Coffee lovers who take it to a whole new level

By Joan Janzen

There are coffee lovers who take coffee to a whole new level, and I have a son who is one of those individuals. He owns a cabinet full of coffee paraphernalia, varieties of roasted beans from all over the world, and a chart displaying the hundreds of flavours available. Needless to say, I know where to go for a really good cup of coffee.

Recently, I accompanied him on a visit to his favourite cafe and coffee roasting company in Saskatoon, where his coffee buddy invited me to the back of the shop where all the roasting magic happens.

The coffee roasting machine is hooked up to a computer, which helps track the process. Jimmy charts the temperature as it climbs, causing moisture evaporation in the beans to increase. PHOTO BY JOAN JANZEN

Coffee beans are roasted for seven to 10 minutes, depending on the type of bean. PHOTO BY JOAN JANZEN

After the roasting is complete, Jimmy Oneschuk places the beans in packages for his customers to purchase. PHOTO BY JOAN JANZEN

But before the demonstration, we ordered our flavourful cups of coffee as patrons came through the cafe door. “You’re the Air Canada guy,” my son said to one of the customers as he recognized him as a pilot who brings beans to Jimmy Oneschuk, the coffee guy, every time he flies to different countries.

“And you’re the guy who drives two hours for a cup of coffee,” the pilot responded. But we were interrupted by Jimmy, who was anxious to begin the roasting demo.

Piled along the wall were 155-pound gunny sacks filled with coffee beans, all waiting to be roasted. The beans of choice for this batch came from Ethiopia and were slightly green in colour.

The roasting machine was hooked up to a computer, which helped track the process. Jimmy was charting the temperature as it continued to climb, causing moisture evaporation in the beans to increase.

Every couple of minutes, he would pull out the tester and smell a spoonful of beans. At the beginning of the process, the beans had not yet shed their greenish hue and smelled somewhat like straw because the sugars had not yet begun to roast.

“It’s still fresh with a grass-like smell. As it starts to cook more, you start to get sugars rendered down and begin to get the sweet coffee aroma,” he explained.

The process lasts from seven to 10 minutes, depending on the type and size of bean.

“The more you roast it, the darker it gets,” he said, as the sugars begin to caramelize. But every coffee is different.

“Some do better at a light roast, and some are grown to be roasted at a dark roast,” he added. Longer roasting results in less caffeine and a more intense flavour. “The lighter roast has more caffeine and typically has a lighter flavour profile. Dark roast and medium roast are all in a close range of a few minutes.”

Moisture is released from the bean throughout the roasting process. At one point, you could hear a slight crackling sound.

“It’s called ‘first crack’ when the moisture begins to be released and the shell actually cracks,” I was told. “The ‘second crack’ is when whatever moisture remains cracks the shell even wider open.”

The skin is pulled off the coffee beans and is deposited into a chamber at the bottom of the roaster. The shell resembles parchment paper.

The end result is aromatic beans in various shades of brown.

After the roasting is done, the beans are cooled, weighed and placed in bags for customers to purchase. Unlike coffee beans you purchase on grocery store shelves, these bags have air holes in them to release air that is still being expelled from the freshly roasted beans.

The end result is mellow and flavourful freshly brewed coffee that attracts customers to Jimmy’s cafe, some of whom drive two hours for the taste experience.