Have you ever been to a coffee roastery? Many roasters work in the conjunction with their coffee shop so watching the coffee roasting in progress is not that rare anymore. Visiting the space dedicated to roasting is a different story though, especially if that is only a few weeks after the equipment was installed and furniture moved in. We were actually that lucky to participate in one of the very first roasting sessions at Rebelbean’s new headquarters.
Rebelbean has been around for 3 years already. It is not until now that the team has moved to a bigger and better-suited place for their roasting. They are definitely arriving at a new stage in their business and we are excited to share their story.
Inside of the coffee roastery
The whole roastery is 100 m² including the production room of 70 m², with two additional rooms. “From the beginning, it seemed too big however when we moved in we found it just right,” admitted the head roaster Jan Spalek. The remaining space will be used as a storage room for green coffee and meetings with the staff.
The production room, even though designed as an open space, is divided into 4 sectors. The first one is dedicated to admin work, the second serves as a coffee lab/bar, the production area with two roasters is in the third part and the last part of the room is dedicated to quality control, cupping and packing of coffee.
Equipment that powers the roastery
Looking at the production corner, you can find two roasting machines. The bigger one is Giesen W15A made in Ulft, The Netherlands. This 800-kilo beast is in charge of the main production at Rebelbean. Through the control panel it is connected to Jan’s computer where the roaster can monitor and save all the data and roasting profiles.
The computer is also connected to the second roaster, a Huky 500 made by Kuanho Li in Taiwan. This tiny yet powerful coffee roaster is used for rare, special coffees sold as limited editions and for sample roasting. Huky Roaster doesn’t have the control panel, it is connected through a thermometer to the computer.
What is the most difficult part of roasting? “That would be finding the right spot where the coffee is the best,” told us Jan and continued: “You have to roast a lot of batches to find out and taste it all.”
On the bar, you can find a Nuova Simonelli Aurelia T3 espresso machine and a Mythos One grinder. Water is filtered by BWT Reverse Osmosis. “We would like to build a lab, later on, so we can focus even more on the beans roast and brew quality,” described the plan Jan Spalek.
Are you tempted to try Rebelbean’s coffee? Do you feel like a rebel and want to serve their beans at your cafe? Sure get in touch with Michal! The Rebelbean team is ready to share any necessary info that you need to know about their coffees.
