Sunflour oil

mininova

Had a disturbing discussion today with an experienced roaster who said some of the local roasters coat their beans in sunflour oil after roasting to make them all "nice and shiney". This cannot be true.....can it?  :o

john

First I've heard. However, nothing in this world is impossible. Maybe that could account for some of the rancid tasting coffee you get served!!!! What would the oil do for the grinder blades/burrs???? Not to mention the group head. Maybe you can organise some samples!! At least the barista could say that his/her equipment is well oiled!!!!!!!!!!!!! JD

over_extracted

many years ago i used to use a well kown brand of australian coffee and to me the coffee was coated with some sort of oil,we sent it back becouse of the bad flavour to be exchanged.

FreshCoffee2

There is no accounting for differing tastes in various markets but I dont think you would find anyone that aspires to the western european style of roasting (as mostly used in Australia) doing this kind of thing.     Unless it is required due to a particular ethnic custom or way of coffee "processing" (eg by groups from the middle east or SE Asia), many roasters in this country would view this kind of thing as simply a waste of time...it would add an extra bunch of things to do that add time & extra handling (not to mention crudding up the equipment), in an already lengthy coffee processing set up, for no gain. Infact, it would be considered in "regular" coffee circles as causing a "negative" gain in the quality of the resulting coffee...as I said, unless you come from a place where this kind of process could be the norm. Mainstream coffee circles in Oz do not think nice shiney / oily coffee beans are "good"! If any of you have ever tried the "kopi" from SE Asia, you'll know what I mean.   Are you sure this bloke wasn't pulling your leg, just wishing to pour "cold water" on competing smaller roasters, or does he come from an area that is not predominantly european where it's ok to do unspeakable things to coffee? Not wishing to upset anyone from a non european background, and any different viewpoints will be most welcome. Cheers,   FC.

mininova

"Are you sure this bloke wasn't pulling your leg, just wishing to pour "cold water" on competing smaller roasters" At first I thought so too but he was deadly serious and even named a few Melbourne based roasters who he "knew" were doing it (not that I will mention them here of course but one of my favorites were included). Now this roaster is no newbie and is in fact quite highly regarded in the industry and had no gain from telling me this. Naturally I cannot prove this one way or another which is why I asked the question (who knows, maybe it is common practice) Regards Doug.

FreshCoffee2

"...maybe it is common practice..." Not that I know of. Ok here is my "position statement" for today - Any self respecting specialty roaster would have to be crazy to do this... You can make of this what you will! Cheers, FC. Roaster, blender & purveyor of freshly roasted quality coffee beans from all over the world, that have not be adulterated by any kind of added oils, margerines, butters, herbs or spices, nor blackened to a crisp!