What’s the Deal with Cryodesiccation?

What’s the Deal with Cryodesiccation?

At the 2017 World Barista Championships, recurring Canadian champion Ben Put introduced baristas around the world to the concept of freeze distillation — a method of concentrating milk to make it richer and sweeter. The method quickly became common at barista...
The Evaporation Front

The Evaporation Front

In the last few lessons of our Roasting Science course, we’ve been exploring the evaporation front that forms inside coffee beans as they roast. In coffee roasting this phenomenon has an almost mythical status. It has even been touted as a possible cause of first...
A Year in the Deep Freeze

A Year in the Deep Freeze

Freezing coffee has been part of the specialty barista’s arsenal for some time now. Ever since we discovered the benefits of grinding coffee from frozen, we’ve been keen advocates of vacuum-sealing small amounts of roasted coffee, so that you can keep that rare and...
Who Really Invented the Air Roaster?

Who Really Invented the Air Roaster?

The invention of the air roaster revolutionised coffee roasting, allowing faster roasts on larger scales than had ever been possible before. In the decades since it was invented, the air roaster became hugely important in industrial coffee roasting — although the...
The Possibly Lactic Process

The Possibly Lactic Process

Earlier this month, a group of coffee pilgrims assembled in the mountains of Risaralda, Colombia. Roasters, buyers, baristas, and producers came from every corner of the globe, to join Lucia Solis for the first ever Fermentation Training Camp. The main goal of the...
Wet Weiss Distribution

Wet Weiss Distribution

If you have ever ground your own coffee, then you’ve probably tried the Weiss Distribution Technique (WDT). Possibly even without realising you were doing something that had a name, you might have grabbed a paper clip and done a little puck raking just for the pure...