About Coffee - Processing

     Every year significant advancements within the coffee trade are being made.  Quality is increasing as farmers use new cleaning and drying methods as well as experimenting with cultivars, sustainable agricultural methods and biodiversity.  All in an effort to improving the quality in your cup!  Their advances have made us look at our own business practices.  Are we keeping up with the hard and diligent work taking place throughout the world on coffee farms?  As they hand us their annual crop offerings is their more we can do to bring that quality to your cup?      
We decided that we could do better.  So we began to look.  The first place we cast our gaze was at our packaging.  Afterall, this is the point at which you, our valued customer experiences the difference from the combined effort of so many.  After investigating the latest research in coffee and packaging we decided to make a huge shift in what we've been doing.

 We call it our "Mountain Fresh" project.  

      We now package in steel cans.  After reading the literature and speaking with packaging specialists we believe there is no better way to preserve coffee's 'Mountain Freshness'.  We seam the cans using an easy-peel lid with an innovative one-way valve.  This allows us to pack our coffee immediately after roasting so the coffee will de-gas naturally inside the can, pushing out the harmful staling effects of oxygen.  Preserving the peak flavor of your coffee as well as the environment--that's our packaging mission.   
     The environment?  Yes.  All of our cans are made of recycled material.  And if you choose to recycle it again, unbeknownst to many, steel is endlessly recyclable with no wasted by-products.  Plastic, poly corn-based, or metalized packaging cannot make this claim.   Besides their recycling advantage, we are even more excited to see the myriad of re-uses (years and years of 'em) people come up with for our cans.  Art supplies, coins, pens & pencils, nuts & bolts, edible nuts, you name it we are beginning to hear about it.
    

ROASTING

     At Late for the Train our Roastery staff are continuously evaluating new offerings from farms and cooperatives for a touch of something distinguishing.  Roasting coffee requires a careful series of steps blending science and art.  
     A lot of interesting things go into consideration when roasting coffee.  There are several hundred naturally occurring chemical compounds in roasted coffee; not one of which has been isolated as contributing to coffee's quintessential flavor.  Furthermore, it matters whether the coffee is a fresh crop or past crop or fly crop.  Is it a very dense bean or relatively soft?  How high grown is it?  What cultivar is being used by the farm; Bourbon? Catui? or Pacamara?  Moisture is also a component in our decision to roast a particular way as well as the processing and drying methods used by the farm.  

THE CR-50

     We have learned a great deal about coffee over the past fifteen (+) years.  With all the factors we now know must be taken under consideration during roasting we decided we needed equipment that could keep up with our knowledge and the hard work going in at the farm.  We've already been roasting for years integrating computer technology and an Agtron Spectrometer.  But technology keeps advancing so we decided to upgrade from the ground up with an American made Diedrich CR-50 roaster.  We are very excited; new packaging and new roasting technology will better enable us to bring you quality that makes a difference.
 

- CHOOSING COFFEE BY ROAST STYLE -

      Shopping for a cup of coffee that is truly memorable and worth repeating can be quite a task.  When we see a bag of Colombian coffee it seems as though it should be something like comparing apples to apples; but it isn't.  I won't go into the details of why here.  Choosing by region and country of origin will come later.
      Roast style is the first place you want to start when selecting a fresh roasted coffee no matter where it is from.  The differences in the degree of roast have a profound effect on the final product.  Read below, get some coffee, experiment, and have fun! Whatever your favorite style; Light, Medium, and Dark, at Late For The Train we select coffee specifically for the roast.  

Light Roast

• A light roast is produced by removing coffee from the roaster at a lower temperature than a darker roast. The main attribute of this roast is the presence of a clean, aromatic profile.  Aromas are bright and intense.  Acidity is also more likely to be pronounced.  (Remember, “acidity” as a coffee tasting term is akin to what dryness is in wine).                                                             
• At Late For The Train our preference is to take nearly every coffee beyond what most roasters consider a light roast.  We hold the opinion that a light cinnamon colored roast develops an undeveloped flavor profile.  We aim for more breadth and depth by roasting into a deeper tone.  One exception is our Portofino Blend which is designed specifically for making espresso shots.  To make our shots intensely flavored, super-smooth and sweet without competing roast notes requires a fairly light roast.  Otherwise, we go hotter.

• Many nuances exist within this class of roast. This roast style develops a broader, deeper complexity than a lighter roast. Higher temperatures and longer roasting times create a cup with more fully caramelize sugars, a smoother tactile sensation of body and a slightly muted acidity. A medium roast (into the second crack) expands the bean and brings its oils closer to the surface.  The “roast” becomes more pronounced (imagine roasted vs. raw nuts) and a slight bittersweet character begins to develop.
                                                                                                            

• This is where you can get into trouble.  There is no standard in claiming what is 'dark'.  Some would consider some of our medium roasts to be technically 'dark'.  Sometimes a name such as Viennese, French, Italian, or Spanish roast are used.  But even here there is no standard.  The rule here is; get to know your roaster.  
• As heat in the roaster goes beyond 455F to 475F the beans continue to darken, expand and lose mass as aromatic compounds, oils, and soluble solids continue to develop. With increased temperatures, the roast character becomes more pronounced and the brew becomes tactilely thinner.  The essence of sweetness inherent in the chosen coffee rolls from a white sugary sensation to a molasses-like sugarness. 
• By carefully selecting coffees for roasting dark we avoid having bitter tasting dark roasts.  It's one of our hallmarks at Late For The Train.   Our dark roasts are very popular. Try adding cream to our North Rim after brewing it and you may never brew a different coffee again!