St. Ives Gourmet Coffee Roasting Method:

Our company roaster, Ed Thilenius, with our large Diedrich roaster which can roast up to 300 pounds for the local grocery stores (more roaster info).

"The Joy of Coffee" by Cosby Kummer describes the art of roasting better than we can; quote: "In contrast to the small army of people who determine the final taste of wine, in the coffee trade, one person- a true roastmaster - does everything but nourish and harvest the beans, calls on experience and a sixth sense to judge how long and at what temperature to roast them."

St. Ives Coffee Roasters Inc. has one Roastmaster whose technique and skill provides consistency from batch to batch. He is of the "East Coast school of thought " where coffee is roasted to a lighter end point than West Coast roasters who tend toward a darker, longer roast. St. Ives is not fixed or narrow minded in determining consistency, color, or roast time for coffee. Each coffee has its own strong points so our guiding principle is to bring the very best characteristics of the coffee out by trying different levels and degrees of roast. We then simply ask our customers which level of roast they prefer and follow our own protocol to achieve the correct roast for each coffee according to taste. We will also roast a particular batch of coffee to a wholesale customers specification, as tastes do vary around the country. The whole trick can be summarized as quality, consistency and enthusiasm for coffee.

Here is Ed again ready to take your order with our small roaster that roasts up to 30 pounds of coffee (more roaster info).

We take the time and expense to preheat the roaster before dropping the beans into the drum. All our beans are Specialty grade, class 1 so there are no "cheap" starter batches in St. Ives (more about our beans). Through careful manual manipulation of heat, air flow and internal temperature we bring the beans up to the first crack at about 380 degrees, F. Raw coffee beans contain about 8-12 % moisture on average, and it is the popping and cracking of the bean which indicates that moisture has reached boiling point and is being driven off. At this point we are already past the 'cinnamon' stage. We usually cut back or even off, the gas jets at this stage to ensure the whole batch evens up with the airflow directed through the batch to remove chaff and prevent any further rise in temperature.

As the beans continue to roast Pyrolysis occurs. This is the process where internal chemical changes in the bean occur producing heat, resulting in an overall temperature rise without external heat being applied. These changes alter the chemical structure of the beans releasing substances which give coffee its aroma and flavor. The beans continue to roast leading to the second crack where oils begin to appear on the surface of the bean. The second crack has a definitive sound of its own ~ sounding like eggs frying in a pan! Without giving away secrets every single coffee we produce has its own protocol from first to second crack, developed to bring out the very best qualities of the coffee.

Once roasted the beans are specially packaged to maintain their freshness. Read about our Packaging Advantage.

All of our coffees, including flavored coffees, are kosher certified by the Atlanta Kashruth Commission.