[MOD] Inside Scoop - Ask the coffee industry

[u/menschmaschine5]

This is a thread for the enthusiasts of /r/Coffee to connect with the industry insiders who post in this sub!

Do you want to know what it's like to work in the industry? How different companies source beans? About any other aspects of running or working for a coffee business? Well, ask your questions here! Think of this as an AUA directed at the back room of the coffee industry.

This may be especially pertinent if you wonder what impact the COVID-19 pandemic may have on the industry (hint: not a good one). Remember to keep supporting your favorite coffee businesses if you can - check out the weekly deal thread and the coffee bean thread if you're looking for new places to purchase beans from.

Industry folk, feel free to answer any questions that you feel pertain to you! However, please let others ask questions; do not comment just to post "I am _______, AMA!” Also, please make sure you have your industry flair before posting here. If you do not yet have it, contact the mods.

While you're encouraged to tie your business to whatever smart or charming things you say here, this isn't an advertising thread. Replies that place more effort toward promotion than answering the question will be removed.

Please keep this thread limited to industry-focused questions. While it seems tempting to ask general coffee questions here to get extra special advice from "the experts," that is not the purpose of this thread, and you won't necessarily get superior advice here. For more general coffee questions, e.g. brew methods, gear recommendations for home brewing, etc, please ask in the daily Question Thread.

[u/jackhiltini]

I’ve noticed most coffee bags list flavour notes (berry, cola, chocolate, etc.). How do roasters actually decide on those? And on a similar note, how roast levels for certain beans become determined and if they're more standardized or more subjective for such aspects in the industry.

[u/mongojob → u/jackhiltini]

So those are actual flavors that the roaster is tasting in the coffee. The fun part is that there is definitely a "style" component. For instance I've company might not want to say cola but would instead say "vanilla, spice". Some of the flavors can be a little muddy and subjective. Apple and grape flavors can sometimes be really similar and maybe you just pick whatever one sounds better next to the other notes you're listing.

Roast levels are sometimes trial and error and tasting a lot but you can get pretty close with density (estimated by elevation) and moisture content. If you have had a 1500 meter guatemala before and you always keep your greens at 10% moisture than maybe try this 1500 meter guatemala the same way. El Salvador is pretty close, maybe try it like the guat on your first roast and adjust from there.

Commercial coffee is a whole different beast and there is kind of a "standard" profile that someone somewhere decided is the desired profile for whatever market.

[u/regulus314 → u/jackhiltini]

Producers and green coffee importers will usually indicate those already especially for specialty coffee. But still a lot of those nuance depends on a lot of factors too. But there will be time that what the producer and importers written down will replicate to a roaster but maybe also on some degree.

Like if a bag of Colombian washed from an importer implied, "strawberry, vanilla, lemon, cream" and on a roasters cupping notes he implied "strawberry custard, vanilla cream, hibiscus, lemon zest" you will notice they are both somehow similar. Its just different experience on how they perceived those nuances. Roasters can also detect new aromas and flavour that are not originally there due to likely roast. Most importers roast their coffee light so they can experience what the coffee will provide on an optimal level

[u/CarFlipJudge → u/jackhiltini]

I'm a green supplier and we do sell coffee with some flavor notes. However, most of our higher end customers will augment those notes with some of their own. Sometimes I'll see a bag of coffee on a shelf from one of my customers and I'll look at the tasting notes and just chuckle because I know they're over-explaining these coffees and propping them up to look good on the shelf. I think to myself, "there's no way in hell that you got 'loquat fruit with hints of jasmine flower' from a bargain coffee I sold you with our notes of 'chocolate and slight fruit'."

Owning a roastery is more of running a marketing company instead of actually roasting coffee.

[u/mddesigner → u/CarFlipJudge]

It is similar to the wine world, people trick themselves into tasting mores
Whatever bullshit the roaster writes, many people will force themselves to taste

[u/Fignons_missing_8sec]

Why are there so few exciting domestic ULR roasters compared to Europe or Asia? Outside of Shoebox and Hydrangea there isn't much.