FROM THE EDITOR

AT THE RECENT NW Roasters Guild event, I had the opportunity to cup coffee with more than 40 roasters from around the Pacific Northwest. One of the things that I love about cupping with so many roasters is listening to them talk about the coffee. As someone who loves words probably a bit more than is considered acceptable, I find it truly inspiring to hear the way that roasters describe the tastes and aromas of coffee. Some roasters are nearly scientific with their descriptions—you can practically taste the coffee just from the words they use. Others are incredibly poetic in the way they capture a fleeting flavor in the cup; just listening to them is like hearing great literature read aloud.
     At this particular event, I had the opportunity to listen to roasters talk about a cupping experience that was new to almost all of them: a comparative blind-cupping between drum-roasted and air-roasted coffees. For the cuppings, we roasted an Antigua and a Sumatra on both an air roaster and a drum roaster, making sure to roast the coffees to equal roast levels on both machines. Then we cupped the two coffees to see if we could taste the difference and if we had a preference.
     Before the cupping began, it was clear that the roasters had an expectation of how the coffees would turn out, of which coffee they would like best, and what each of the coffees would taste like. Yet, around the room, as roasters broke the crust on the coffees, there were exclamations of surprise. “Wow, they’re so different,” seemed to be the most common reaction. Roasters noted the differences in acidity levels, the almost opposite flavor profiles and the different flavors that came out as the coffees cooled. And, yes, in the end, most of the roasters were able to tell which coffee was air-roasted and which was drum-roasted. But the most surprising thing for the roasters themselves seemed to be that in many cases they liked the air-roasted coffee a lot and in some cases, even preferred it.
     During the event, we also toured both Batdorf & Bronson, a drum roastery and Raven’s Brew, an air roastery. We peeked inside machines, talked about the chemistry of air-flow, debated cooling trays versus water quenching and looked at the differences in the afterburners.
     Obviously, the air-roasted vs. drum-roasted coffee debate isn’t new, and it’s nowhere near its end. Sometimes it reminds me of the PC versus Mac debate. I’m a PC girl myself (shh…please don’t tell our art director), but that’s because my focus is words, and for me, the PC offers better word tools. For those who are doing other things, say laying out magazines, the Mac is where it’s at.
     Perhaps air roasters and drum roasters fall into this same kind of “different needs, different goals,” philosophy. Some of us know how to work both a Mac and a PC, just in case. And most roasters can roast on various sample and full-sized roasters. Surely there is something to learn from being cross-trained in that way. So wouldn’t it make sense that most of us should at least know how to operate both types of roasters? The more understanding and knowledge we have of how coffee operates in all the available roasting environments can only benefit us—and the industry.
     Plus, think of all the additional coffee you’d get to taste. And all the extra words I’d get to listen to as you describe the differences between the cups.

     Keep the flame burning,
     Shanna