Everything on this site ships on a Wednesday because everything is roasted on a Tuesday. This is what that day looks like, for anyone who has wondered why an order placed on a Thursday waits six days.
Seven o’clock: the drum warms up
The drum takes forty minutes to reach a stable temperature, and the first batch of the day is always a coffee we know well, because the machine is still finding its rhythm. That is the Brazil, roasted for espresso: it forgives a degree or two, and it is the one we pull on the bar all week.
Eight to one: the filter coffees
Twelve kilos at a time, three to four batches per origin depending on what was ordered over the week. Each batch is logged: charge temperature, the minute of first crack, the development time, the colour of the ground coffee against last week’s. A batch that drifts more than a few seconds from its profile is cupped before it goes in a bag, and about once a month one does not go in a bag at all.
One o’clock: cupping
Every batch, against the batch from the week before. This is the part of the day that decides whether a lot stays on the shelf. It is also the part where we notice a coffee has moved, as the Huila did this summer, and start writing the note that goes on the bag.
Two to four: bagging
The coffee rests in bins for an hour, then goes into bags with the roast date printed on the front. Whole bean or ground to the setting you asked for at checkout, sealed, weighed, labelled. The last bag is sealed at about four, and the pallet for the carrier is ready at the door for the Wednesday morning pickup.
Why not roast every day
Because a roaster who roasts every day sells coffee that is either very fresh or has been sitting, and cannot tell you which. One day a week means every bag on the shelf has the same date, the cupping compares like with like, and a customer who orders on any day of the week gets a coffee that is between one and eight days old when it leaves. That is the window we want, and the schedule is what keeps it.