Thursday, June 10, 2010

torrefazione

{wake up and smell the caffé}





On the walking tours I lead of Rome's sweet and savory pleasures, the two coffee shrines Caffé Sant'Eustacchio and Tazza d'Oro are always on my itinerary. Not so much for their equally excellent espresso blends–which everyone enjoys, of course–but rather for the chance to witness first hand their coffee roasting procedure. 

You can smell it half a mile away. When a torrefazione (coffee roaster) is at work, you can't miss it.
So we walked in and I winked at the man behind the cash register. He smiled back and nodded, which is code for, 'yes go ahead.'

Behind the busy counter, in a small room in back, we found an elf-like gentleman busy at work; he was scooping shovelfuls of first crack beans* (which are a grayish shade of beige) in the rotating wood log-burning drum I photographed. As we saw the drum slowly turn and release the coffee's insanely good aroma, my group learned that each coffee is separately roasted, and later combined together in a percentage purposely studied to create the blend. 

When the elf saw fit, he scooped the batch of roasted beans out, weighing them in jute sacks. And then with fresh beans, started all over again, tirelessly.


We furtively returned to the front, and enjoyed our proverbially frothy espresso pretending we weren't in the know.





*For a description of the full coffee bean roasting cycle, Click here and scroll down to point 5.4

22 comments:

  1. Just looking at the image makes me crave a cup of coffee ... A good image to wake up to, if the real thing is close at hand!

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  2. There certainly is something magically sensuous about coffee.

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  3. I can almost smell the scent of roasted coffee ...

    Posso quasi sentire il profumo di caffè tostato ...

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  4. Yummy, delicious photo! Ahhhh! Please pour me a cup!

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  5. Hi Lola, I hope all is well. I could smell it from here~~
    Love Coffee, Take care :)

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  6. Wonderful shot! Between the picture and your description, I almost feel like I was there.

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  7. A story from the fairy-tale. With a smell.

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  8. Mm, I love the smell of coffee, though actually I'm not that fond of its taste! A very evocative photo.

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  9. Love that photo -- really has a lot of movement.

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  10. You told this story so well. I love the image.

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  11. What a great picture! I'd love to go on your tours.

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  12. You made «Louis» get up an brew himself a cuppa joe with this photo, Eleanora!

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  13. Thank you all for your comments, my fellow coffee addicts! Ciao

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  14. Sain Euch's is by far one of my favorites worldwide for coffe. And their chocolate covered beans are amazing.
    Great post

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  15. Not a great coffee lover, but I like the smell from the 'torrefazione' of the Central Market.

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  16. I swear I could smell it.. yum.. and what a beautiful action shot.

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  17. The only thing better than a fresh morning cup of coffee is another one. You had a great morning to witness the aroma of freshly roasted coffee!

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  18. As a child I used to go to the "torrefazione" with my mummy where she bought freshly ground coffee. I was fascinated by that shop... I can still remember the slow procedure of the old man that inevitably ended with him placing a couple of staples on the perfectly folded white paper bag...
    mmmh... I can smell it...

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  19. Fantastic! I feel smell the coffee :D

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~Eleonora

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