Tell me how was your coffee roasted, and I will tell you how ‘specialty’ it really is

Every element from the specialty coffee production is important – growing, picking, processing, storing, roasting and packing the beans. Now we will talk about one of the least popular and probably quite unclear moment from the process – roasting. Something that we at DABOV are very good at!

It is of extreme importance who’s roasted your coffee and how it’s exactly done. Because it is through roasting that the best that grain can offer could be extracted. The good, experienced and dedicated roaster is like the orchestra’s conductor. He is not a composer, he has not composed the musical piece, but it depends on him how the piece will be presented to the audience. When the roaster gets a new coffee (of course, we are talking about specialty coffee and not ordinary coffees), he starts experimenting with different roasting profiles because the most suitable profile will highlight the flavor characteristics of the coffee. Roasting, improving profiles, finding the best roasting profile is art. And we at DABOV Specialty Coffee are proud to be able to create art in our roastery.

Why is coffee roasted

Roasting turns green coffee beans into aromatic, light to dark brown beans, from which we brew our favorite coffee drink. Roasting brings out coffee flavors, which we can’t extract by grinding and brewing green beans. Its flavor will always remind us of grass.

Why we stamp the roasting date on our coffee packs

After coffee is roasted, the peak of its aromas is on the 45th day, after which they start to decrease. We manually pack our coffee in a nozzle package that keeps the coffee fragrance until it’s opened. The package also has a zipper, because when properly closed at home, it will keep the flavor for the next 10-15 days. Coffee roasters which roast in small quantities follow this working principle in order to preserve their high-quality coffees.

Is coffee roasting art? And is it a science too?

The coffee roaster must have many different skills that are obtained through years practice and constant upgrade of theory about the different types of coffees, roasteries, roasting processes and the chemical processes that occur during roasting. He must be able to decipher the information encoded in the green beans to get the best of them. Sometimes, during roasting, it takes a fraction of a second to make from perfectly roasted coffee a burnt one. That is why a lot of attention is required.

Is it important to know who roasts your coffee

If we speak about specialty coffee, it is of utmost importance to know your roaster. Every specialty coffee is roasted according to its roasting profile. We note the roasting level on our coffee packs so that you have an idea if your coffee is light or dark roasted. Many roasteries invent their own names for their favorite roasting levels or profiles. In the coffee industry though there isn’t a strict standardization regarding those profiles. It is wise to ask how your coffee was roasted especially if you buy it outside your favorite roastery because even though there are similarities in roasting levels and profiles, there could also be unexpected differences. A lot of clients, for example, think that stronger taste that comes with darker roasting also brings a higher caffeine percentage but the truth is that lighter roast coffees contain a little bit more caffeine. We at DABOV offer coffees with different roasting levels – light, medium light, medium, medium dark and dark. As we said, we roast our coffees according to their roasting profile and what exactly from its flavor profile we would like to underline. It takes time to determine the roasting profile and the notes of those who were first to taste it. As we succeed in buying many coffees from prestigious world coffee competitions such as Cup of Excellence or Best of Panama, those first to taste our coffees are world class cuppers with an incredible experience – the jurors in said competitions among which is our founder Jordan Dabov. Usually, when we receive new coffee, we make several test profiles and we cup until we select the profile which helps the coffee flavor bloom in full. During cupping, we are able to detect many different notes in the taste and aroma and perfect roasting helps those notes to be tasted by our clients as well. There are very few roasteries in Europe that roast as we do. One of our clients has nominated us for the Kings of light roast. Many of our colleagues roast darker and this way some flavors are lost. We also store coffee in conditions that maintain its qualities from the moment we receive the bags with green beans. For many years now we think about everything – for every stage of processing and storing the valuable aromatic beans so that you can enjoy wonderful specialty coffees. You can trust our choice for a roasting profile and taste this box with some of our best coffees: