That early cup of joe is exactly what you need to get your day started. That fresh coffee ground smell in the morning perks you up and helps you get excited for the day ahead. The last step before your coffee has finished its journey is through your grinder and into your coffee machine, whether it be French press, pour-over, cold press, …, etc.

But your coffee has been on a long journey. From the fields where they are picked to the pulper to separate the cherry from the coffee bean, then dried and parchment removed. That is when you are finally left with just the green bean. This green bean can be kept without sacrificing the quality or taste of the coffee. From there it’s time to roast.

Here at Hala Tree Coffee we only roast our coffee when a batch is ordered. This guarantees the quality and freshness of the roast.

How does coffee roasting work?

Roasting takes a lot of skill and knowledge in order to make sure you can provide consistency in taste and quality. It can take years to master the roasting process. The thing that makes roasting so difficult is the narrow window for perfection. If you roast for a few seconds too long, you can ruin your batch.

There are many different roasting methods: drum or hot air machines, packed beds, tangential, and centrifugal roasters. The one Hala Tree uses is the hot air machine.

With this method, green coffee beans are packed into a drum or cylinder compartment where hot air flows from below creating a constant flow that heats the beans. At Hala Tree, we typically roast between 10 to 18 lbs (small batch). This guarantees fresh coffee to customers.

As we start roasting we set the roaster at 200F and gradually increase the temperature to 410F for medium roast and 440F for the dark roast. As the beans roast we make sure to monitor the temperature of the beans in order to make sure we don’t over roast the beans.

When you hear the first pop of the beans it is an indicator that the coffee beans are starting to release their flavors. It is up to the roaster to keep a close eye on the beans through the roasting process.

Once the coffee has been roasted to the desired temperature, it is time for the coffee to be cooled. This is done by placing the roasted beans on a platform that allows air to pass through and cool off the coffee beans gradually. The cooling-off process is known as quenching.

Although there are three roasting types: light, medium, and dark, Hala Tree Coffee does medium, dark and Back & Tan (a mix of medium and dark roast)

Why does Kona Coffee typically only come in a medium or dark roast?

100% Kona Coffee is some of the highest quality coffee there is. Due to its quality, we don’t want to lose the flavor of the bean by roasting it too dark. When it comes to Kona Coffee, roasts are lighter compared to conventional coffees.

Medium:

Medium roast coffee is a light brown color and rarely has an oily surface. It has a medium body and acidity. Roasting to this level allows to preserves many of the unique flavors. Medium roast coffee is known to be balanced and well-rounded. Typically, you will notice heavy fruit notes. (400-430 F)

Dark:

Dark roast coffee is a dark brown color and often has an oily surface. Dark roast has low acidity, a heavier body and tends to bring out deeper darker flavors. This is the roast that will bring out the chocolaty, nutty, and caramel flavors. (430-450F)