Welcome back to the Weekly Grind! We've had a lot of new faces dropping by recently (awesome!), and that's meant a lot of questions about the differences between our coffee, particularly with regards to our roast levels. So for those of you who are just beginning to explore our coffee, here's a guide to get you started.
The Roasting Basics
We roast our beans to four different levels: Full City, Viennese, French, and Italian. Each level is associated with a certain amount of time that the beans are exposed to the roaster's heat, with every bump up adding about thirty seconds to the roast time. John monitors the bean's color carefully during this process, however, to manually assess when the beans are truly done.
A Full City roast is our standard roast level, and what the majority of our beans are brought to. Though this is the lightest of the four roasts, it doesn't mean weakest! Every bean has a unique flavor profile, and often a full city roast is enough to bring out those lovely natural qualities.
A Viennese Roast is the next step up, bringing the beans to a more medium roast. Batches of our Peruvian, Nicaraguan, and Kenyan beans are brought to this level, as well as our popular Wachusett Blend, which is a mix of viennese roasted beans from each of our regions.
A French Roast is a dark roast level that often brings a rich syrupyness to the beans, which many of you love! Our Sumatra Mandheling French is our most popular french roast, but we carry Brazillian Bourbon Santos French and Costa Rica Tres Rios French as well. Our Dark Roast Blend, which we use for our cold brew, is also a mix of french roasted beans from our various regions.
An Italian Roast is the darkest we go. Only our Sumatra Mandheling beans are brought to this roast, since most beans will simply start to taste burnt at this level, but our dark and chewy Cowboy Blend contains some Italian roasted beans as well!
Live In or Near Northborough?
We’re excited to announce that we are a featured business on the new NorthboroughGuide.com! If you love us, and want to see what other cool local businesses are in our neck of the woods, then this is a great new resource to explore. It includes an extensive Events Calendar, business directory, a blog, a special offers section (think Groupon for Northborough!) and more. Take a look, press the heart to recommend us if you’re feeling so inclined, and follow them via email and social media if you’d like to stay informed!
This Week’s Toasty Tidbit: “What’s a peaberry?”
Coffee beans are seeds found in the cherries that grow on coffee trees, and are typically found in pairs. As a coffee tree ages, a common mutation occurs that results in one rounded, infertile bean, rather than two that are flattened on one side. These beans produce a more intense flavor, seeing as it is essentially two beans in one. We carry two single origin peaberries: Tanzania Peaberry (light and complex with a mild sweetness and blackberry notes) and Guatemala Peaberry (sweet with hints of caramel, a subtle smokiness, and a bright finish).
Have questions for us?
Email us at beans@armeno.com, and keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram feeds to be notified of any new additions to our coffee roster, holiday hour changes, and upcoming events.
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