Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Roaster News
The official Roasting Education Sponsor: Coffee Fest 2023
Mill City Roaster’s is the official roasting education sponsor for Coffee Fest 2023. Join us on the Big Red Roast Rig for roasting, cupping, and business and brand building classes at: New York, NY: March 5-7 Louisville, KY: June 2-3 Anaheim, CA: August 6-8 Orlando, FL: November 10-11 Read More
Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Roaster News
NSF Commercial Coffee Roasters
Another MCR first: NSF Commercial Coffee Roasters! In case you haven’t noticed, things are seldom quiet here. A couple of years ago, the State of California decided that coffee roasters installed in locations that serve retail coffee and other consumables must be NSF sanitation certified. Sadly, that wasn’t nearly as easy as you might think.… Read More
Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Roaster News
New on Youtube: MC-60 Roaster Rundown
We rarely have a roaster sit long enough at the warehouse, so we took the opportunity to shoot a video featuring the MC-60. Watch Lauren and Steve as they give an in depth look at the Mill City 60kg production roaster. Watch the full video here! Read More
Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Roaster News
Roaster’s Winter Workshop: Education for Experienced Roasters
New to our educational offerings, the Roasters’ Winter Workshop offers advanced, higher-level training to experienced roasters and returning students. Roaster training and education have always been at the core of what we do at Mill City Roasters. We want to see our customers operating successful roasteries all across the country. That starts with the right… Read More
Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Roaster News
Roast Magazine’s Macro Roaster of the Year is Cafe Kreyol
Congratulations are in order for our friends at Cafe Kreyol in Manassas, Virginia. The company was just recognized as Roast Magazine’s Macro Roaster of the Year! This award is a huge honor and a well-deserved title for Cafe Kreyol. Their work as a roaster and green coffee partner is improving the lives of coffee farmers… Read More
Roaster News
PAPUA NEW GUINEA FTO OKAPA, ROOTS CO-OP
This Fair Trade Organic (FTO) Okapa offering is a coffee that stands up to all roast levels. It’s sweet and full-bodied. This green from Papua New Guinea comes to us through farmers associated with Roots #1 Co-op, a cooperative of about 1,590 smallholder producers. We enjoy carrying this green because it adds variety to our… Read More
Brew with Us, Roaster News, Roasting & Education
Dialing In Coffee by Taste
Whether you’re checking quality control of a roast, brewing a pour-over for customers, or ensuring espresso shots pull correctly, identifying if a coffee is properly dialed-in is important. Dialing in allows us to unlock our coffee’s potential and present it at its highest quality by brewing an excellent cup that highlights all attributes of the… Read More
Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Roaster News
Mill City at the Minnesota State Fair
One of the neat things about the posh lavish digs of Mill City Roasters is our location 2 miles down the street from the annual “Great Minnesota Get Together” at the Minnesota State Fair fairgrounds. For those of you who don’t know know, the fair is a very big deal. It’s in the running for… Read More
Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Roaster News
A Highly Drinkable Mexico Veracruz from Producer Alejandro Martinez
New to our green offerings this month is a washed Mexico Veracruz coffee. This coffee is a single variety lot from Alejandro Martinez’s farm in Coatepec, a centrally located region in the state of Veracruz. While Alejandro Martinez grows multiple varieties across his 250-hectare farm, this selection is an isolated harvest of the varietal Anacafe… Read More
Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Roaster News, Roasting & Education
Brewing for Balance, Acidity, or Sweetness: Three Recipes on the AeroPress
In our roastery, I’m constantly exploring new brew methods and recipes. This past week, I found three recipes for AeroPress that I thoroughly enjoyed. After brewing each one, I tasted the coffee and experimented with some small changes. I found that I was able to highlight unique attributes in one coffee by changing my brew… Read More
Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Roaster News, Roasting & Education
Colombia Cauca AMACA: Empowering Women Coffee Producers
In our continuous effort to bridge the gap between the roaster and the specialty coffee industry, we are taking a closer look at our green coffee selection with a focus on farms, producers, varietals, and processing methods. AMACA – El Tambo, Cauca, Castillo: We keep revisiting coffee from the Cauca department of southwestern Colombia because… Read More
Brew with Us, Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Roaster News, Roasting & Education
Choosing the Right Grind Size for your Brew Method
Moving forward from the principles we laid out in last week’s blog post about grind size, we know why our grind size is important. Now, we need to brew all of this delicious coffee we’re beginning to understand better. One of the most important parts of sharing a coffee is choosing how you brew it. … Read More
Coffee Roastery Equipment, Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Roaster News, Roasting & Education, Start, Scale, Sustain
How Does Toll Roasting Work?
Mill City Roasters’ Production Facility In addition to selling roasters and hosting classes at our headquarters in Minneapolis, we also operate a full-scale production roastery. In that roastery, you’ll find four production-sized roasters, packaging equipment, industrial grinders, and green coffee storage. We are able to roast, pack, and ship over 5,000 lbs of coffee each… Read More
Customer Stories, Roaster News
The Alpine Flavor Profile: Chase & Kendra Lovins and Alyssa & Ryan Stauffer and Seedhouse Coffee
Alongside the Yampa River and nested in the high Rocky Mountains, Steamboat Springs, Colorado is a hard town to happen upon. “It’s not a by-place,” roaster Chase Lovins says. Visitors don’t really chance upon the Yampa Valley; they have to seek it out. And so everyone who comes to Steamboat, even the seasonal tourist, starts… Read More
Coffee Roastery Equipment, Roaster News
Why does the weigh/fill machine need compressed air?
I received a very good question from a prospective weigh/fill customer today about why our weigh/fill machine needs an air connection and others do not. This was my response: Strictly speaking, an air connection is not mandatory. If you have one though, you’ll fill bags about 30% faster. Roasting coffee isn’t necessarily all about speed,… Read More
Coffee Roastery Equipment, Roaster News, Start, Scale, Sustain
The “Perfect” Roaster?
A funny thing happened the other day on Facebook Coffee Roasters Forum. Another numbskull posted that his company was engaged in the exercise of building the “perfect” roaster and asked people to chime in about what they thought their “dream roaster” would look like. I have several problems with this entire exercise. First, if your commercial… Read More
Brew with Us, Coffee Roastery Equipment, Roaster News, Roasting & Education
Flash Brew Iced Coffee
What is flash brew? Flash iced brew coffee is simple. Take the full amount of water you would use in a hot brew and split it in half, replace half of that water by weight with ice. Then, extract over the ice. This melts the ice and rapidly dilutes the coffee, without that dilution the… Read More
Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Customer Stories, Roaster News
Put Good In: Todd and Mary Jo Satterfield and 129 Coffee Roasters
The Satterfields live in Coats, North Carolina; they are two in a town of seven thousand. Each weekday morning, they wake up and drive to Dunn, the home of their 8-5 office jobs as insurance agents for Allstate. The job lets them help people: something they’re good at, and something they’ve dedicated their lives to. … Read More
Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Customer Stories, Roaster News
Last Mile To Open Later This Summer
We first met Arick and his team when they joined us for Roasting 101 in April. Their entire team attended class to better understand the science and craft of speciality coffee. This class allows participants to“hit the ground running” when they begin roasting their own coffee. The hands on experience also helped foster a better understanding… Read More
Commercial Coffee Roaster News, Customer Stories, Roaster News
Honest Roasting: Charlie Hansen and Dandy Lion Coffee
Charlie didn’t start in coffee. He started by roasting dandelion roots. Before that, he started in videography. And media marketing. And architecture. In everything, he finds meaningful work with his hands. “There’s craftiness built into me,” he says. At first, coffee didn’t occur to him as a career choice, or even as a beverage option.… Read More