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Last month’s newsletter raised a few questions about the cortado – what it is exactly, should one be choosing this over their usual drink and the rest of it. So rather than news this month we have a run-down on our drinks and their differentiating characteristics. If you already have a firm favourite when you’re at our shops, then go ahead and recycle this or move on to your next email – no need to fix what is already working for you.

Our drinks immediately separate into two groups depending on how we brew the coffee: filter coffee is based on the filter method and espresso is based on the espresso. We make single-cup pour-over filter and have been doing it this way since 1978; for us it was and still is a convenient way to make samples of coffee. We quickly understood it might also be nice to drink coffee with a small something to eat and the upstairs at our Covent Garden shop was realised. We digress.

Each filter coffee is made using twenty-two grams of coffee and brewed into a mug. You can have the filter-of-the-day chosen by the team that morning or any of the coffees we have for sale on our counter. We also make a café au lait in the French style, which is a filter coffee with a generous amount of hot milk added. This is a nice drink if you’re feeling in need of a Parisian style breakfast to go with the beret you have been sporting lately. We do an iced version of both of these as well.

Onto the espresso, which is a concentrated little nugget of awesomeness brought to us by the Italians and modified by almost everyone else since. We make our espresso-based drinks using twenty-one grams of Monmouth Espresso and pour everything as a double shot (approximately 50ml) unless a single shot is requested or is specified as below. There are a number of conventions, adaptations, and variations, and now is not the time to argue how large a cappuccino should be, when is the correct time of the day to drink it, or the origins of the flat white. We are just interested here in how we make them at Monmouth. So here we go. Pay attention to the ratios for the milky drinks as they really tell you how strong the coffee will taste.

An espresso is served in a demitasse cup as a double shot (~50ml) unless you would like a single (~25ml). A ristretto is a curtailed espresso (so a smaller drink). A macchiato is an espresso with a short dash of hot milk resulting in a ratio of about 3:1. A piccolo is a single espresso served in the same sized demitasse cup as used for the preceding drinks and filled to the top with steamed milk, the ratio is 1:1. A long black is a double espresso topped up with hot water and served in our flat white cup. An americano is a taller version with more hot water and is served in our filter mug. A cortado is like a larger version of the piccolo with a double shot and ratio close to 1:1 but we don’t have a specific cup for this, so it is poured short in the flat white cup. A flat white is a slightly milkier version of the cortado, it is served in the same cup, but it is filled to the top with hot milk making a ratio of around 1:2 or so. A cappuccino is a bigger drink, we serve this in our café au lait / latte cup and it is a double shot with very foamy hot milk, the ratio is about 1:3, because frankly who doesn’t want all the foamy goodness served into the largest cup. Finally, a latte is served in the same cup as the cappuccino but is less foamy and this is the only difference. We make iced versions of most of these as well.

Got all that? Something new caught your eye? Now just briefly before you go, if there is something you like that isn’t listed, we will make it for you if we can. Sometimes a smaller cappuccino is preferred and that is totally ok! And for some of us a short-poured flat white, that is poured only fractionally longer than a cortado, is the drink that hits the spot. And that’s ok too.

See you with your reusable,

Monmouth x

We have started a round of price increases on our coffees and in October we are increasing our drinks prices in our shops. We are sorry we must do this, but unfortunately we are not immune to all the inflationary pressure that everyone is facing.

The coffees which have increased are the Monmouth Espresso, Organic Espresso and online-subscription coffees. You’ll notice some increases across the single origin coffees over the next few months as well. We price the single origin coffees individually as they come onto the counter, whereas the Monmouth Espresso and Organic Espresso are priced with the blend components we have received and expect to receive over the next crops. Similarly, the coffee subscriptions are an average of the coffees we expect to use across the year.

The big drivers for increases in coffee costs come from the exchange rate, shipping, and of course the internal costs of production in origin countries. We are determined to support the farmers we work with and make sure that the various exchange rates in play (GBP to USD, USD to local currency) do not end up impacting the price the farmer receives. To help us achieve this our amazing accounts team keep a close eye on the GBP-USD rate and work their magic buying USD as we need them. As amazing as our accounts team are though they can’t outmanoeuvre the markets and anyone buying anything traded in US dollars will be feeling the impact of the historically low exchange rate. The increases in costs of production on the farms are due to fertiliser costs (fertiliser production is heavily impacted by energy costs), labour shortages, production shortages, and general inflation.

Along with the cost of the green (unroasted) coffee, the big pressures on pricing in the UK include the energy costs. Obviously, we are all feeling the impact of these prices and we look forward to knowing more about the support coming over the next few months. As an aside we are really pleased we changed to the more energy efficient Loring roasters some years ago and this has gone a long way to reduce our energy usage.

The drinks prices in the shops are based on our own costs of production, including the green coffee, energy pricing, rent and rates, staffing, milk and accompaniments, rubbish collections, espresso machine maintenance – it seems the list is endless! The largest single component is our staff costs. Coffee is a terrific industry to work in, and we want anyone coming into the industry to feel they can have a career in it, and that their hard work on our shop floors is recognised properly.

We have taken this opportunity also to re-jig our drinks menu a bit. The cortado is making its way onto the list. For those of you who already order this, it will have an official price and fits neatly into the small reusable cup. If this is a new drink to you, it has a double shot of espresso and less milk than a flat white. We are also reformulating our iced drinks so that they fit into the reusable cups properly next year.

Outside of the covid VAT decreases, increases, and then increases again, we haven’t changed our drinks prices since 2017. This increase has been overdue for a while and we have a bit to catch up on. We managed to keep everything pretty stable during the covid times but it’s getting a bit out of hand now, so here we are.

We would like to think that this would be it for the medium term however there is a real feeling of economic unpredictability now, so unfortunately we can’t make assurances. As always, we’re really grateful for your support and understanding.

See you with your reusable,

Monmouth x

Hello! Let’s get straight to it – this month’s newsletter is for anyone out there who is interested in coffee and a career in coffee. We thought an outline of a few jobs we have available might spur some of you on for a change of scene or prompt an epiphany that all you have ever really wanted was a nice cup of coffee and a nice place to work.

In our shops we are looking for Retailer-Baristas. No experience is necessary, and we have a competitive starting rate. We don’t have zero-hour contracts or split shifts, so if you apply to work four days a week, you will work the four days and they will be guaranteed. Our shifts are typically 8.5 hours long, the lunch break is paid, and we have all the usual holiday and enhanced pension entitlements. We have extended sick leave allowance as well to allow for covid problems. We do the bike-to-work scheme and a tech scheme too. Of course, there is great coffee, great pastries and great times to be had. And if you’ve been feeling a bit weird lately about working with paper cups, don’t worry, we have moved to reusable only for hot drinks and it’s all good.

Being a Retailer-Barista involves tasting a lot of coffee with our customers and making a lot of coffee. Customers is the salient word here; you have to really like working in a customer service environment. Keeping shop is also a key part of this job; this means making sure the shop is tidy and clean and a nice place to visit and work. This is a terrific role in the industry and gives a good customer-service foundation to someone’s coffee experience. Our Head of Coffee and Wholesale Manager both started in this role.

In our roastery we are looking for Coffee Packers. Sometimes this job goes by the name of Production Assistant. The starting pay,holiday, sick leave, allowances and entitlements are all the same as for the Retailer-Barista position. In the roastery we also have great coffee, great pastries and great times too. This job involves receiving coffee orders from our online, mail order, and wholesale customers, then putting the orders together, grinding coffee where necessary and packing it all up to send out by courier or our vans. Attention to detail is important in this role and an appreciation of coffee – when you’re around it all day it’s good to like it! This role gives a good grounding in the production side of the industry – our Head Roaster started in coffee packing, and it is your writer’s favourite job in the business!

To help organise the packing team we also need a Production Manager. This is a full-time, salaried position leading two Packing Supervisors and 15-strong team. You’ll need to have enjoyed leading a team before, understand the importance of food safety, and health and safety, conversant with ordering and courier systems, and experience of a food production environment. We have a super team to work with and lead.

For all the jobs in the business an interest in coffee is important; except for discussing lunch, it is pretty much what we all talk about all day. We also taste and drink a lot of coffee. A lot. And you get a bag of whatever you like to take home with you every week.

If you’re a bit unsure or are looking for a more casual commitment we are also hiring for Christmas staff. Christmas is a super busy time for us and we need people to pack coffee at our roastery and in our shops. Almost all the same benefits apply but with a finish date in mind. It would be great for your application for this role if you have experience in coffee as it’s a quick learning curve; but if you have lots of enthusiasm instead that’s ok too!

More information on all the above is on our website monmouthcoffee.co.uk/jobs – please follow this link for details on how to apply and more information about the jobs. If you know anyone you think would be interested, please forward the link along too!

See you with your reusable,

Monmouth x

We have a new shiny! Specifically it is a new espresso machine in our Spa Terminus shop, and it is ace.

Since we started making espresso-based drinks in the early 2000s we have used espresso machines made by Florence-based company La Marzocco. La Marzocco were established by Giuseppe and Bruno Bambi in 1927. They created the first horizontal boiler machine in the late 30s, the dual-boiler system in the 70s, and launched your writer’s all-time favourite machine in the early 90s – the Linea red series.

Espresso is one of the brew methods that requires a bit more gear than is available in the average kitchen. The number of boilers and how the temperature and pressure is controlled throughout the brew process are important factors in bringing out the very best from any single origin or blend coffee. Different manufacturers have different ways of trying to achieve this so choosing a machine supplier to go with comes down to personal preference and priorities.

We have been big fans of the Linea Classic series that La Marzocco started producing in the mid 1990s. The design has stayed true to its original styling and the interior mechanics and electronics have become more sophisticated over the years. La Marzocco have always prided themselves on their machines’ thermal stability and consistency. Espresso needs a stable temperature and repeatable brew pressure to develop the intensity of flavour and crema, so anything that helps achieve this is welcomed.

Back to our new machine in our Spa Terminus shop. This is one of the more recent models that La Marzocco has developed – it is the KB90. This machine is the first from La Marzocco that has ‘straight in’ portafilters. The portafilter holds the basket into which the ground coffee is loaded. Once loaded and tamped, the portafilter is locked into the machine and then the extraction starts. Usually the portafilters are loaded into the machine with a bayonet type fitting and they need to be securely fitted against the rubber gasket to create a seal between the machine and the portafilter. There is a bit of a knack to this and it takes a bit more than an effort to load the portafilter to create a successful seal, and then unload again to release the spent coffee and start again. The KB90 has a different action to achieve the same result – the portafilter is loaded straight into the group head and lifted up slightly to click into position. This is a terrific advancement – it makes absolutely no difference to the flavour of the coffee but all the difference to the barista working the machine. There is no more twisting of the wrists with effort or needing to hang off the handles to swing the portafilter in and out of position.

The KB90 has some other advancements in common with La Marzocco’s latest machines, but it is the usability that really stands out here, and it is why we have chosen to replace our very aged and well-used fleet over the next few months with the KB90. We started this project pre-pandemic so it is super to finally be getting them installed!

Keep a lookout for the new machines as we install them in our Borough Market and Covent Garden shops. They are identifiable from your side of the counter with their sith-red illuminated, three-button controls. Like any developed skill there is a lot of muscle memory involved in making coffee so if you see a few of us seasoned pros fumbling around with the machines, you will know why.

See you with your reusable,

Monmouth x

It’s about this time of the year your writer gets a real hankering for panettone. Crazy, but maybe not so crazy after all, as Italy must have been feeling the same way at some point and came up with Colomba di Pasqua – the traditional Easter bread. Colomba is made to a very similar recipe to panettone with some modifications and shaped into a colomba (dove).

This year, for the first time at Monmouth, we have Colomba from Pasticceria Triestina Ulcigrai and it is delicious. Pasticceria Triestina Ulcigrai make the panettone we have at Christmas and we’re thrilled to have their Colomba. They’re available in our shops and on our website now.

Outside of hankerings for baked Easter goods, there is a lot of change coming up on the coffee counters over the next few months. Spring is a busy time in the roastery with samples arriving from the Central American crops, the last shipments arriving from South America and new crop being organised in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Last month we started visiting farms again after our Covid hiatus. It’s exciting to be back on the farms after two years away. We have been on Zoom and the rest of it over the Covid times, but there is nothing like spending a day on the farm, walking through it, seeing how the crop is progressing and tasting coffee with the farmers. It’s a real treat.

A highlight in March was visiting Francisca and Oscar at Finca Las Lajas in Costa Rica. We have been buying natural process coffees from the Chacón family for a number of years now and it was wonderful to see the last of the crop coming in and to taste the first of the samples for this year. Francisca and Oscar have made the natural process a real specialty of theirs. They have perfected the harvesting and their drying protocols to get the best out of the fruity flavours. We’re looking forward to this coffee arriving on the counters in the summer.

All the Central American countries are finishing up their crops now so we will see a lot of changes coming up over the summer on the counter. One of the first to happen will be the end of our Malacara A and La Bendición (El Salvador) until the new crop comes in later in the year. These will be replaced by two coffees from Peru – El Morito and Huabal. The latest coffees from Huila (Colombia) will also arrive over summer.

We have tasted the pre-shipment samples of Thiriku (Kenya) and Tessema Edima (Ethiopia). The Thiriku is tasting outstanding this year, full of big currant notes for which the SL28 is known. We’re expecting it to arrive in a couple of months, all going well with shipping.

Shipping is still a concern for everyone. Container shortages still exist and the cost of oil is pushing prices up. We continue to look for ways to mitigate these increases.

What isn’t increasing any more is our use of paper cups in our shops! The reusable cups – which I’m sure you have all heard enough about already – are going along well. A massive thank you to everyone who has helped get this going by renting a loan cup, bringing your own reusable, or using a ceramic. It has been a big change for us in the shops and a massive thank you to the team for taking it all in stride and help in making it a success.

That’s it for this month! Get onto the Colomba quick if you want one, bring your reusable, and have a wonderful Easter.

Monmouth x

It’s happening! From this month we are no longer using paper cups for take away drinks. Your options are –

1. Bring your own reusable – this can be anything from your favourite office mug, to the reusable you got for Christmas, or the Thermos you’ve had since forever. We don’t mind as long as it’s clean and we can put hot coffee in it.

2. Use one of our Monmouth reusable cups – the refundable deposit is £5 and you will find all the information on the info sheet in our shops or on our website here. This is a great option if you don’t have your own reusable or just really like ours.

3. Have your coffee in ceramic. The best option if you aren’t moving far from the shop!

We talked last month about our reasons for doing this and we have had a lot of positive and some not so positive feedback. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to get in touch with us and offer your thoughts, share your experiences, and make suggestions. We know this isn’t the most convenient thing to do and we are sorry for the hassle. But at the same time we know that if there is going to be a real reduction in the amount of single-use items that we have responsibility for, then it is up to us to start (and in a lot of cases continue) making the small changes that get us there.

We believe reusable cups are a viable way to significantly reduce the amount of papercups that make their way to landfill. Since the early days of reusable, the materials have improved significantly, the end-of-life protocols have also improved, and perhaps tellingly we are all much more aware of the impact that single use packaging has. We all take our reusable bags to the supermarkets and local shops, most of us use a refillable bottle for water and many of us bring our own packaging to zero-waste shops.

We could have waited for the long-signalled latte levy to make this change, or maybe we could have waited for the wider industry to move together to make the change. Both options seem a long way off and instead we have taken what feels like a more difficult route in removing the paper cup ahead of legislated requirements. As we said last month we aren’t the first and we hope not to be the last. And like others before us we have been told it is bold, brave, and probably a bit stupid. We are hoping it is bold, brave, and a continuation of making our business sustainable in all the ways we can.

All the ways we can also includes our coffee packaging. We have been working on our packaging for some time and we want to make sure that when we do move to a fully recyclable option, it really is that. At the moment the liner of our paper bags isn’t recyclable. We tried a biodegradable liner some time ago but had problems with theliner degrading before we could get through our minimum order quantity so we have restarted our research into the most suitable option for us. In the interim though, if you are a customer at our shops you can bring any container and we will put your whole-bean or ground coffee into it. We have done this since the heyday of the whole-foods, zero-packaging market we were a part of in Neal’s Yard in the 1970s.

So, back into this century and back onto cups. This month remember to bring your reusable, or rent of one of ours for £5 which is refundable on return. Logistically this is a big change for how we do things in our shops, so thanks in advance for your patience and a massive thank you for your support – it makes a real difference.

See you with your reusable,

Monmouth x

As we come into what is the third year of the-time-of-Covid it is tempting to dwell on the situation. We are in winter, the lack of light, the cold, and the general uncertainty can feel overwhelming. But this month, your writer is focussing on silver linings, and we are going to start the year counting our blessings.

Not being able to travel to see the farmers was a real shock and downer for us. We spend a lot of time visiting farmers and it has been upsetting that it isn’t part of our covid life currently. As borders started to open, and flights recommenced, we have taken the cautious line. We don’t want to bring Covid to areas that haven’t seen much of the virus and equally we don’t want to expose our team to more opportunities to contract it through travel. The insurance people have plenty to say about it too.

What we have done though is maintained contact via Zoom, FaceTime and Skype and this has been wonderful. Every two weeks or so we meet with one of the farmers on one of the channels and our team have had the opportunity to listen to them and ask questions and join the conversation. When we do start travelling again, we would like to keep these extended farm conversations going!

We talked this time last year about how the farmers and exporters had to make quick changes in 2020 and adjust to the situation as borders closed and labour shortages started. The shipping situation became highly problematic in 2021 with containers stranded in all sorts of places, and spots on ships became as scarce as hens’ teeth. Shipping costs and now energy costs have dramatically increased and are having their obvious impacts on prices in shops.

But with the help of our friends in the industry we have adapted to new ways of working. We now work with a shipping aggregate who negotiate multiple packages with the shipping lines, getting a reduced rate for volume, and then on-sell individual contracts to companies like ours who benefit from the pricing. This has helped immensely in keeping the shipping cost increases as low as we can and will be something we continue doing.

We have been touched and impressed with the effort and resilience of our team, suppliers and our customers. As lock-downs (overt or otherwise) have come and gone, and requirements and advice changes within a day, our team have done such a great job of adapting to the circumstances of the day. We are so thankful to them for the work they have put in to keep our shops and roastery operating during some really difficult times.

Our suppliers, from coffee farmers to exporters, packaging and machinery engineers, have been amazing at getting coffee and everything else we need to us by any means possible. The hard work of all the support workers in coffee has meant we have had everything we need to keep the ship sailing and a special mention must also go to our very own Tsy who has begged, borrowed and occasionally sequestered, to make sure we have all the bits and pieces that go into making the whole thing run.

And our customers, you wonderful people! Thank you for your understanding and support over what is now two years of this awful situation. Thank you for your patience as we have had to change our shop hours at short notice or deal with random website gremlins!

So, as we start 2022 and we realise we are very much still in the-time-of-Covid we know we have so much to be grateful for. We know challenges are coming our way, but we also have exciting projects we are developing, and we look forward to sharing these with you over the year.

Happy New Year everyone, exciting times ahead!

Monmouth x

Oh yes! Here we are! Christmas is here and we have all the good things out on the counters, online and in our shops. Panettone and chocolate are both in, coffees are tasting awesome, and it is good times all round.

The counter has taken its Christmas shape, and back by popular demand is the traditional mini round up for those of you in a hurry.

We start with your writer’s all time favourite coffee – Malacara A (El Salvador). This is the you-can’t-go-wrong-option. Need something that everyone will enjoy at this year’s great big Christmas? This is it, perfectly balanced, the original crowd-pleaser. We could end the list right here and all would be well.

If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous – try a new favourite for us, La Idolia (Guatemala). The fruit and fresh acidity in this coffee will make a good counter-point to the big, festive fry-up you have planned for breakfast.

Or maybe you’ve got your eyes on a private slice of panettone? Maybe before the kids wake up or before the dog needs a walk, you’ve got plans that include you, panettone and a piece of dark chocolate. Add Tessema Edima (Ethiopia) to the mix – this is right class, and you totally deserve it.

Or perhaps there is the hot Christmas Eve date you’re hoping to wake up with on Christmas Day – we’ve got you covered. Show your coffee creds and bring out the natural process, Java varietal, new season La Linda (Bolivia). It’s funky, freshly landed and in limited supply.

Now for those of you who just want to be wrapped up in a caffeinated cuddle, take home the Fazenda do Sertão (Brazil). Cocoa, Brazil nuts, heavy body, low acidity. Enough said.

You’ll find all of these coffees in our shops and online. The La Linda will land in the first week or so of December so if that’s your best choice stay alert and stay nimble. There is a slim chance the Fazenda do Sertão will run out before Christmas but don’t worry, perennial favourite Fazenda Alta Vista is lined up and ready to go.

Along with the rest of the coffee counter you will find some gift bundles we have put together for the online shop. These range from a simple selection box of three of our favourite coffees, to a grinder set that sets up the lucky beneficiary for a session of coffee goodness. There is also a gift card which makes a great last-minute email-friendly option.

We have recently revamped the way we do our subscriptions, details of which are available online. There are a number of different options from pre-paid to recurring, with options for roast colour, decaffeinated and espresso friendly. That’s the line up, the short list of coffees (we have plenty more options – see the list in the shops or online), chocolate from Loctoa, panettone from Ulcigrai, and coffee-related gear. Our Christmas hours are on the website – there is a special Monday opening in the mix – and we are good to go. Now all we need is a lockdown free Christmas and it is almost like some kind of normal.

Speaking of some kind of normal, we have an exciting project in the new year, keep a look out for the January and February newsletters to see what is the what.

And in the interim, have a happy Christmas and best wishes for 2022.

Monmouth x.

Panettone from Pasticceria Triestina Ulcigrai has arrived and it is as toothsome and fluffy as ever! We have been buying panettone from this fifth generation bakery for a number of years now through Leila’s Shop and are always pleased with its full flavour from the long fermentation time and beautifully prepared dried fruit.

Preparation for our panettone began a few months ago when the fruit was mustered and sugared then reduced to a concoction we would think of as dried fruit and mixed peel. At Pasticceria Triestina Ulcigrai this is a mix of raisins, orange, and cedro.

The panettone dough starts with the sourdough starter – or in panettone language – the pasta madre. The pasta madre is a low-hydration mix of flour and water left to naturally ferment. The wild yeasts and bacteria, on the flour and in the air, prompt a spontaneous fermentation to occur. They chomp through the sugars and goodness of the flour, using the flour to reproduce, and in turn producing raising agents, this is what leavens the starter, making it puff up and get ready for action.

This sounds fairly straightforward but as with any naturally leavened bread the ratio of yeasts and bacteria is extremely important. With panettone the addition of eggs, butter, sugar, and fruit makes the control of the raising agents even more crucial. The dough must be super strong to stand up with all the inclusions but it mustn’t get too acidic along the way. Bakers have different ways of modifying the pasta madre, some include a bagnetto stage, where the pasta madre is soaked in a sugar water solution, raising the pH to a more acceptable level. Others soak in only water to leach out the acids, and others deal with this by reducing the inoculation percentage – the amount of pasta madre they use in the second build and final stages of dough. Each baker will have their own method and it will depend on their individual circumstances of their bakeries, their experience and their traditions.

Once the pasta madre is stable and predictable it is used to build a first stage dough. This will be left to ferment and grow stronger. The fermentation must be vigorous before the first dough is added to the last addition of flour and liquid. When this happens we are nearing the end of the dough building stage. It is complete when the full amount of panettone dough has been appropriately salted and has just enough strength and gluten development to muscle through the addition of butter, eggs, sugar, and fruit. These latter ingredients all serve to stall the fermentation and gluten development, and if the timing is wrong or the percentages out, the dough can be underdeveloped (it won’t rise, will be too dense and cake-like); or conversely overdeveloped (collapses on loading into the oven). We are walking a tightrope of baking nirvana here, and it is thrilling.

With the best bits added and the dough shaped into paper baskets, the panettone is scored and left for its final proof. There will be a point here where the dough is just right and is quickly loaded into the ovens. The scoring allows the dough room to rise in the oven, meaning the crumb has a direction to burst towards. The burst is controlled by the top of the dough being soft enough for long enough so that the dough can rise before the crust is fully set.

When the panettone are removed from the oven they are immediately spiked and flipped upside down. You’ll see the spike marks on the sides of the paper basket. They need to be flipped as the additions to the dough are so heavy and the air inside so light that they can collapse as soon as they start to cool. Like big loaded soufflés ready to embarrass the chef.

After they are cooled, they are checked over by the head baker and packed up ready for shipping. Outside of preparing the fruit, the whole process is a week’s worth of work. It’s intense. Panettone is often described as the Mt Everest of baking. And I think we all agree it is totally worth it! x

We talked last month about roast profiles and how we go about describing the level of roast on our coffees. This got your writer thinking about the machinery itself and how we went about deciding to use Loring roasters. You may remember the brief history of our roasting machines last October – it seems it is the month for thinking about roasting so let’s embrace it.

We chose to move onto Loring Roasters when we moved into our roasting site at Spa Terminus. With the kind of investment it takes to change machinery one really wants to be sure of the decision and we spent a number of years considering our choice. We visited roasters we admire in the UK, Japan, USA, New Zealand and Australia to see what other machinery was being used and how people were getting on with it.

Typically a business might buy three or four roasters over its lifetime so it is a real commitment. So what made us choose the Loring? When they first came out we were a bit sceptical of the way they worked but the more we learnt, and the more we tasted the coffees roasted on the Lorings, the more we liked what we saw.

The Loring set-up is like a hybrid of a drum and a hot air roaster. A drum roaster typically has the main burner underneath and is heated directly while the drum keeps the coffee moving, whereas with a hot air roaster the burner is separate and hot air (funnily enough) is sent through the roasting chamber which doesn’t move. The Loring roaster combines these two methods and has one burner which sends hot air through a mechanically rotating drum. The result is an efficient use of heat and good control of the heat transfer. Where the Loring gets more interesting is how it then uses the excess heat from the process. With many systems the hot air coming off the coffee is usually sent to an exhaust system which then exits to air, often through an afterburner. The Loring, conversely, uses this heat and sends it back through the roasting burner to both be cleaned and returned to the roasting chamber to keep roasting the coffee. It is a recirculating system.

We were worried at first that there might be a smoky after-taste to the coffee or some kind of hot air taint. But there was nothing of the sort. The recirculation was much cleaner than we anticipated and the efficient heat transfer really let the coffee show us what it was all about – the high notes were crisp and the natural body and sweetness of the coffees came through.

There was an absolute peach of an added bonus. Because of the recirculation there is no need for an additional burner to help deal with the smoke produced in the roasting chamber. This has reduced our gas usage by half and we are stoked. It is delightful when all the stars align and the better choice for the environment is also the best machine for our coffee and roasting style.

Like many other companies we have been looking at our environmental impact over the last few years and have made some changes with more to come. The most recent happening has been to retire our very old and end-of-its-life diesel van and buy a new electric van – a shiny Nissan env200.

We have some more changes coming up in the next few months and the new year that we’re excited about. Keep a look out for a real corker if everything goes to plan. In saying that, with all the shipping and petrol and frosts and the virus and everything else the wake-me-up-when-it’s-over twenties wants to throw at us, who knows what might happen? In the interim we are working on some exciting projects we hope will come to fruition soon.

All the best, have a fun Halloween and see you on the slide to Christmas.

Monmouth x