What Is Air Roasted Coffee?
At Testament Coffee Roasters, every bean we sell is air roasted. It's how we started roasting at home years ago, and once we tasted the difference, we never went back. Here's what air roasting is and why we think it makes a better cup.
What is air roasting?
Air roasting, also called fluid bed roasting, uses a steady stream of hot air to roast coffee beans. The airflow lifts the beans and keeps them moving the whole time, so they roast while tumbling in hot air instead of sitting against a hot metal surface.
Fluid bed roasting was popularized in the 1970s by engineer Michael Sivetz, who developed the design as an alternative to the traditional drum roaster.
Air roasting vs. drum roasting
Most coffee is roasted in a drum roaster: a rotating metal drum heated from below. The beans pick up heat both from the hot air inside the drum and from direct contact with the hot metal.
In an air roaster, the heat comes almost entirely from hot air moving around each bean (convection). Because the beans are suspended and constantly moving, every bean gets roughly the same treatment, from the outside in.
Both methods can produce great coffee, and many excellent roasters use drums. Air roasting is simply the method we fell in love with, and the one that gives us the flavor we're after.
What air roasting means for your cup
- A clean, smooth taste. Even, contact-free heating helps avoid scorched spots on the beans, so the cup is clean and smooth rather than burnt or ashy.
- Chaff is carried away. As beans roast, they shed a papery skin called chaff. In an air roaster, the airflow carries the chaff away from the beans instead of leaving it to burn alongside them.
- The bean's own flavor comes through. With less roasty bitterness in the way, you taste more of what makes each origin unique: the chocolate in our Brazil, the caramel and fruit in our Colombia, or the rose and tea notes in our Rose Tea Coffee.
That's why customers often tell us our Colombian tastes nothing like the canned coffee they grew up with.
How we air roast in Jacksonville
Our first air roaster was a homemade setup: a bread machine with a heat gun clamped to its side and a cheap BBQ thermometer. It wasn't pretty, but it taught us the science of roasting with convection. Today we roast on a fluid bed roaster hand-built for us by Roasted Right in Kansas, in our garage-turned-roastery here in Jacksonville, Florida. You can read the whole story on our About Us page.
Frequently asked questions
Is air roasted coffee less bitter?
Many people find it is. Air roasting heats the beans evenly and carries away chaff, which helps avoid the scorched, ashy flavors that can make coffee taste bitter.
Can air roasted coffee be a dark roast?
Yes. Air roasting works for any roast level. Our Brazil is a medium/dark roast.
Where can I buy air roasted coffee?
Right here. We are a specialty coffee roaster in Jacksonville, Florida, and we ship our air roasted coffee across the USA.