In addition to carefully roasting coffee beans, how should our own roasting cafe go on?

In the world of boutique coffee, coffee is a fruit, so it pays attention to fresh taste. Tasting fine coffee is different from tasting wine and tea in that the production process of wine and tea leaves has been completed, and there is little room for consumers to ponder. After the high-quality coffee beans leave the origin, they have to be processed by the roaster and then brewed by the barista to make a delicious cup of coffee.

Local boutique coffee roasters are familiar with Nanyang coffee culture and know people's impression of coffee. In order to reshape people's understanding of coffee, they show the fruit characteristics of fresh coffee beans and the local conditions of individual cultivation manors through superb baking skills, so that everyone can taste the natural taste of different coffee with rich flavors.

Nylon Coffee Roasters, a coffee bean baker based in Everton Park, is one of the few local boutique coffee companies that sell only a small amount of self-roasted coffee beans, as well as espresso and hand-brewed coffee. The business model purely reflects the serious attitude of Chen Youxiang (42) and Li Jiamin (39), a young couple, towards introducing good coffee. In order to ensure the quality of coffee, they will fly all the way to coffee farms in South America to learn from coffee farmers and establish a direct trading partnership.

Chen Youxiang (left) and Li Jiamin are committed to baking fresh coffee beans for coffee lovers to taste the seasonal coffee selections. (photo provided by Nylon Coffee Roasters)

The name "Nylon" comes from the experience that the couple were inspired by the local boutique coffee culture when they lived in New York and London respectively. The store celebrates its fifth anniversary this year. Although the 5kg machine is still used in roasting coffee beans three times a week, it has expanded from half a store to the entire store space last year, witnessing that the coffee tastes of the two bakers and baristas are loved by more and more coffee lovers.

Nylon Coffee Roasters opened in the old HDB area, personalized space to rewrite the scenery of the old neighborhood. (photo provided by Nylon Coffee Roasters)

In terms of coffee bean selection, they will provide six kinds of coffee beans, mainly from Central America, South America and Africa. In terms of brewing methods, they always offer coffee beans suitable for espresso and filter to choose from. Because they love fresh coffee beans, they try their best to provide coffee beans in season. For example, the first half of the year is the harvest season for coffee beans in Africa. From harvest to storage to shipping, orders are usually delivered in May or June, and customers can drink freshly roasted fresh coffee beans. The harvest period of coffee beans in South America is from May to August every year, and it is two or three months after it arrived in Singapore, that is, the season for drinking fresh Brazilian and Colombian coffee at the end of the year.

Nylon Coffee Roasters roasts coffee beans in small quantities using a roaster with a capacity of 5 kilograms.

Li Jiamin, who was born in the financial industry, said that the role of the coffee bean roaster is to present the good taste of the coffee beans, minimize the disadvantages, highlight the advantages, and make the tasting experience pleasant. "We can't change the original taste of coffee, but we can show our favorite flavor-natural sweetness, acidity and pure taste."

Chen Youxiang, who switched from IT to coffee, said that most of the coffee beans baked in his family are medium-roasted. "the deeper you bake, the more flavor you lose," he said. If it is baked too shallow, it may look like lemonade. According to the existing local coffee culture, people think that coffee is not like that (as acidic as fruit). We want more people to taste our coffee and share with them the taste of the coffee is carefully tested by the roaster, not baked poorly. "

Chen Youxiang said that roasters need to be able to add value to coffee beans in order to be worthy of the higher price of boutique coffee.

According to the experience of coffee roasters, coffee beans from different places have their own characteristics, even if the coffee beans produced by the same estate are different from each batch. Therefore, every time you receive new goods, you need to conduct a baking test. Chen Youxiang and Li Jiamin's years of experience is that the general test at least baked at least 2 times, the more elusive coffee beans may need more than 4 times to lock in the desired flavor.

Another coffee bakery, Prodigal Roasters, which is hidden in the Hongmaoqiao neighborhood, has been open for nine months. The boss, he Jianyi, 30, taught himself how to roast coffee beans. When he opened last year, he had planned to meet the demand in the store with the Huky 500, a coffee bean roaster made in Taiwan. As a result, in the first week of opening, social media visited and customers asked more questions than expected. Huky 500 is a household baking toy machine, which can only bake less than 500g at a time. The output is low and demand exceeds supply. He had to rent a commercial baking machine instead to solve the supply problem.

Hiding in Prodigal Roasters, my own coffee roaster in Hongmaoqiao neighborhood.

The coffee bean roaster Huky 500 is highly sought after by players and its specification is very similar to that of a commercial roaster.

The coffee beans provided in the store are updated frequently to make sure they are fresh. He Jianyi said that he hopes that guests can taste more different flavors of coffee. But in order to take care of the taste buds of regular customers, he will make sure there is a nutty, chocolate-flavored coffee. This is also the most familiar taste of coffee for Chinese who grew up drinking Nanyang coffee.

He Jianyi, the boss of Prodigal Roasters.

He Jianyi shares the endless fun of roasting coffee at home. In general, African coffee beans are heavy and need to be roasted at high temperatures in the first place, he said. In Asia, coffee beans are relatively light, and the fire should not be too hot. But he received a batch of coffee beans grown in Chiang Rai in northern Thailand that completely subverted his existing concept of roasting Asian coffee beans.

He said: "the first time I baked (Qinglai coffee beans), it tasted like hollow cabbage!" I still can't try again. In the end, I took the opposite approach to the remaining raw beans, baking at a low temperature, then keeping it high, and then turning it off faster. As a result, the taste was sweet and full, which brightened my eyes. "

He Jianyi said that the purchase of materials for roasting coffee beans cannot be saved, because only good coffee beans can show the ideal flavor in accordance with the will of the roaster. "I can't learn anything from coffee beans of poor baking quality. Because its reaction in the baking process is the opposite of that of high-quality coffee beans. "

Coffee beans look like peanuts before roasting, smooth color and fragrance after roasting.

The small window is designed to check the baking degree at any time.

A coat that peels off the raw beans of coffee during baking.

He Jianyi's coffee flowers are pleasing to the eye.