An interview with The Golden Bean’s Gold Medal winning coffee roaster Richard St. John
In these times of computer controlled everything there still are those who prefer the human touch.
After winning a Gold Medal at the 09/10 Golden Bean competition, Richard St. John appeared in Café Culture Magazine (Issue 20, 2010 p. 23) in front of a Sivetz air roaster made in the USA in the 1970′s. Interestingly, however, this was not the coffee roaster that Richard used to brew the batch that won him the coveted Golden Bean Gold Medal.
“Those in the know would appreciate a Sivetz roaster,” Richard explains, “so we took the interview photo in front of it. It looked impressive. But the roaster I actually used was a restored 1950′s vintage roaster made by a relatively unknown Greek manufacturer.”
Richard is still looking forward to getting the Sivetz up and running. “I want to get it running to see how it goes. It’s known to be a very good and clean roaster. Though I like working with this old roaster I am excited to see what the Sivetz can do.”
Richard explained that his Greek coffee roaster might be considered an antiquated machine, but he thoroughly enjoys working with it. “It’s just a simple, good machine. It’s very basic and just does the job that it was designed to do. I like that. I like its functional elegance. In this day of shiny roasters with all manner of controls to allow you to control every aspect of the roasting process I wonder if some of the feel for the craft gets a little lost.”
When he found the old Greek coffee roaster it didn’t even have a thermometer. “I think that it had one, but it was missing. I found this one off of something else. I just drilled a hole through what I assume was the original thermostat’s fitting, and poked it through the faceplate into the inside of the roaster.”
Richard knows that the old coffee roaster is not very impressive by modern standards, but he has grown confident of its value. “I’ve had 9 National medal wins roasting with this old Greek roaster. I might be wrong, but I don’t think that a computer program is good enough to reproduce the intuition of a human being. Perhaps it’s a bit Romantic, but I must admit that I like the process of roasting by feel. Even if I could do as well with a computer controlled machine I don’t think that I would enjoy the process as much. I like being connected with the beans. I find it to be quite meditative roasting with this simple machine.”
Richard found the old roaster at the back of a macadamia nut farmer’s shed several years ago. “At the time I was looking for a new roaster. I had my eye on buying a much newer roaster. When I went to buy it, however, the man who had it for sale had already sold it. I was disappointed, but I asked him if he knew of any other roasters for sale in the area. He said that he had in fact seen one in a macadamia farmer’s shed. He said that it was covered in junk. He didn’t have any idea what sort of condition it was in, but thought that it might be worth having a look at it. He wasn’t prepared to vouch for it, saying that it might be too far gone. I decided to have a look to see for myself.”
Richard contacted the macadamia farmer and went to have a look. ”The roaster was covered in junk all right, but the bearings checked out and its bones were good. The motor was off the Ark and the wiring was a bit iffy, the belts were all gone. Looking at it he thought it might be all right after cleaning it up, so he bought it.”
Richard has grown to love working with his restored roaster. “It’s not trying to be more than it is. It’s just a solid coffee roaster. My guess is that it was likely built in the 1950′s, or thereabouts. It’s clearly done a lot of work. I had to replace the hopper as it was rusted out, and the feeder tube along the top looks recently replaced. I didn’t replace that, but it doesn’t look original. There is a single motor driving three belts. I don’t have the cooling fan/cooling tray belt attached. The belt for that is difficult to replace and I don’t feel that it is required. It works well with the cooling fan that we have hooked up to the cooling tray, and I actually prefer to be able to manually spin the cooling tray blades. This gives me a bit more control and I don’t have to worry about the blades hitting my hand. I am able to reach into the cooling tray to remove beans that I want to remove.”
Richard likes the subtle details that are evidence of a maker who took some care in the design to give this functional machine a subtle style. “The little details of knobs and the simple yet elegant designs appeal to me. It’s an honest machine. Also, you wouldn’t see one built so heavily today. Today’s machines tend to be much lighter; they are made with lighter materials. Today’s roasters typically have more stainless steel rather than cast iron. I mean look at this face plate. It’s a huge chunk of cast iron. And look at the barrel and blades. All of this mass of cast iron helps to stabilize the heat. It gives the roaster inertia.”
Richard finds that the old Greek roaster is quite a nice machine to work with. “With a lighter roaster it’s harder to get an even roast without really having everything just right with the settings. For example, on a lighter modern roaster you have to have everything working just right or you run the risk of scorching the beans during a heat spike. The sheer mass of this roaster helps to give an even, predictable roast.”
The art of roasting coffee involves awareness and mastery of many variables. “For examples, the relative humidity and the ambient temperature have a significant impact on the roasting process,” Richard explains. “With this machine you get a feel for how it’s going on the day. The first roast is always a warm-up. You really have to watch it to get a feel for the conditions and how the roaster will need to be run on the day. You don’t walk away from the first roast. There are many variables that come into play when roasting, requiring a degree of attentiveness and focus.
“So the first roast of the day is a warm-up run. I get a feel for the conditions with the first roast and then I get into a rhythm with the roaster for the day. Now that I know the machine I can turn out consistently good roasts until I’ve done the day’s roasting. It’s quite a meditative process, really. I am starting to wonder if it is possible to get all of the various controls right using a computer controlled machine. I mean I could roast everything one way on one day to get a great roast, but if I were to do exactly the same thing on another day with different conditions it wouldn’t work as well. I really like the fact that there aren’t a lot of controls on this machine because I have to rely on my instincts and skills of observation. There’s something special about it. I don’t think that I would enjoy the roasting process as much if I had a computer between the roaster and me.”
In late 2009 Mr. St. John was preparing his entries for The Golden Bean. He finished the day’s roasting with his normal blend at the time when he had an idea. “I had been trying various combinations of beans from single estate sources. There was a combination that I had been thinking about for some time, but had not yet tried. I had the beans and decided to do one more roast. I bagged the new blend for one of the entries and used my tried and true blend for the rest. I rushed to the Post and hoped for the best.”
Richard knew that he was on to a good thing: “A few days later I cupped the roast and knew straight away that it would win a medal. The rest is history. It was the only gold medal winner in the category and one of only seven gold medals in the competition. The competitors were of a very high caliber. It was a real thrill to earn a gold.”
Winning a gold medal at the nation’s largest coffee competition confirmed for Richard that he was on the right track. “The Golden Bean achievement was confirmation that I was on the right track with my instincts. I knew what a gold medal coffee tasted like and I knew how to reproduce the result. Obviously, the blend has become my signature blend.”
Richard thinks that he will eventually work with the Sivetz coffee roaster. “I’m keen to get the Sivets running. I am confident that it will be a good roaster. Coffee buffs would know a Sivetz. There weren’t many brought into Australia. They were the cutting edge roaster in the 1970′s. However, I think that even after I have the Sivetz running I will continue to work with the Greek roaster.” Richard likes the way that the Greek roaster conditions the coffee. “The whole barrel and blades are heavy cast iron and heavy metal. It’s seasoned, which gives the coffee a hint of flavour that you wouldn’t get if you roasted the coffee in a clean air stream. It’s not that it’s better, as such, but I do find that this roaster adds some subtle notes to the coffee that you wouldn’t get with a hot air roaster. I think that the old Greek coffee roaster has its place.”
Richard paused in reflection as the smell of freshly toasted coffee beans filled the air in his factory. “This roaster has been a consistent work horse. I love working with it. And it’s always smiling. Funny as it seems, I like that about it.”
[Contact details for Richard St. John are: (m) 0427 216 417, (ph) (02) 6654 8060 and (web) NorthCoastCoffeeRoasters.com.au Mark Hoza's mobile number is 0438 115 660.]
Richard St.John of North Coast Coffee Roasters has again won a medal at The Golden Bean Roaster in 2010 with his “Gold Blend” coffee beans.
