OUR PROCESS
Here at Turtle Creek Coffee, Artisan Micro-Roasting means that we take a hands-on approach to every step possible to discover and preserve the true nature of excellent coffee – no matter how inconvenient or time-consuming. Combining old-world craftsmanship with modern technology, we view the process of roasting coffee as both science and art.
The concepts of small batch roasting and freshness are taken to an extreme that is not considered practical to most roast operations. The focus is solely on ensuring that our customers receive the very best coffee possible. It is that simple.
That includes not only the bean selection, but the roast process and packaging as well.
The bean selection process begins with acquiring green beans that represent a balance of two things. First, it must be the very best bean of its origin currently on the market. Then a keen eye is turned on the means of production to make sure it is truly a socially and environmentally responsible crop. For that reason, Turtle Creek Coffee purchases primarily “estate grown” coffees. Most roasters cannot take the time, or the expense, associated with this type of bean selection. Nothing else is considered here.
About the actual roasting process… our coffees are always micro-roasted. While there is no universally accepted definition inside the coffee industry of what constitutes micro-roasting, ours qualifies by every reasonable definition.
We roast on two Ambex roasters, one with a 5 kilo roast capacity, and another with a 15 kilo roast capacity. Loading the green bean hopper is done by hand. As said earlier, there is no universal definition of what does qualify as micro-roasting, but it is fair to say that if your roaster loads the green beans by a forklift, some sort of conveyor belt, or an elevator type of device, it just isn’t right to call it micro-roasting.
As Turtle Creek Coffee uses only Specialty Grade 1 beans or higher (most roasters don’t even know that there IS a grade higher than Grade 1), it is not necessary to “over roast” – this would be the charred for the bucks model – in order to hide the flaws in our coffees, as there aren’t any! Instead, the coffee is roasted to a level considered light by many… but once our coffees are tasted there is just no turning back to burnt beans.
Once roasted, our beans are allowed to go through a brief degassing period, then packaged by hand into specially valved bags of the highest quality currently available to the coffee industry. Our most widely used packaging type, the stand up pouches, are unfamiliar to many, as they have not yet made their way in to the area. Those “in the know” recognize them as the industry standard for sustaining freshness.
Orders are processed to ensure maximum freshness to you, the customer, as well. Many roasters make this claim, but very few can actually deliver. Turtle Creek Coffee can, but only because of a fanatical obsession with coffee.
Once you try these fine coffees, you will also be amazed at the pricing. These roasts are very clearly, at a minimum, a full two or three steps superior to virtually all of the other coffees in this market…yet cost nearly the same as their lesser rivals.
