Click on any picture to view the album
 
 
 
 
About Coffee
Roasting Level

BLOND
(cinnamon half-city roast)

Denotes a flexible, delicate and smooth flavour. This is the most suitable roast for these beans as it allows them to keep their flavour. The bean is of a pale cinnamon colour and while the bean itself contains a lot of mildew, it has a drier appearance. It's an excellent choice for those who prefer a soft coffee. A blond roast denotes a coffee with a little more caffeine than a dark roast.

BROWN
(brown city roast)

A brown roast is delicate and has a slightly more pronounced flavour. It is an excellent roast but, seems to be more acidic than the darker roasts. Most of our flavoured coffees are of a brown roast.

DARK BROWN
(full city roast)

For the dark-brown roast we use beans which are roasted over a period of time but, with a higher temperature toward the end of the process. The result is a cup of robust coffee which is never bitter. It is an excellent coffee for any type of mixture.

FRENCH
(French roast)

A French roast has more body and is much more appreciated by Europeans for its strength and its soft yet bitter taste. Because these beans are roasted at a higher temperature than for a brown roast, the aromatic oils in the bean are more developed and have risen to the bean's surface. The higher temperature also causes the bean to caramelize and develop a deep, rich, brown colour.

ITALIAN
(dark Italian roast)

The Italian roast produces a rich and robust flavour which is extremely tasty. This process leaves the beans with a very dark and shiny surface. While this exclusive coffee has a much more intense flavour, it is the weaker in acidity and caffeine, of the brown roasts. This coffee is excellent for making espresso and for those consumers desiring a great and very robust cup of coffee. It is highly recommended for evenings!

Roasting, the last operation in the treatment of coffee beans, is the art which brings out the unique taste of coffee. The selected beans are roasted in special ovens at temperatures varying from 200 to 230° Celsius. The length of time the beans are roasted will vary (from 12 to 18 minutes) depending on the quality, variety, colour and desired taste of the coffee. The paler the roast the more acid the taste. When a coffee is roasted very dark, it becomes bitter and loses a lot of its essential aromas as well as part of its caffeine. During this operation, the beans expand from fifty to one hundred per cent and lose from 15 to 20% of their weight.

Roasting forms a "cafféol", an extremely volatile and aromatic oil responsible for the coffee's aroma and flavour. Coffee beans also release carbon monoxide which deposits itself onto the bean's surface forming a protective layer. This delicate layer delays the evaporation of "cafféol".

As it oxidizes quickly upon contact with air, coffee must be consumed as quickly as possible otherwise it is preferable to preserve it in the freezer in a hermetically sealed container, preferably one made of insulated glass.

Too short of a roasting time produces a coffee with a spinach taste whereas, roasting for too long or too fast gives it a burned and bitter taste and a big part of the essential aromas will vanish as well.

The roasting methods used at Coffee Depot are closely guarded secrets. Our experts had to discover the correct temperatures as well as the length of roasting for each one of our  estate coffees in order to release all their distinctive qualities.

A lot of coffees presently sold on the market using estate coffee names are in fact less expensive mixes that attempt to imitate the taste of the real thing.

The so-called "Moka Java" coffees which are found on display are mixes which often have no resemblance at all to the true estate coffees. For the connoisseur, only a real estate coffee will transform an ordinary coffee break into a celebration for the taste buds.

As an importer and roaster of fine coffees, Coffee Depot selects only the finest estate coffees from more than 42 producing countries. Our constant search for the best quality allows the coffee amateur to discover the subtleties of every country of origin. You can then work out for yourself some simple or more demanding mixes which will be more suited to your taste and habits of consumption. Before being accepted by Coffee Depot's experts, every sample roasted on location is evaluated according to our strict criteria of quality and consistency. Imported coffees which do not measure up to the selected samples are rejected on the spot. The accepted beans will release all of their flavour in the clever and practised hands of Coffee Depot's master roasters.

Even once we have discovered the ideal producer, for his quality and product consistency, every delivery is verified by our master tasters to guarantee the regularity of the producer's quality.

Coffee is a living matter requiring constant care as it is sensitive to the smallest variation in temperature, humidity and odour. Like all great wines, estate coffees present their own distinctive, gustatory features. This is why coffee amateurs like to invent their own mixes. The acidity of one variety will be complemented by the smoothness of another. The sweet aroma will be freed by a very specific coffee, while the taste of the whole will be the fruit of an original mixture. Alone or mixed, the variety of tastes and aromas are countless.

Coffee Depot has worked out a roasting technique for each one of the numerous varieties of coffees we import from the most prestigious producers in the world. This so-called specialized roasting was worked out with the goal of roasting each estate coffee in its own particular fashion. Coffee Depot believes that each estate coffee has its own characteristics and must be treated as such to bring out each one's own particularities during the roasting process. Only by doing this rigorous research can Coffee Depot guarantee full flavour in every type of coffee and the best cup you have ever tasted!

Top © 2003, Coffee Depot inc.