Coffee Roasting Explained

I think you could make an entire TV series around James traveling to various Coffee Origin locations, talk about what goes on into the flavor profile, and then bringing those beans through the entire process to a cup for tasting at the end of the video. Would be so fascinating.

James in his natural habitat

This was an impressive talk. There was not one wasted word: exquisitely organized with very specific visual accents. Well done!

James I would love to see a 'Coffee Confidential' documentary. I'd love to see you go around the world doing a full length documentary from growing all the way to enjoy the cup.

I would love to see more videos about processing (anaerobic, aerobic, lactic, natural, honey, washed, etc). Excellent video James and crew!

I just want to say the camera-work going inside the roaster, and then the animation of the bean getting more and more roasted was absolute incredible!! High-budget documentary type stuff.

At the age of 6, I remember watching my grandmother toasting coffee over an open fire in an iron pot. Said pots bottom, was blackened with soot with years of use, and she would constantly stir the beans with a wooden paddle that had the signs of being used for that purpose. This coffee had been picked, dried, roasted , and ground in my great-grandmother back yard.❤

James, I’m a mechanical engineer in the manufacturing industry (at a sponge manufacturing facility) here in the States. I am always so impressed with your ability to explain processes scientifically and tactfully. I’m early on in my career, but man what I would do to get back into the coffee industry as an engineer working with these awesome machines. Content like this keeps my eyes on the prize.

It'd be interesting to see how a roaster chooses a batch or farm and then after deciding what they want to try, deciding on the profile for the roaster they have in their facility

I am from Brazil, and I grew up on a cattle farm where we had a small coffee orchard. I remember tasting the coffee cherries when they were ripe and ready to be harvested and sun-dried. After that, we would roast the beans in an iron-cast manual roaster that was the size of a popcorn pan. The coffee was pretty great.

Coming from an island that grows their own coffee, I recall my grandmother roasting her beans; obtained from my uncles farm, with an aluminum rice cooking pot, fire wood and a stick. Keep in mind, she was raised as a farmer in her youth and this was the cheapest way to roast coffee by hand and she was able to roast it black and it always came out perfect. Years of making that from hand must had made the best coffee I have ever remember. This video made me remember those years and if I where to find a recreation of it I would do so to brink back that tradition. Hey James, if your interested in that, maybe in a future video an exploration of islanders roasting coffee might be a good idea but that would be difficult to find someone still roasting coffee that way.

James, as a long-time viewer of your channel, a customer of Square Mile, and someone who is looking to break into the coffee roasting industry, I want to thank you for this video. I have never been more encouraged to follow my passion and do what I love. Coffee is a magnificent blend of art and science, and to see a glimpse of your workflow is awesome. Keep inspiring!

Ah yes, the 'fluid bed' roaster. The inventor of the modern design of this roaster was issued the design patent in 1998. He sold it to the company I work for and became a partner in the business. We still have the bronzed patent on display in our entryway today.

As an avid home roaster and a long-time engineer in the industrial manufacturing world this is super cool to see. It’s wild how many components on these roasters i recognize, makes me want to up my game, take some drawings to a local machine shop, & Frankenstein my own roaster

Respect to who ever organised the beans on the table

I use to work next to a large scale coffee roaster. People who didn't work there would tell me that were so jealous about how much fresh coffee smells I would be around. When we'd turn on the heat or air conditioning the whole warehouse would fill with the smell of burned popcorn. Yum that fresh roast smell...

Concise, focused and accessible — there are few better explainer videos that exist on YouTube than this one. High kudos James — and deepest respect!

I enjoy the quirkiness of home roasting on my popcorn machine. I get raw beans cheaper than roasted beans and roast a batch a week. Great fun!

James, since retirement 3 years ago I have lived mostly in my wife’s country of origin, Vietnam. I’m continually discovering all sorts of different flavours and coffees especially in some of the more remote parts as I travel around. I suggest you should make a documentary about coffee growing, roasting and consumption in this country. It’s a thoroughly interesting coffee producing country. Btw I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a huge amount about coffee and roasting, 🙏

I think it might be neat to see a comparison of a few different roast profiles but with the same roast degree, and maybe a discussion of how that can affect the taste. Or maybe more generally, the same coffee roasted many different ways and a discussion of how that affects flavor, would be fun as well. Love this, thank you!