Tips To Becoming A Great Coffee Roaster

With over 50% of Americans 18 or older drinking coffee every day, starting a coffee roasting business may be a good way to start being an entrepreneur. If you want to start a coffee business, these tips will get you started on the right track to being a successful coffee roaster.

The following are 5 tips will help you be successful in the coffee roasting business.

1. Know the coffee bean. This is where coffee starts. Coffee beans are green before they are brown, therefore, knowing your green coffee beans will make a difference. You’ll want to get familiar with the many different coffee bean growing regions, the varietals of coffee beans, and growing origins before you can become a master roaster. Study first and then experiment. Of course, you only want to roast the best coffee. However, you’ll learn much about roasting a bad batch.
2. Taste. There are wine, whiskey, and beer tasters, why not coffee tasters? Well, there are those who do this professionally, but why not, as a coffee roaster, become versed in the art of coffee tasting? Study the art of coffee tasting, so that you can know when the roasting process has gone wrong, or when it is going right.
3. Know coffee supply chains. Study up on not only where the coffee comes from but from whom it is coming. Grocery stores are familiar with their farmers. It should be no different for you and your knowledge of the regions’ coffee growers.
4. Inculcate feedback. You’ve been studying coffee roasting online and in books, however, nothing beats street-level coffee drinker feedback. Whether positive or negative, take time to try and understand why your customer likes or dislikes your coffee. This learning is invaluable and serves as a check on the possibly biased tastes of you or your employees. Are the employees going to tell their boss that the coffee is terrible? That’s what I thought.
5. Be a brewer. Roasting is not an end all be all. Learning to brew a delicious batch of coffee is part and parcel of the process. Learn how the different brewing techniques fit with your overall coffee roasting philosophy.

Now that you have these basics, it’s time for buying your coffee equipment. The following is a non-exhaustive list of essential coffee equipment, you’ll need for your coffee shop.

Coffee Equipment

• Automatic drip coffee makers
• Espresso machine
• Coffee grinder
• 2 to 3 blenders, and
• Refrigerator and cold storage systems

With the right coffee buying, roasting, brewing know-how, and the right coffee equipment, you’ll be equipped to become a successful coffee roaster.