People drink way too much stale coffee, according to the artisan coffee roasters at Artís, a boutique coffee roaster in Berkeley, California. Their mission is to create the freshest coffee possible by “live roasting,” by custom roasting in small batches and shortening the time between roasting and enjoying a cup of Joe. The result is some of the freshest, most flavorful coffee you’ve ever tasted.
Coffee experts tell us that coffee’s delicate flavors reach their peak just 24 to 48 hours after roasting And they remain optimal for only about 10 days. The most memorable cup of coffee I ever drank came from a tiny bed and breakfast that roasted their coffee in tiny batches every day.
Roasting green coffee beans brings out the flavors, but also starts the oxidation process.
Artís endeavors to capture the flavor of coffee in the narrow window of freshness. They do it by custom roasting single origin beans or blends of beans in batches as small as 1 lb. to customer preference, including how the customer intends to brew the coffee. Online customers can order five types of coffees (current selection includes espresso blend (three types of beans), Brazil water process decaf, Ethopian Bench Maji Gesha, Indonesian Timor, and Peru Fair-trade Organic). Customers can specify if they’re using a Chemex, Auto-drip machine, hand pour, French press, Aeropress, or cold brew.
Green coffee beans have to be roasted, a process that reduces the water in the bean, caramelizes the sugars, and releases the oils in the coffee that give brew its flavor. If beans are under-roasted the coffee will taste woody and acidic; over-roasted and the beans taste burned like charcoal. Artís uses fluidized-bed air roasters to highlight and emphasize the unique fruit notes in single-origin coffees.
Artis recommends grinding your coffee right before brewing.
Our editors at realfoodtraveler.com tasted two freshly roasted beans from Artís: Indonesian Timor and Guatemalan. We ground the beans to a medium grind in an electric hand grinder and brewed with a V60, a single cup pour over method. Each 8-ounce bag was labeled with type of bean, roasting temperature, date roasted, and drying method.
Timor- The timor beans were dark and shiny with oil. The brewed coffee was super smooth, almost creamy, with no harsh edges and our editors could easily detect complex fruity notes. Even when I left my cup a bit too long and the coffee cooled, the flavors were round and not harsh.
Guatemala- The beans were lighter brown with a drier appearance than the Timor. The aroma was softer and less pronounced. The brew was very smooth with an earthier, edgier flavor.
Artís coffee is a certified Fair Trade USA coffee roaster and retailer. Fair trade companies support fair compensation, equitable treatment, and sustainable environments for export industry workers in developing countries.
Both of these are Artis coffees. You can see the different roasts and how they react to different types of single origin beans.
While not all their coffee is certified organic (many growers cannot afford certification), they do attempt to buy coffees grown sustainably. They also donate 1% of their profits to projects that focus on education, the environment and entrepreneurship. They are currently “seeding” a project with the International Women’s Coffee Alliance t IWCA partners with women in coffee-growing regions to build a safer, healthier, gender-equitable future for the coffee industry. Their first project with IWCA will focus on women’s leadership and business training in Brazil.
Artís brews in small batches to keep things fresh. They also use fair trade coffee to keep things equitable.
Real bottom line: Artís brews coffee lover’s coffee—beans so fresh they retain the natural smoothness and rich fruity/floral notes of single origin coffees. You’ll not only love their coffee, you can feel good about supporting a company that has a social and environmental conscience and puts their money where their values are. – Bobbie Hasselbring, RFT Editor
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