Why We Roast.

This year we are celebrating five years of Yorks Coffee Roasters. Five years of our trusty Probat, and our incredible team roasting magic beans. 

We starting roasting with a dream and a vision of being the first wave of coffee roasters in our great city of Birmingham. 

I spoke with our Head Roaster; (Craig) and Owner; (Rich) to get there insights into the roasting journey up until now. 

I asked Rich about our first few roasts, "Our first roast was a Brazilian Londrina - It didn’t go well, the roaster wasn’t installed properly so the drum would turn in the wrong direction which meant we couldn’t pull the beans out of the drum properly. Mix that with a few other hardware issues and it was a great learning bean - which was why we got it in the first place. Thankfully these days we know a lot more about roasting." These days we're a lot better at roasting, but hey practise makes perfect. 

Favourite coffees and roasters differed. Rich's personal favourite "has always been the coffee that Estelle Bright won the UKBC with when she was at Caravan, an Ethiopian Dumerso that tasted like Strawberries. Best coffee I've ever had also mostly anything roasted by Tim Wendleboe. In terms of Yorks coffee I would say anything Kenyan we’ve roasted has always come out well."

Craig favoured our new 'Soul in the Machine'. "I'd say my favourite roast has been a recent component to the Blend. Colombian - Fabian Acevedo Pink Bourbon. I was just really proud of my roasts for it and the bean itself was super flavourful and fruity which is my favourite kind of coffee"

We've come along way, creating some amazing coffees in just five years, and we're not stopping anytime soon.  In terms of future, we're looking forward to some exciting new wholesale opportunities within the West Midlands and beyond- as well as expanding our Yorks team to take on the new ventures on the horizon.