Rockbern Coffee Roastery

It’s important to realise that each coffee tells a unique story, that is dependent on the variety, growing conditions, processing and storage. Therefore it responds to different roast profiles in a very distinct way. There is no one size fits all rule in coffee roasting. Hence, the roasting style will be influenced by the coffee itself i.e. the origin, processing and variety vis a vis the notes the master roaster needs to accentuate to differentiate their flavors while avoiding as much as possible any ‘dissonance’ i.e. burnt traits. In other words our primary objective at Rockbern is to increase the clarity of the profile of coffee. We feel an obligation to the coffee and to the producers’ hard work and we have to treat each coffee lot with respect and try to bring out the best notes as clearly as possible.

We have two roasting equipment, one caters for bulk roast orders and small batch Probat that caters for micro lot and nano lots. These two give us perfect control over the coffee and allows us to put lots of TLC into it through crucial parameters like heat transfer and airflow.

Well this depends on the roast profile, light roasting will tend to have a grassier raw taste and very high acidity. Medium roasts are more mellowier, add more body, more fruity notes, cripspier finish and moderated peak acidity. Medium dark will have an intense body, nutty and chocolatey flavors and smooth sweet finish. Darker roasts will hit you with smokier aromas, very low acidity, rich body and bitter tastes are more pronounced.

Oxygen is the biggest enemy to freshly roasted Coffee. At Rockbern we make sure coffee is packed in eco-friendly bags with a one way valve that allows carbon dioxide to escape out and keeps oxygen away.

We have shifted from the aluminium foil gusseted bags to the 100% recyclable bags.

Cupping is the process of subjecting green coffee to analysis as per the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) laid out procedures to determine its quality.
We are looking at the body (mouthfeel), aroma and acidity. We also check for the color of the green coffee, moisture content, water activity, roast profile consistency.

It’s important to appreciate that coffee Quality is the specialty coffee’s biggest asset. Pursuit of Quality is worth all the efforts and resources. A renowned coffee expert once said; ‘Coffee fervor is a spectrum. Keep that in mind at all times! And somewhere in that spectrum is a line that declares that analyzing the flavor of coffee is a valid and worthy pursuit…’

At Rockbern we evaluate the coffee at various stages. Before purchase, after purchase, pre-roast and post roast.

To cup the coffee, we roast small quantities using the sample drum roaster or the state of the art portable Ikawa. The coffee is roasted to light medium roast and allowed to sit for a few hours. Coffee is coarse ground and evaluated for fragrances and aromas. Thereafter Clean hot water is added to the ground and left to steep for a few minutes. Thereafter the crust is broken and coffee will be slurped so that all flavors can spray into the mouth of our analysts who will ensure the coffee is just right and bea-t-i-f-u-l.