It's been two weeks since I returned from our Hive Team UK meet up. I promised a coffee post as our meet up was held at @c0ff33a's roastery. He had two large roasting machines on site, and offered to do a freshly roasted batch of Hive blockchain coffee just for us. I doubt even Hivefest can match that in their programme 😃
The Master Roaster
@c0ff33a is a man of few words, but once he was in action in front of the roaster, he was more active than the beans inside the roaster, and took us through the process.
For starters, you need a roaster, duh!!! Here's the little baby that will be roasting our Hive blockchain coffee. I love its sharp funky yellow colour. It makes an industrial process so much more trendy and cool. Also, do you notice the pattern cut out on the top of the cooling drum? They look like round holes with a squiggle in the centre, but they are actually coffee beans. At least that's what I think they are. And my fellow blogger @molometer concurred with my observation.
The other thing we need is a computer. Don't forget we're talking about the blockchain coffee here, high tech advanced stuff. Just joking! The laptop runs a program which shows you the time, and the temperature inside the roaster. There's another line that shows you the data for the previous roasting batch for comparison purposes. That's to make sure all the beans are roasted at the same temperature and duration for consistency. And finally, we need the beans of course.
The secret episode
The roasting process had already started when we came into the room so we didn't get to see the beans before they went into the roaster. However, @rimicane someone was very determined to see the coffee beans. As the roaster was chugging along, something happened in the room that only a few people were aware of.....
The flash light
The robot roaster had a very bright flash light on the one arm. I ask @c0ff33a what that was for. Turns out roasting coffee is not all about technology, it still involves human skills. At any time during the roast, you can check the colour of the beans by removing a scoop that catches some beans are they are tossed around inside the roaster. The light is to give you better visibility of the colours. In the images below you can see how they have changed from green to to dark brown in a matter of few minutes.
| About 9 or 10 minutes into the roast | Another 8 minutes in the roaster |
|---|---|
 |  |
The coffee waterfall
Once the roasting is completed, the beans are dropped from the roaster down to the cooling drum where they are swished around till it cools down. This process is actually quite therapeutic and takes about half an hour.
Then the best part happens. The beans are released the come gushing out like a coffee waterfall. It was quite a spectacular scene.
And finally, here are our very own freshly roasted Hive Blockchain coffee beans courtesy of @c0ff33a.
If you want to get your own Hive Blockchain coffee or any other good quality coffee, you can order them here https://whiterosecoffeeroasters.co.uk/collections/specialty-coffee/products/brazil-nuts-hive-blockchain-arabica-roasted-coffee-1kg?variant=32699329249327
