Roasting Coffee @ Altitude.
This post we’ll talk about roasting at different altitudes.
We recently were asked a question by a customer on Vancouver island. He asked why we roast our coffee in Calgary Alberta Canada rather than say Vancouver island. We do market to Vancouverites and we could roast there. However there is a little known fact about roasting at high altitude. Roasted at a high altitude requires lower temperatures and roasting time. At high elevations, the air is more thin and dry. Less oxygen and moisture in the air results in a faster roast development over a shorter period of time.
For this reason, roasting coffee at a high elevation can help you avoid baking or scorching your beans. Scorching or baking your coffee causes a lack of development and lack of expansion that results in flat, burnt flavors.
Baked coffee beans refers to the bland flavor that results from roasting the beans for too long. Scorching coffee occurs when the beans are roasted at a temperature that’s too high. It can result in a woody flavor. Roasting at a high elevation can help you avoid both of these problems, allowing you to achieve the tastiest roast for your coffee. We roast our beans at 1161M above sea level. For those imperial folks that’s about 3810 feet. Now depending on where you are in the city it varies. But that’s roughly where we roast at.
When you roast your coffee at a high temperature, the coffee will roast much more quickly. A quick roast will allow the entire flavor compound of the bean to become more pronounced. This means that nutty, chocolaty, fruity, and berry flavors will taste more full in each sip of coffee.
A shorter roast period at a lower temperature results in a smoother, more complex flavor that actually tastes fresher for longer. High altitude roasting results in the smoothest, freshest roast—and therefore results in the best coffee. We hope you agree when you purchase your next bag of Highwood Coffee. Let us know how you like it! Comment below or let us know on our other social media channels. We plan to have monthly giveaways so make sure you sign up for the newsletter, like and share on social media.
Sara & James Joyce.