people are drinking in your country....

Good luck

 

[John P]

Dan,

Perhaps this will help.

The Barista Champion for Romania for 2012 was Coman Cristian from Cafepedia in Bucharest.


His twitter is https:// twitter.com/cafenea . Perhaps he can guide you in the direction of someone in your country who can be of assistance.

Best of Luck. It will be a long journey.

 

[expat]

Dan,

All the advice above is very good, do your best to follow it.

One great thing you've got going for you is that you've only got a 1kg roaster so even if you screw-up a few batches you haven't lost much. You'll learn a lot thru trial and error. It is a good teacher.

As to storing your coffee since you've got a small roaster I doubt you'd have much of a problem. Once you roast a kg I've got a feeling you'll sell it off pretty quickly. Oh, and besides selling brewed coffee make sure you offer your roasted coffee for folks to take home with them.

You asked about bean choice and that is a difficult thing to advise someone on as you can go crazy with all the variety available. For us the key has been to choose as few bean types as possible with which you can make the most single origins and blends. In my area the other roasters rely heavily on South and Central American coffees so I went the other way. We lean toward African and Indonesian coffees yet do have one really top quality Colombian. With the five beans we stock we make seven coffees. We can actually make more but seven is quite enough!

We make a Mocha-Java, a single origin Ethiopian, a single origin Colombian, an All Day Blend, a caffeine packed espresso blend, a "light-weight" espresso blend, and a single origin Kenya. It wasn't great planning on our part that led us to these coffees, like you we were complete novices when we started, but we've been very happy with our choices and especially how hard they work for us because we really don't have any coffee sitting around waiting to be roasted. It all moves out pretty quickly. So I'd give your bean choices and how well your beans 'play with each other' a lot of thought since when you graduate to a larger roaster that is going to be a big expense for you and you only want your money tied up in coffees that are quickly moving out the door.

Best wishes on your new venture!

 

[eldub]

expat: How do you not have any coffee waiting around to be roasted? (I'm guessing you buy a bag (60 kg) of five different beans at a time?) How quickly are you going through that amount of coffee?

And if you are burning through 300 kg of beans, wouldn't you be able to save on freight and order a full pallet instead of half?

 

[expat]

While I use five different beans, I do my best to buy in pallate quantities -- a 1 or 2 pallate mix for each order. I buy as much as I can because every nickel saved in freight goes right to my bottom line.

 

[topher]

I was ordering every two weeks due to storage constraints. I gained some more room and I am able to order monthly now. Shipping went down considerably! From $.21 a lb to $.15. That's about $500 in savings a month! I want to apologize for my first post. I just read it and it didn't come off right. I do think that finding someone who has experience is key though. There is so much hands on to learn. Good luck and keep us posted on how your venture progresses.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

6000 dollars saving just on shipping.... That's awesome....

 

[SFcoffeefan]

Don't know how to help, but good luck with the roasting! Old job had an office in Cluj and they said coffee wasn't the greatest there. Maybe you can help change that!

 

[Gianul]

Thank you all for your replays and advice.
it will take me few month to renovate the place and then I will start roasting.
in the mean time I looked at some videos on youtube and got an ideea about the roasting process and stages. I must admit, is not an easy task, but that's what makes Caffe so nobble.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

I don't think its as hard as it used to be. Alll the great machines out there and all the advise you can get from the experience roaster, you will get there with much less pain some of the roasters had to endure.... good luck

 

[johnDavis20]

I think my suggestion would be to outsource a help to a farmer growers, find a great coffee beans or seeds to grow, and then invest hardly. Just stay focused on what endeavors you will have. You will get succeed soon enough if you are determined and strong enough to take on the challenge.

Hoping for your future success!!!

JohnD.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

It would be nice to buy directly from the farmers but I don't think there are many out there who has enough knowledge to deal directly. Most who claim to be farmers are just another middleman.

 

[eldub]

john: Do you give the advice above from the prospective of someone who has actually gone the route you suggest or more from a gut feeling you have?

I just don't see your advice as being very realistic or rooted in reality of the market.