The process of roasting coffee entails a continuous building up and tearing down of the various chemical compounds contained within the green coffee bean. Physical and chemical changes are constantly taking place during the roasting process. For an example, there are more than 300 different volatile chemicals doing a "dance" if you will, changing their structure and proportions as the heat increases within the bean. It is the combined blending ofthese individual, volatile chemicals that contribute to the aromatic component of coffee, a component that when combined with the taste properties of caramelized starches, sugars and tannins join together to create the flavor in your cup of coffee. To sum it up; aroma + taste = flavor.

So, as a roaster of coffee, one must control the interplay of time and heat. These two factors must meet at an exact point for the desired roast profile to be achieved. A bean reaching the desired temperature too soon will not have proper development of its various components. A brew from these beans would be thin in body, sour in taste, grassy and unbalanced in flavor. A bean taking too long to reach the desired temperature then becomes baked. A brew from these beans would be disappointing; it would be dull and devoid of any "spark".

These are examples outlining extreme roasting defects rarely encountered in today's coffee savvy society, but varying degrees of these roasting defects are still found.

It is my bent, as the coffee roaster, to apply my craft so as to bring the roast to the point I interpret as the "sweet spot". The exact point in the roasting process that best depicts the story of those beans, a story involving the human efforts of planting, shading, picking, cleaning, sorting and of course, nature's offerings of soil, rainfall and sunshine.

All of us here at Ojai Coffee Roasting, Co. are dedicated to coffee and your enjoyment of it.

Thank you, Kent Jones, Roastmaster.