Professional roasters?

bawbby

New member
Jul 19, 2003
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Northwest USA
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I bought into a small company that now roasts about 3000pounds of coffee a month. We sell mostly to retail outlets that we own. Last year we hired a part time roaster/friend of one of the business partners to develop an espresso blend, a drip blend, and a decaf blend. Once we weened our customers off Illy they accepted the blends and we haven't had many complaints. Therein lies my problem. My partners love their lattes but are retailers at heart. They have no interest in developing new (different, better) blends because business is boomong and the customers seem happy. They are more interested in consistancy than flavor. Unfortunately for them the new coffee crop is in and it won't taste the same as last year's coffee.
I still have some money left over after investing in this company and I would like to hire a roaster professional on a contract basis to develop some blends using samples I have on hand. Is this an accepted business practice? I've looked for roasters on the web but can only find people selling coffee.
Thanks
Bob
 

Mikeftrevino

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Jul 31, 2003
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Tucson, AZ
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I have some roasting experience. It most likely is not enough experience. I do have a friend that I feel is Mike Sivitz' better when it comes to roasting and roasting to taste, Arron Triplet. http://www.roasterx.com

Give Arron a call and see if he can help.

Making a blend of what you have on hand is done industry wide. Doing it so the product taste good instead of ok is not widely practiced but should be. You are a rare person for thinking this way and I salute you for it. Your partners need to know that harvests are different and they need to be flexable when it comes to the final product. Sometimes it's not even the harvest that forces change in your coffee but political upheaval like civl war or coups that for the smaller roaster to have to buy an alternative crop.
 

Coffee Guy

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Oct 19, 2003
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Seattle,Washington USA
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Hello bawbby:

If you are still looking for some help in developing more blends and would like us to do some back up roasting, contact me directly. Let's see how we can help you. We're located in the Great Northwest as well.
 
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