COFFEE ROASTING
_Separating, milling, and mixing—The roasting
operation—Dry and wet roasts—Finishing and
coating—Cost card for roasters—Cooling and
stoning—Roasting equipment—Blending roasted
coffee—A trip through a model coffee-roasting
plant—Evolution of coffee-roasting apparatus._
The most modern way to roast coffee is in revolving, perforated metal
cylinders, by coal or gas fuel. For anyone to make a real success in
the coffee business, he must have had considerable experience in this
particular line. However, in this business as in others, intelligent
application spells success, but, whether the business is wholesale or
retail, it takes time. The roaster man, or coffee chef, is the first
and most important cook necessary to a good cup of coffee.
A study of the chemistry of roasted coffee discloses that in the
roasting process the beans swell up by the liberation of gases, and the
aromatic oils are developed or cooked and made ready for solution in
water when the cells are broken up by grinding.
_Separating, Milling, and Mixing_
The roasting operation is preceded by separating, milling, and mixing.
Where the coffees have not been graded and cleaned before delivery to
the roasting plant, they must be run through a separator for grading
closely as regards the size of the beans, and particularly for the
separation of round beans, or peaberry. Then they must be milled and
mixed. This operation may be performed in special machines designed
for these purposes, or the regular roasting cylinder may be utilized.
_The Roasting Operation_
“Roasting _per se_ is not such a difficult operation as many experts
would have us believe,” says A. L. Burns, an authority on the subject.
Manufacturers of modern coffee-roasting machines have made them
practically fool proof. In this business, however, experience is, as
always, the best teacher.
A typical roasting machine employs an open perforated metal cylinder,
the inside being arranged with reverse spiral flanges which mix the
coffee, while the cylinder revolves over the fire. It is fitted with a
front head opening to receive the green coffee, and through this, when
turned to the lower position, the finished product is discharged into
the cooler box.
Modern coffee-roasting machines provide for easy control of the heat
(from coal, coke, or gas fuel), for constantly mixing the coffee in
such a manner that the heat is transmitted uniformly to the entire
batch, for carrying away all steam and smoke rapidly, for easy testing
of the progress of the roast, and for immediate discharge when desired.
The operator’s problem, therefore, is the regulation of the heat and
deciding just when the desired roasting has been accomplished.
If all coffees were alike, roasting would soon be almost automatic. In
some plants most of the work is one uniform grade or blend; but coffees
which vary greatly in moisture-content, in flinty or spongy nature, and
in various other characteristics, will puzzle the operator until he
establishes a personal acquaintance with them in various combinations
in repeated roasting operations. The roaster man, therefore, must be
able to observe closely, to draw sensible conclusions, and to remember
what he learns. Roasting coffee is work of a sort which anybody can do,
which a few people can do really well, and no one so well but that
further improvement is possible.
Because the roasting principles vary in different green coffees,
trained study and a nice science in timing the roast and manipulating
the fire are necessary to a perfect development of aroma and flavor.
There is no absolute standard of what the best roasting results are.
Some dealers want the coffee beans swelled up to the bursting point,
while others would object to so showy a development. Some care nothing
at all about appearance as compared with cup value, while others insist
on a bright style even at some sacrifice of quality. Business judgment
must decide what goods can be sold most profitably.
Coffee roasting requires a temperature of about 420° Fahr. A slow roast
is favored by some roaster men; others argue that this bakes the coffee
and does not give full development. The quicker the roast, the better
the coffee.
So there is no universal rule for the degree to which coffee should be
roasted. The average time in the United States is 15 to 30 minutes,
depending on the fuel and machine employed. (The Germans have “quick
roasters” that do it in 3½ to 10 minutes.) The trade knows these
different roasts: Light, cinnamon, medium, high, city, full city,
French, and Italian. The city roast is a dark bean, while full city is
a few degrees darker. In the French roast, the bean is cooked until the
natural oil appears on the surface, and in the Italian it is roasted to
the point of actual carbonization, so that it can be easily powdered.
Germany likes a roast similar to the French type, while Scandinavia
prefers the high Italian roast.
In the United States, the lighter roast is favored on the Pacific
Coast; the darkest, in the South; and a medium-colored roast, in the
eastern states. The cinnamon roast is most favored by the trade in
Boston.
Coffee loses weight in roasting; the loss varying, depending upon
the kind of bean, its age, and the style of roast. The average loss
is about 16 percent. It has been estimated that 100 pounds of coffee
in the cherry produce 25 pounds in the parchment; that 100 pounds in
the parchment produce 84 pounds of cleaned coffee; that 100 pounds of
cleaned coffee produce 84 pounds of roasted.
After the coffee has been in the roasting cylinder for a short time,
the color of the bean becomes a yellowish brown, which gradually
deepens as it cooks. Likewise, as the beans become heated, they shrivel
up until about half done, or at the “developing” point. At this stage,
they begin to swell, and then “pop open,” increasing 50 percent in
bulk. This is when the experienced roaster man turns on all the heat he
can command, to finish the roasting as quickly as possible. The roast
is considered done when the bean cracks easily between the fingers.
Some roaster men use their teeth, others the palm of the hand and a
coffee trier.
_“Dry” and “Wet” Roasts_
At frequent intervals, he thrusts his “trier”—an instrument shaped
somewhat like an elongated spoon—into the cylinder, and takes out a
sample of coffee to compare with his type sample. When the coffee is
done, he shuts off the heat and checks the cooking by reducing the
temperature of the coffee and of the cylinder as quickly as can be
done. In the wet roast method he will spray the coffee, as the cylinder
is still revolving, with three to four quarts of water to every 130
pounds of coffee. In the dry method he depends altogether upon his
cooling apparatus.
Roasters generally are not in favor of the excessive watering of
coffee in and after the roasting process for the purpose of reducing
shrinkage. “Heading” the coffee, or checking the roast before turning
it out of the roasting cylinder, is quite another matter and is
considered legitimate. Where coffees are watered in the cylinder at the
close of the roast to reduce the shrinkage, it is possible to get back
only about four percent of the shrinkage by such treatment, and the
practice is usually looked upon with disapproval by the best roasters.
Generally speaking, water is turned into the roasting cylinder to
quench the roast. The amount varies with the style of machine, whether
gas or coal. Usually the water turns to steam, and the result is not an
absorption of the water, but a momentary checking of the roast, with a
tendency to swell and to brighten the coffee. This is, comparatively
speaking, a “dry roast,” but not an absolutely dry roast. It is
doubtful if more than one percent of American coffee roasters employ
an absolutely “dry” roast: it does not give satisfactory results. The
word has been abused for advertising purposes. Of course, a dry roasted
coffee is a better article for making a satisfactory beverage than
one that has been soaked with water, but the word needs to be given a
definite meaning. The real dry roast represents the coffee’s highest
cup value.
Finishing whole-bean roasted coffee by giving it a friction polish when
it is still moist, using a glaze solution, or water only, is a practice
not harmful if the proper solutions are employed. A machine comes for
finishing or glazing. Coatings of sugar and eggs, glucose, mustard oil,
and chicory are sometimes employed, but their use must be stated on the
label.
Coffee roasters are divided on this question of coffee coating. The
best thought of the trade is undoubtedly opposed to the practice when
it is done to conceal inferiority or abnormally to reduce shrinkage.
Some New York coffee roasters, who made a thorough investigation of the
matter, found coating coffee with a wholesome material not injurious
and the coated coffee better in the cup. Dr. Harvey W. Wiley found, in
the celebrated Ohio case against Arbuckle Brothers, that coating coffee
with sugar and eggs produced beneficial results, and that the coating
preserved the bean. The Bureau of Chemistry has never issued any ruling
on the subject of coating coffee.
COST CARD FOR ROASTERS
Showing the value added to the cost of green coffee by roasting.
BY A. C. ABORN
Basis: 16 per cent shrinkage, ¾-cent a pound for roasting.
A = _Cost Green, Cents per Lb._
B = _Cost Roasted, Cents per Lb._
A B | A B | A B | A B | A B
| | | |
5 6.85 | 10 12.80 | 15 18.75 | 20 24.70 | 25 30.65
5⅛ 6.99 | 10⅛ 12.95 | 15⅛ 18.90 | 20⅛ 24.85 | 25⅛ 30.80
5¼ 7.14 | 10¼ 13.10 | 15¼ 19.05 | 20¼ 25.00 | 25¼ 30.95
5⅜ 7.29 | 10⅜ 13.24 | 15⅜ 19.20 | 20⅜ 25.15 | 25⅜ 31.10
5½ 7.44 | 10½ 13.39 | 15½ 19.35 | 20½ 25.30 | 25½ 31.25
5⅝ 7.59 | 10⅝ 13.54 | 15⅝ 19.49 | 20⅝ 25.45 | 25⅝ 31.40
5¾ 7.74 | 10¾ 13.69 | 15¾ 19.64 | 20¾ 25.60 | 25¾ 31.55
5⅞ 7.89 | 10⅞ 13.84 | 15⅞ 19.79 | 20⅞ 25.75 | 25⅞ 31.70
6 8.04 | 11 13.99 | 16 19.94 | 21 25.89 | 26 31.85
6⅛ 8.19 | 11⅛ 14.14 | 16⅛ 20.09 | 21⅛ 26.04 | 26⅛ 31.99
6¼ 8.33 | 11¼ 14.29 | 16¼ 20.24 | 21¼ 26.19 | 26¼ 32.14
6⅜ 8.48 | 11⅜ 14.43 | 16⅜ 20.39 | 21⅜ 26.34 | 26⅜ 32.29
6½ 8.63 | 11½ 14.58 | 16½ 20.54 | 21½ 26.49 | 26½ 32.44
6⅝ 8.78 | 11⅝ 14.73 | 16⅝ 20.68 | 21⅝ 26.64 | 26⅝ 32.59
6¾ 8.93 | 11¾ 14.88 | 16¾ 20.83 | 21¾ 26.79 | 26¾ 32.74
6⅞ 9.08 | 11⅞ 15.03 | 16⅞ 20.98 | 21⅞ 26.93 | 26⅞ 32.89
7 9.23 | 12 15.18 | 17 21.13 | 22 27.08 | 27 33.04
7⅛ 9.37 | 12⅛ 15.33 | 17⅛ 21.28 | 22⅛ 27.23 | 27⅛ 33.18
7¼ 9.52 | 12¼ 15.48 | 17¼ 21.43 | 22¼ 27.38 | 27¼ 33.33
7⅜ 9.67 | 12⅜ 15.63 | 17⅜ 21.58 | 22⅜ 27.53 | 27⅜ 33.48
7½ 9.82 | 12½ 15.77 | 17½ 21.73 | 22½ 27.68 | 27½ 33.63
7⅝ 9.97 | 12⅝ 15.92 | 17⅝ 21.87 | 22⅝ 27.83 | 27⅝ 33.78
7¾ 10.12 | 12¾ 16.07 | 17¾ 22.02 | 22¾ 27.98 | 27¾ 33.93
7⅞ 10.27 | 12⅞ 16.22 | 17⅞ 22.17 | 22⅞ 28.13 | 27⅞ 34.08
8 10.42 | 13 16.37 | 18 22.32 | 23 28.27 | 28 34.23
8⅛ 10.57 | 13⅛ 16.52 | 18⅛ 22.47 | 23⅛ 28.42 | 28⅛ 34.38
8¼ 10.71 | 13¼ 16.67 | 18¼ 22.62 | 23¼ 28.57 | 28¼ 34.52
8⅜ 10.86 | 13⅜ 16.82 | 18⅜ 22.77 | 23⅜ 28.72 | 28⅜ 34.67
8½ 11.01 | 13½ 16.97 | 18½ 22.92 | 23½ 28.87 | 28½ 34.82
8⅝ 11.16 | 13⅝ 17.11 | 18⅝ 23.07 | 23⅝ 29.02 | 28⅝ 34.97
8¾ 11.31 | 13¾ 17.26 | 18¾ 23.21 | 23¾ 29.17 | 28¾ 35.12
8⅞ 11.46 | 13⅞ 17.41 | 18⅞ 23.36 | 23⅞ 29.32 | 28⅞ 35.27
9 11.61 | 14 17.56 | 19 23.51 | 24 29.46 | 29 35.42
9⅛ 11.76 | 14⅛ 17.71 | 19⅛ 23.66 | 24⅛ 29.61 | 29⅛ 35.57
9¼ 11.90 | 14¼ 17.86 | 19¼ 23.81 | 24¼ 29.76 | 29¼ 35.71
9⅜ 12.05 | 14⅜ 18.01 | 19⅜ 23.96 | 24⅜ 29.91 | 29⅜ 35.86
9⅝ 12.35 | 14⅝ 18.30 | 19⅝ 24.26 | 24⅝ 30.21 | 29⅝ 36.16
9¾ 12.50 | 14¾ 18.45 | 19¾ 24.40 | 24¾ 30.36 | 29¾ 36.31
9⅞ 12.65 | 14⅞ 18.60 | 19⅞ 24.55 | 24⅞ 30.51 | 29⅞ 36.46
_Cooling and Stoning_
The cooling and stoning operation which follows the roasting requires
efficient apparatus.
Generally speaking, the process is to dump the roast into a metal car
having a perforated false bottom, to which is attached a powerful
exhaust fan that sucks the heat out of the coffee. The stoner has for
its function the removal of stones and other foreign matter which the
green-coffee operations have failed to get rid of. Usually the coffee
beans are carried up a pipe by a regulated air current which is strong
enough to raise the coffee but not the stones, which remain at the
bottom of the stoner boot, whence they are dumped at intervals into a
pan underneath.
_Equipment_
For those about to engage in the coffee business, it is best to
take counsel with the manufacturers of coffee-roasting machinery,
of whom there are several old established concerns. Their names and
addresses, as well as the names and addresses of makers of all other
kinds of equipment and supplies needed for large or small plants, may
be obtained by consulting the latest edition of _Ukers Tea & Coffee
Buyer’s Guide_.
_Blending Roasted Coffee_
After cooling and stoning, unless it is to be polished or glazed, the
coffee is ready for grinding and packing, if it has been blended in
the green state. Otherwise, the next step will be to mix the different
varieties before grinding, although some packers blend the different
kinds after they have been ground. To mix whole-bean roasted coffee
without hurting its appearance is rather difficult, and there is no
regular machine for such work.
_A Trip Through a Coffee-Roasting Plant_
Perhaps a little journey through a small but altogether modern
coffee-roasting plant is the best way to acquaint oneself with
first-hand knowledge of how coffee is roasted. We have selected a
typical New York plant, having many model features.
Entering the ground floor, the receiving and shipping department, we
notice the fine light and air characteristic of every floor in this
house of sunlight and fresh air. Entering with us are many bags of
green coffee, unloaded from trucks at the door and ending long journeys
from distant lands. There are, for instance, a consignment of bales of
real Arabian Mocha, in their original, oriental bindings which began
their round-the-world trip on the back of a camel; Javas, genuine
products of Java soil; old brown East Indies, with complexions like the
swarthy natives, who picked and stored them; fine old-crop Bogotas,
Bucaramangas, Maracaibos, and adventurous bags escaped from bandit
raids in Mexico; also coffees from Brazil, with high-grade district
marks, and coffees from other parts of the world, the chosen of their
kind, are here. Each of the coffees is a “survival of the fittest,” a
champion, having won over its fellows in the testing room.
Suppose we follow the coffee and go up with it on the electric
elevator, running in a fire-proof well, with its automatic doors,
safety devices, and smooth, quick action.
Disembarking on the storage floor (fourth), we walk over and watch
the start of the green coffee for its course through the building. It
is dumped into galvanized bins and taken by a bucket elevator to the
floor above. Along one wall on this floor are the big, galvanized,
dirt-proof, storage bins, the modern steel grinders turning out
efficient granulations, and the pulverizers producing “stone-ground,”
powdered coffee. We enter the stairway fire tower, go up one flight,
and pass into the concrete, fire-proof roasting and milling room, the
pride of the building.
The clean, white walls, the lofty ceiling, with its great skylight,
shedding a flood of sunlight upon the glistening, white-enameled,
bricked roasters, the large windows, contributing big drafts of fresh
air, all make a picture which draws an admiring comment. The machinery
is all run by electric power and up to the minute in every detail. You
see how the green coffee, run up from the floor below, into the milling
machine, is being cleaned by agitating sieves, friction brushes, and
blown by fans. All particles of dirt, sticks, and foreign matter are
removed, and the coffee made immaculate and ready for the roasting
process, which is the cooking of the berry.
[Illustration: DUMPING THE ROAST IN A COAL ROASTING PLANT
The roasted coffee is being turned into the cooling car, equipped
with a swinging “flex-arm” which keeps it always in connection with a
suspended header pipe; the cooling being started as soon as the coffee
leaves the roaster. The cooled coffee is tipped into a floor hopper.]
Automatic conveyors take the coffee from the milling machine into the
big roasting cylinders, holding 250 to 300 pounds each, revolving over
coal fires; for this is a coal roasting plant. The roaster men, in the
neat khaki uniform of the building, stand in front of the cylinders
with a “trier,” a sort of open tube. With this they draw small samples
of the coffee, which is tossing around within the cylinder and
gradually assuming a brown shade as it is roasted.
Each coffee requires special care, according to its character, and
the roaster man skillfully governs his fire and times his roast
accordingly. Carefully comparing the shade of the roast with his
standard sample, at the precisely right moment the cooler box, a
perforated iron car, is rolled up on its track, the cylinder gate
is opened, and the hot, delicately browned berries pour out. It is
the dramatic moment in the roasting room, and the “roast is off.”
Immediately the hot coffee meets a current of cool air supplied from
electric fans through a large pipe. This pipe is a new type, moving,
with the car, upon an ingenious ball-and-socket joint, thus beginning
the cooling process instantly. The new, quick control is an important
point in producing a perfect roast.
The car is rolled back, tips automatically, and the coffee is
discharged into the stoner on the floor below, whence a strong current
of air draws it up again, through a large pipe, into the roasting room.
Small stones and weighty particles, being heavier than the coffee, are
left behind, and any foreign substances which may have escaped previous
processes are thus removed. Green coffee passes through various
cleaning and sifting processes at the plantations, but the final
cleaning and perfecting are done by the roasters with their modern and
extensive equipment.
Some interesting and curious things, suggestive of foreign life, are
occasionally picked out by the machines; for instance, a small Spanish
coin dropped by some native worker, or, as once occurred, a Mauser
cartridge from the belt, perhaps, of a revolutionist.
The roasted coffee, now on the roasting floor, is dropped into runabout
iron cars which are rolled over the chutes. The cars open at the
bottom and the coffee descends on its last lap into the shipping room,
or packaging department, where it is ready for packing and shipping,
having been turned into as perfect a product as the best human
resources can make it.
We leave the pleasant and efficient roasting room, realizing how
greatly modern machinery has improved the roasting process and
made possible white walls and spotless floors, with dust and smoke
eliminated by the modern, electric, suction ventilation.
A few steps up through the fire tower and out on the roof show the
numerous fire ladders, the huge chaff collector which collects all the
chaff from the roasting coffee, and the spot reserved for a little roof
garden for employees.
Passing down two floors to the package department, we visit one of the
most interesting and important parts of the building.
Busy workers, the women in blue uniforms and white caps and the men in
khaki, are working under bright, cheerful, and sanitary conditions.
Near the windows, in front, is the printing department, with its
electric power press turning out labels, bags, circulars, at short
notice and with creditable effect.
The coffee-packaging department is on the east side of the floor, where
a long packing table is set under the automatic weighing machines
receiving coffee from the chutes. At one end girls are making paper
bags, also tinfoil-lined bags, a most efficient container for coffee.
The bags are put upon a moving belt, filled under the weighers, carried
along again on the belt, then folded, sealed, and packed in cases.
Well known, favorite brands are moving rapidly along, every package
representing cleanliness, purity, and sanitary ideals, the coffee
untouched by human hands and protected from all contacts.
After a glance at the dressing rooms and employee accommodations, we
go downstairs to the floor below into the office and salesroom. There
are few offices in New York so light and well ventilated. The whole
front is a group of large windows which furnish fine daylight for
the observation of goods. Back of these are the round, sanitary-top,
testing tables with smoking cups giving out fragrant odors. The shining
brass kettles are singing merrily. Here is where the ultimate value,
the drinking quality, is ascertained. Cup testing has always been a
specialty of this firm, and unusually fine distinctions of flavor and
character are considered on these tables. The goods are purchased by
strict cup standards, and the drinking quality of shipments, as well as
purchases, is repeatedly tested and confirmed. The samples of coffee
are ground by electric power, in a small mill.
Before saying farewell, we again step down into the shipping room,
which is a hum of activity. The gates in the galvanized chutes are
opening and closing, and the fragrant, crisp, browned berries,
fresh from the roasters above, milled and cleaned, having traveled
automatically by gravity through the various processes, pour into
drums, barrels, bags, etc. These are swung upon suspension scales, the
most accurate type known. One man takes the weight, another checks it,
the package is marked with a machine-cutstencil, and is finally ready
for shipment. You look the second time at a busy and ingenious little
truck or conveyor, which is run under platforms piled high with goods.
The man steps upon a lever, the conveyor “humps its back,” and the
whole load of 2,000 pounds, platform and all, in one unit, is easily
moved along and gently deposited. The conveyor is slipped out and
continues on for another load. This saving of movements, by handling
bags in groups, instead of singly, is a principle of the “scientific
management” of which every up-to-date factory management makes some
study.
As we pass out into the entrance way, we are invited to take a brief
look into the water-proof basement, boiler rooms, and fire-proof
passage connecting with the screened fire escape in the rear. A moment
is spent in hearing of the fire-alarm system and fire drills. The
little red box under a great gong, on each floor, almost thinks and
acts for itself, announcing not only the fire, but its location, and
also, if out of order, or not wound up, declaring the fact.
Every modern fire precaution safeguards the workers from fire as
effectively as the light, air, and sanitary equipment safeguard their
health and the purity of the goods turned out by this establishment.
_Evolution of Coffee Roasting Apparatus_
Crude, burnt clay dishes and stone vessels were the first coffee
roasters. In them the dried hulls and green beans were roasted over
open fires about 1200 to 1300.
Between 1400 and 1500, individual earthenware and metal coffee-roasting
plates appeared. These were circular, four to six inches in diameter,
about ¹/₁₆-inch thick, slightly concave, and pierced with small holes,
something like the modern kitchen skimmer. They were used in Turkey and
Persia for roasting a few beans at a time over braziers (open pans, or
basins, for holding live coals). The braziers were usually mounted on
feet and bore very rich ornamentation.
The Turkish coffee grinder seems to have suggested the individual
cylinder roaster which later (1650) became common, and from which
developed the huge, modern-cylinder, commercial roasting machines.
Between 1500 and 1600, shallow iron dippers with long handles and foot
rests, designed to stand in open fires, were used in Bagdad, and by the
Arabs in Mesopotamia, for roasting coffee. These roasters had handles
about 34 inches long, and the bowls were eight inches in diameter. They
were accompanied by a metal stirrer (spatula) for turning the beans.
Another type of roaster was developed about 1600. It was in the shape
of an iron spider on legs, and was designed, like that just described,
to sit in open fires.
When La Roque speaks of his father bringing back to Marseilles
from Constantinople in 1644 the instruments for making coffee, he
undoubtedly refers to the individual devices which at that time in the
Orient included the roaster plate, the cylinder grinder, the small,
long-handled boiler, and _fenjeyns_ (_findjans_), the little porcelain
drinking cups.
When Bernier visited Grand Cairo about the middle of the 17th century,
in all the city’s thousand-odd coffee houses, he found but two persons
who understood the art of roasting the bean.
About 1650, there was developed the individual-cylinder coffee roaster
made of metal, usually tinplate or tinned copper, suggested by the
original Turkish pocket grinder. This was designed for use over open
fires in braziers. There appeared about this time also a combined
making-and-serving metal pot which was undoubtedly the original of the
common type of pot that we know today.
There appeared in England about 1660 Elford’s white iron machine (sheet
iron coated with tin), which was “turned on a spit by a jack.” This
was simply a larger size of the individual-cylinder roaster, and was
designed for family or commercial use. Modifications were developed by
the French and Dutch. In the 17th century, the Italians produced some
beautiful designs in wrought-iron coffee roasters.
Before the advent of the Elford machine, and, indeed, for two centuries
thereafter, it was the common practice in the home to roast coffee in
uncovered earthenware tart dishes, old pudding pans, and frying pans.
Before the time of the modern kitchen stove, it was usually done over
charcoal fires without flame.
By combining the long-handle idea contained in the Bagdad roaster with
that of the original cylinder roaster, the Dutch perfected a small,
closed, sheet-iron, cylinder roaster with a long handle that permitted
its being held and turned in open fireplaces. From 1670, and well into
the middle of the 19th century, this type of family roaster enjoyed
great favor in Holland, France, England, and the United States, more
especially in the country districts. The museums of Europe and the
United States contain many specimens. The iron cylinder measured about
five inches in diameter, and was from six to eight inches long, being
attached to a three- or four-foot iron rod provided with a wooden
handle. The green coffee was put into the cylinder through a sliding
door. Balancing the roaster over the blaze by resting the end of the
iron rod projecting from the far end of the roasting cylinder in a
hook of the usual fireplace crane, the housekeeper was wont slowly to
revolve the cylinder until the beans had turned the proper color.
Between 1700 and 1800, there was developed a type of small portable
household stove to burn coke or charcoal, made of iron, and fitted with
horizontal revolving cylinders for coffee roasting. These were provided
with iron handles for turning. A modification of this type of roaster,
under a three-sided hood, and standing on three legs, was designed to
sit on the hearth of open fireplaces, close to the fire, or in the
smoldering ashes. Because of its greater capacity, it was probably
used in the inns and coffee houses for roasting large batches. Still
another type, which made its appearance late in the 18th century, was
the sheet-iron roaster suspended at the top of a tall, iron, boxlike
compartment, or stove, in which the fire was built. This, too, was
designed to roast coffee in comparatively large quantities. In some
examples it was provided with legs.
In 1704, Bull’s machine for roasting coffee was patented in England.
This probably marks the first use of coal for commercial roasting.
In 1710, the popular coffee roaster in French homes was a dish of
varnished earthenware.
French inventors continued to apply themselves to coffee-roasting and
coffee-making problems, and many new ideas were evolved. Some of these
were improved upon by the Dutch, the Germans, and the Italians; but the
best work in the line of improvements that have survived the test of
time was done by inventors in England and the United States.
It was common practice to roast coffee in England in “an iron pan or
in hollow cylinders made of sheet-iron”; while in Italy the practice
was to roast it in glass flasks, which were fitted with loose corks.
The flasks were “held over clear fires of burning coals and continually
agitated.” Anthony Schick, was granted an English patent in 1812, on
a method, or process, for roasting coffee; but, as he never filed his
specifications, we shall probably never know what the process was.
The custom of the day in England was to pound the roasted beans in a
mortar, or to grind them in a French mill.
While French inventors were busy with coffee makers, English and
American inventors were studying means to improve the roasting of the
beans. Peregrine Williamson, of Baltimore, was granted the first patent
in the United States for an improvement on a coffee roaster in 1820. In
1824, Richard Evans was granted a patent in England for a commercial
method of roasting coffee, comprising a cylindrical sheet-iron roaster
fitted with improved flanges for mixing, a hollow tube and trier for
sampling coffee while roasting, and a means for turning the roaster
completely over to empty it.
In 1829, the Établissements Lauzaune, Paris, began to make hand-turned,
iron-cylinder machines for the roasting of coffee.
The English began exporting coffee-roasting and coffee-grinding
machinery to the United States in 1833-34.
In 1840, Abel Stillman, Poland, New York, was granted a United States
patent on a family coffee roaster having a mica window to enable the
operator to observe the coffee while roasting.
During the first half of the 19th century, the French were only toying
with the roaster, because roasting in France was not yet a separate
branch of business, as it had become in England and the United States,
where keen minds were already at work on the purely commercial
coffee-roasting machine. The application of intensive thought in this
direction was destined to bear fruit in America in 1846, and in England
in 1847.
James W. Carter, of Boston, was granted a United States patent in 1846
on his “pull-out” roaster; and this was the machine most generally
employed for trade roasting in America for the next 20 years. Carter
did not claim to have invented the combination of cylindrical roaster
and furnace; but he did claim priority for the combination, with the
furnace and roasting vessel, of the air space, or chamber, surrounding
it, “the same being for the purpose of preventing the too rapid escape
of heat from the furnace when the air chamber’s induction and eduction
air openings or passages are closed.”
The Carter “pull-out” was so called because the roasting cylinder of
sheet iron was pulled out from the furnace on a shaft supported by
standards, to be emptied or to be refilled from sliding doors in its
“sides.” It was in use for many years in such oldtime plants as that of
the Dwinell-Wright Company, 25 Harberhill Street, Boston; by James H.
Forbes and William Schotten, in St. Louis; and by D. Y. Harrison, in
Cincinnati.
In 1847-48, William and Elizabeth Dakin were granted patents in
England on an apparatus for “cleaning and roasting coffee and for
making decoctions.” The roaster specification covered a gold, silver,
platinum, or alloy-lined roasting cylinder and traversing carriage on
an overhead railway to move the roaster in and out of the roasting
oven; and the “decoction” specification covered an arrangement for
twisting a cloth-bag ground-coffee container in a coffee biggin,
or applied a screw motion to a disk within a perforated cylinder
containing the ground coffee, so as to squeeze the liquid out of the
grounds after infusion had taken place.
The roaster has survived, but the coffee maker was not so fortunate.
The Dakin idea was that coffee was injuriously affected by coming
into contact with iron during the roasting process. The roasting
cylinder was inclosed in an oven instead of being directly exposed to
the furnace heat. The apparatus was provided also with a “taster,” or
sampler, the first of its kind, to enable the operator to examine the
roasting berries without stopping the machine.
In 1849, Thomas R. Wood, of Cincinnati, was granted a United States
patent on a spherical coffee roaster for use on kitchen stoves. It
attained considerable popularity among housewives who preferred to do
their own roasting.
In 1852, Edward Gee secured a patent in England on a coffee roaster
fitted with inclined flanges for turning the beans while roasting.
In 1862, E. J. Hyde, of Philadelphia, was granted a United States
patent on a combined coffee roaster and stove, fitted with a crane on
which the roasting cylinder was revolved and swung out horizontally
for emptying and refilling. It was a commercial success. Benedickt
Fischer used one in his first roasting plant in New York. It is still
manufactured by the Bramhall Deane Company, of New York.
In 1864, Jabez Burns, of New York, was granted a United States patent
on the original Burns coffee roaster, the first machine which did
not have to be moved away from the fire for discharging the roasted
coffee, and one that marked a distinct advance in the manufacture
of coffee-roasting apparatus. It was a closed iron cylinder set in
brickwork.
Until the Burns roaster appeared, coffee roasters were usually
cylinders that revolved upon an axis; the other devices that were tried
were not successful.
Jabez Burns patented an improved form of his roaster in 1881, and a
sample coffee roaster in 1883, before he died in 1888; and since that
time his sons, who continue the business, have perfected a number of
improvements and brought out new machines.
Thomas Page, a New York millwright, began the manufacture of a pull-out
coffee roaster similar to the old Carter machine, in 1868. Later, Chris
Abele, who was foreman in the Page shop, succeeded to the business, and
in 1882 he was granted a United States patent on an improvement on a
coffee roaster similar to the original Burns machine (the patent had
then expired), which he marketed under the name of Knickerbocker.
In the 1860s, ’70s, and ’80s, French, English, and Dutch inventors
began producing gas coffee roasters, some of which were brought to
America. For the complete story of their evolution and the evolution of
other apparatus, the reader is referred to _All About Coffee_.
The first direct-flame gas coffee roaster in America was installed in
the plant of the Potter-Parlin Company, New York, by F. T. Holmes, in
1893. This was Tupholme’s machine, patented in England in 1887, and in
the United States in 1896-97. The Potter-Parlin Company subsequently
placed the Tupholme machines throughout the United States on a daily
rental basis, limiting the leases to one firm in a city, having
obtained the exclusive American rights from the Waygood, Tupholme
Company, now the Grocers Engineering & Whitmee, Ltd.
In 1897, a special gas burner, not to be confused with the direct-flame
machine, was first attached to a regular Burns roaster in the United
States, and was made the basis of application for a patent. The Burns
direct-flame gas roaster, with patented swing-gate head for feeding and
discharging, was introduced to the trade in 1900. The Burns gas sample
roaster followed.
In 1901, Joseph Lambert, of Marshall, Michigan, introduced to the trade
one of the earliest indirect gas roasting machines.
In the same year, 1901, F. T. Holmes, formerly with the Potter-Parlin
Company, joined the Huntley Manufacturing Company, Silver Creek, New
York, which then began to build the Monitor direct-flame gas coffee
roaster.
In 1915, and again in 1919, Jabez Burns & Sons, New York, patented
their Jubilee roaster, an inner-heated machine in which the gas is
burned inside a revolving cylinder in a combustion chamber protected
from direct coffee contact. The heat is deflected downward and then
passes upward through the coffee.
In 1897, Joseph Lambert, of Vermont, began the manufacture and sale at
Battle Creek, Michigan, of the Lambert self-contained coffee roaster
without the brick setting then required for coffee-roasting machines.
In 1900, he was joined by A. P. Grohens. In 1901, the Lambert Food &
Machinery Company was organized. In 1904, the company was reorganized.
Since then, many improvements have been made under Mr. Grohens
direction. The Lambert gas roaster, one of the first machines employing
gas as fuel for indirect roasting, dates back to 1901, as mentioned.
The Economic roaster is Mr. Grohens latest development for coal or
coke fuel. It is a compact, self-contained equipment, operating in
connection with a new-type rotary cooler. He has also recently brought
out a gas-fired, electrically operated, 600-pound Victory roaster and a
50-pound miniature coffee-roasting plant designed for retail stores.
In 1903, John Arbuckle was granted a United States patent on a
coffee-roasting apparatus employing a fan to force the hot-fire gases
into the roasting cylinder. From this was developed the Jumbo roaster,
now used in the Arbuckle plant, which roasts 10,000 pounds an hour.
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