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High Altitude Roasting

Our Roasting Process:

Steamboat Coffee Company is not your average coffee roastery. We are located 6,732 feet above sea level and things are little different up here. It may take a bit longer to catch your breath on a walk, the clouds hang a bit lower in the sky most days, and even your cooking process has to change at this altitude.

What does this mean for Roasting?

If you want to get technical, oxygen molecules are further apart at a higher altitude due to the lack of pressure pushing them together. Above 5000 feet there is less oxygen in the same amount of air than at a lower altitude. Less oxygen and less pressure means that you can roast your beans at a lower temperature for a shorter amount of time (7 minutes to be exact).

This avoids the common roasting mistakes of baking or scorching beans that occur when the initial temperature is too high, leaving coffee tasting flatter, hollower, much less sweet, and even.. well, scorched.

Simply put, Roasting at 6,732 feet brings out the nutty, chocolaty, or citrusy flavors. By shortening the time in the roaster, we can guarantee that our flavors come out stronger.

Ok...So High Altitude means no burnt beans, stronger flavors....Is there anything else?

We are so happy you asked :). At Steamboat Coffee Company, we also pay attention to how we finish our beans. Our roaster also has a unique cooling tray that is able to immediately begin cooling the beans as soon as they are dropped. Regardless of how hot the rest of the roaster becomes, this tray stays cool. This ensures that none of the beans continue to roast after they drop - keeping our levels of consistency...well, perfect.

So when we say that every cup of coffee is roasted to perfection at Steamboat Coffee Company or that Everything is Better at a Higher Altitude... We really do mean it.