By Eden Hodges
Cool Beanz coffee shop owner, David Hoyle stands at the counter jotting notes from his latest coffee roast. As he fires up the roaster Tuesday morning, the dark, robust smell of coffee fills the shop for the rest of the day - an intentional side effect, Hoyle admits, of roasting day.
Hoyle lifts and cuts open one of the coffee sacks weighing over 100 pounds each. Hoyle sources all of his coffee beans directly from farmers in Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Nicaragua.
Hoyle scoops beans from the bag into a bucket to be weighed. Cool Beanz' staple product, cold brew, uses Colombian coffee beans which actually start out green before entering the roaster.
Once the roaster is blistering to the touch, Hoyle pours the bucket of beans into the hopper. Since the beans enter the drum at room temperature, he has to overshoot the heat before they go in and bring it down throughout the roast.
A small window shows the beans tumble around in the drum and lets Hoyle watch the beans develop color as they roast. Since opening his first shop 10 years ago, he has become a self-taught coffee aficionado.
Hoyle explains to a curious customer how the roaster works. Since every roast takes about 15 minutes and gets easier after the first, he usually roasts several batches of beans on a roasting day.
He monitors the roaster on a graphing software connected to the roaster that shows the temperatures of heating elements, air inside the drum and the drum itself. The variation of an "S curve" on the graph is the perfect way to roast a bean.
These dials control the different temperatures shown on the graph. The roaster takes a lot of monitoring up until the beans go in, and it becomes more 'set it and forget it'.
Hoyle listens for popcorn-like noises as he checks the flame inside the roaster. The popping noises indicate the first crack on the beans, meaning they have begun to pop open and release steam.
A temperature gauge reads 326 degrees Farenheit as he lowers the flames. If you continue to roast beans past the first crack, they move on to the "second crack" phase where the bean begins to break down and release oils.
A slot in the side of the machine allows Hoyle to remove samples as they roast. "We want to roast them as fast as we can to get that moisture out without charring the beans," said Hoyle.
Hoyle smells the beans, looking for a caramel-like smell that comes from the heated sugars after the first crack. "I love the way it smells," said Hoyle. "I don't do that very often, because I roast this bean all the time."
He takes notes of how the temperatures are affecting the beans, a crucial step in his roasting routine. "If I ever get a bean that I'm not sure what to do with, I have a record of what I've done in the past," said Hoyle.
Hoyle holds one coffee bean and checks it for color and cracking. When the beans fall out of the drum they're like really hot rocks, and he can only hold a few at a time.
After the beans are cool to the touch he empties them into a bucket that's ready to be ground and soaked overnight to make cold brew. Hoyle feels like cold brew is a true test of one's roasting abilities.
Hoyle lets one of his business partners' children sweep the rest of the beans into the chute using a paintbrush. A few local vendors sell wares in the store from local honey to potted plants.
Hoyle begins a new set of notes as he gets ready to roast his second batch of the day. He'll sometimes hang out at the shop for hours, roasting beans and getting along with the customers.
