Eclectic Coffee Roasters
Tea maybe our nations favourite drink but Coffee is catching up fast. Roasting coffee transforms the chemical and physical properties of green coffee beans into roasted coffee products. The roasting process is what produces the characteristic flavour of coffee by causing the green coffee beans to change in taste. Coffee tends to be roasted close to where it will be consumed, as green coffee is more stable than roasted beans.
Mike Williams started Eclectic Coffee Roasters on Prospect Business Park in Leadgate after 30 years of working in International Trade and Development. He has worked around the world, drinking coffee, good, bad and indifferent, in many countries, including those where coffee is grown. He had the idea of creating his own coffee roasting company but then Covid intervened and the plans were shelved. However, in January 2021 he decided to start properly and attended courses on coffee roasting, brewing, grinding and barista skills. In June 2022 Mike took ownership of his electric roaster and fully launched Eclectic Coffee in January 2023.
All of his coffee is ethically and sustainably sourced from Ethiopia, Peru, Colombia and Brazil by a speciality coffee trader. They source direct from the farms, thus ensure that the farmers, some of whom have very small cultivated areas, get a higher premium price for their coffee beans and switch away from growing cocoa bushes that can be turned into narcotics. Then the trader sells the beans directly to roasters like Mike so there is not a long supply chain all taking money out of the farmers profits. More information on this can be found on the Falcon Specialty website.
The coffee beans come to Mike as raw, green beans which are not much like coffee beans at all. These are then weighed in batches of around 2kg and put into the roaster. Depending on the level of roast for that batch, the time and temperature are adjusted and monitored by computer and by taking samples of the beans during
the roast. When they are ready they are put into a cooling hopper so the roasting process stops.
When cool enough the beans are then packaged up and dispatched. It is important that the roasted beans are not left for too long as they will lose flavour. Mike pretty much roasts beans to order to avoid this. And then the final process is the customer opening the package, grinding the beans and making their coffee. Job done.
You can see more information about Eclectic at their website ecr.coffee
All of his coffee is ethically and sustainably sourced from Ethiopia, Peru, Colombia and Brazil by a speciality coffee trader. They source direct from the farms, thus ensure that the farmers, some of whom have very small cultivated areas, get a higher premium price for their coffee beans and switch away from growing cocoa bushes that can be turned into narcotics. Then the trader sells the beans directly to roasters like Mike so there is not a long supply chain all taking money out of the farmers profits. More information on this can be found on the Falcon Specialty website.
The coffee beans come to Mike as raw, green beans which are not much like coffee beans at all. These are then weighed in batches of around 2kg and put into the roaster. Depending on the level of roast for that batch, the time and temperature are adjusted and monitored by computer and by taking samples of the beans during
the roast. When they are ready they are put into a cooling hopper so the roasting process stops.
When cool enough the beans are then packaged up and dispatched. It is important that the roasted beans are not left for too long as they will lose flavour. Mike pretty much roasts beans to order to avoid this. And then the final process is the customer opening the package, grinding the beans and making their coffee. Job done.
You can see more information about Eclectic at their website ecr.coffee