As a relatively last-minute decision, I spent my Saturday morning on a trip to a coffee roastery near Bath. I knew very little of what to expect- or of what coffee roasting even is– but came along with confidence in my love for caffeine. I was, however, surprised by how interesting the whole process is; only now understanding the meaning of the phrase: ‘the art of coffee’.
Round Hill Roastery is based in a relatively small business unit, reflecting the relatively small size of the business itself in terms of workforce (which I think was said to consist of just seven people!). Downstairs of the unit hosted the production grounds, with the roasting machine and sacks of green coffee beans, whilst upstairs was home to a cosier area for tasting etc. I had never thought much into the process of roasting coffee beans, but I didn’t realise the particularity of it either. For the particular batch of coffee I witnessed being roasted, the temperature was heated to a precise 208 degrees Celsius and was tracked on an adjacent computer screen, displaying a graph to monitor the coffee as it roasted. Apparently the three key stages involved in the process is the start temperature, total roasting time, and the development stage (which is the final part when the coffee beans begin to crack like popcorn). It is imperative for these three elements to be correct, for the coffee to also be correct. Who knew such attention and care went into it all!
I think what struck me the most about visiting this roastery was the genuine care for the suppliers and the process. The owner told me that he studied a business degree and then ran his own business by the utter opposite rules; using a business model that initially minimized profit margins for the benefit of higher quality end-products. Not only that, but his aim is to only source coffee from places he has real connections with- usually through travelling to places like Columbia and meeting the local farmers and pickers of the coffee. This ensures he only makes connections with suppliers who treat workers in an ethically sound way, and that the process is done with ultimate care; sometimes with specific and unique methods of dry or wet fermentation to extract natural sugars from the coffee cherries in the best way possible. It also means he develops a sense of care for the suppliers who typically live in poor conditions, which then inspired him to pay them up to 2.5 times the commodity rate for the goods. If that isn’t strong social responsibility in a business, then I don’t know what is.
My favourite element of the trip had to be the chance to taste an array of different coffees, as would be done when perfecting a new recipe. The cups are laid out in a line, which you slurp from using a spoon, and we were shown how to ‘break’ the coffee to release its initial aroma. He also showed us how to use the coffee machines and I think it’s fair to say that I’m not a barrister in the making!
It’s rare to be given the chance to properly look into the operations of something that plays such a large role in so many of our everyday lives, and I have to say it has made me re-evaluate the quality of larger commercial coffee chains much more. Having understood the process and supply chain better, I understand now why more expensive coffee in some independent chains can- in some instances- be worth the premium price.
This has been the start of a new interest in ‘business insights’, trying to extract as much knowledge as possible from local sources to learn more about the business world in all sorts of industries. It was definitely a good place to start- in the heart of what my every morning relies on, coffee! – and I’m excited to reach out to more businesses in the future.
ElliePaigeAndre 