We get our coffee from Brown Bag coffee, who use Fluid Bed roasting. Traditional roasters use a drum roaster. This is a giant, double drum that is heated externally to the internal drum itself. Inside the internal drum are paddles which agitate the coffee during roasting.
Fluid Bed roasting has only a single moving part – a turbine to create air velocity. Air is super-heated and then pushed into the roast chamber that sits above this. This superheated column of air agitates the beans and creates “fluidity” ensuring an even roast.
We choose Fluid Bed for a number of reasons, some of which include:
- It is a superior technology, invented within the last 40 years, whereas traditional drum roasters have remained relatively unchanged in how they roast for the last 200.
- A drum roaster needs a significant amount of energy just to reach roast temperature of the drum, often upwards of 45 minutes just to achieve roast temperature before you even start. Once you have achieved that drum temperature, it is difficult to change. A fluid bed roaster can come up to temp in about 2 minutes. They can also change temperature by lowering the heating system power and increasing air flow. They use about 90% less energy than a drum roaster.
- A drum roaster is incredibly hard to maintain and clean. Often, this is a multiple day requirement. A Fluid Bed roaster can be completely torn down and rebuilt in about 4 hours – and they do it monthly. Because of this, traditional drum roasters get caked with carbonized material and oils from previous roasts. This will impart those flavours back into the coffees being roasted. Whereas a fluid bed roaster is cleaned daily. Even between origins of coffee. In this way we ensure peak health to their customers as well as ensure each and every bean tastes to the profiles we are creating – as they are not imparting flavours from other beans that should not be there.
Most drum-based machines utilize sensory perception (sight, smell, noise) to create roast profiles. The skill of the roaster is paramount and if he is having a bad day, the coffee will impart that. Their fluid bed roaster has 4 sensors, taking measurements 10 times a second. Each coffee they roast has its own specific roast profile. When they start a roast, they bring up that profile and it helps them ensure they match their roast time and again (repeatable process) to ensure their customers always get their favourite brew. These are some of the many reasons why we have chosen BBCR as our coffee supplier and their modern roasting solution.
When the owner started Brown Bag Coffee Roasters, from their inception of impact on the environment was paramount. From utilizing machines that consumed less energy, to roasting cleaner coffee so less carcinogen is expelled, to our recyclable and compostable bags. Environmental concerns are not marketing for them – they have built their company from the ground up to ensure the least footprint they can from manufacturing to customer bags.
They utilize ONLY specialty grade Arabica coffees. These coffees represent the top 1% of coffees available in the world. They pay a premium for these, happily as it is simply better coffee. Because they also don’t do “Light, Medium and Dark” roasts – they roast to the benefit of the origin of the bean to bring out the peak flavours represented by that unique origin, having “premium or commodity” grade coffees simply won’t do. They need the best, to bring out the best. In 2020 they won Ottawa / Gatineau Coffee Roaster of the Year so I think people agree. They will also be adding a water filtration system to our water so that our members will get to enjoy the minerals in the water and nothing else. This will help our coffee taste even better than it already does.
Honestly, there are hours of reasons why partnering with BBCR in the Ottawa area ensures our customers receive the best. I hope their vision and care of their product align with your values. You can grab a bag to go, and if you need it grounded, we can help with that as well.
