Following these best practices can mean the difference between success and struggle for your coffee roasting business.
Degassing Time For Your Roasted Coffee
Roasting on-site means that you will have incredibly fresh coffee. After you have roasted, we recommend bagging your coffee into one-way valve bags immediately and allowing the freshly roasted coffee to degas for at least 3-7 days before serving.
When you roast coffee, gases like carbon dioxide, form inside the bean. These gases escape from the freshly roasted coffee after roasting and interfere with the flavor and brewing. Don’t worry; carbon dioxide in your beans isn’t bad; it has a vital role in coffee quality, as an indicator of freshness.
While this can vary by roast level and bean, we recommend 3-7 days of degassing time before serving.
The best way to determine the ideal degassing period for each of your coffees will be to begin tasting the coffee daily after you roast it, starting 24 hours after roasting to find the window where the coffee tastes the best. If you’ve got wholesale partnerships, be sure to inform them of the ideal degassing window before brewing.
Roasted Coffee Inventory Levels & Roasting Scheduling
1. We recommend having at least 7 days’ worth of roasted coffee on hand at all times.
This ensures that your business is stocked and can pivot quickly if you get a sudden rush, an unusually large customer order, or an emergency occurs. Also, establishing your ideal degassing period will help you determine how much coffee you need to roast and keep on hand.
2. Roast coffee for your business at least 2 times per week.
This ensures that you are roasting on a reliable schedule, your business is stocked and you have a buffer if you get a sudden rush, an unusually large customer order, or an emergency occurs.
Reminders & Best Practices
1. If you’re just getting started with your on-hand inventory levels, also called “pars”, you may need to commit extra roasting hours to build up the appropriate on-hand amount. Once you’ve done this, you’ll be able to plan your roasting hours better to meet your inventory levels.
2. Remember to incorporate degassing time into your inventory planning.
3. Plan for busier seasons and new business lines. That’s right; your inventory levels may need to shift by season and business line, so be prepared to reevaluate regularly.
4. You might also find that you’re selling more coffee during the holiday season. Plan to shift your on-hand inventory levels based on last year’s holiday data starting in late October or early November.
4. Remember shipping timelines! If your volume is consistent, regularly placing orders through The Marketplace is easy if you know how much coffee your business is going through!