The Precise Air-Roast
Coffee Air-Roasting at Kaladi Coffee is a radical departure from traditional drum roasting. Drum Roasters roast the coffee beans in an enclosed cylinder drum heated from below. The design dates back to the early 1800’s. Coffee Beans are rotated in mass at high temperatures that scorch and tar the coffee, often producing a burnt, bitter taste.
Kaladi uses the Single Pass Fluid Bed Fresh Air Roaster manufactured by Sivetz Coffee Roasters of Corvallis, Oregon. Invented in the early 1970’s by the renowned chemical engineer and coffee industry maverick, Michael Sivetz, the Sivetz Roaster is unique in its use of hot air instead of a hot surface to heat the coffee beans.
While many drum roasters introduce hot air into their roast chamber, the Sivetz system’s sole use of hot air greatly increases the rate of heat transference to the beans, creating a cleaner, more aromatic roast free of bitter tasting tars.
Green coffee beans are loaded into a chamber with a grated screen at the bottom. A blower unit lifts the beans while the combustion chamber heats the incoming air. The air temperature coming into the roast chamber can be controlled by the roast master, ensuring the ideal roast parameters are targeted. The bean temperature is monitored by a sensor during the roast and a desired target roast temperature is set according to the type and density of the coffee being roasted. This system enables us to zero in on the optimum roast, the Precise Roast.
When target temperature is achieved, the combustion chamber immediately shuts off and cool air is introduced. The roasted beans are cooled to room temperature in less than two minutes, locking in the volatile aromatic compounds that make up each coffee’s individual character.
Our air-roasting machine is accurate to one degree, maintaining the Precise Roast, every roast.
Light Roast? Dark Roast? Precise Roast!
Typically, when we buy coffee we think in terms of roast color. Some people prefer light roasted coffee while others may prefer a dark roast. Then there are those who want something in between. Traditional coffee roasting machines have limited monitoring capability requiring the roastmaster to judge a coffee finish by the color of the bean. At Kaladi Brothers, we have broken through the light roast/dark roast barrier to achieve the Precise Roast. There is a direct relationship between the color of the bean and the final temperature that bean reached during roasting.
Unfortunately, because the dynamic nature of coffee air-roasting, unless this temperature is closely monitored radical drifts in the final result are inevitable. With Precise Air-Roasting, each coffee’s unique flavor profile can be targeted with the exact temperature necessary to fully bring out it’s unique characteristics, and more importantly, be consistently reproduced roast after roast.
