Locally roasted coffee beans, a sure thing at Sure House Coffee Roasting Co.
We started roasting beans in a popcorn popper at home, Eric Lloyd said. He smiled as he shared how he and his wife, Elizabeth, began their adventure as the Sure House Coffee Roasting Co., Woosters only locally roasted coffee.
We realized that if we could make a cup of freshly roasted coffee, it would be so much better than anything we could buy.
The couple set out to make that cup of delicious java for themselves but also to share it with their community. Roasting coffee beans at home in your popcorn popper, however, is not recommended or suggested.
The first coffee we roasted like that was quite inconsistent, but it got us intrigued with the process, Lloyd said. For more than three years the couple roasted from their home, learning all the time and talking to everyone they could find.
When you buy a bag of coffee from a grocery store, its been sitting on the shelf, and before that it was sitting somewhere else, and we just loved how good it tasted when we roasted it ourselves, Lloyd said.
After graduating from the popcorn roaster, the Lloyds moved up to a one-pound roaster, then two-pound and finally to the six-pound machine they currently use.
We will hopefully move up to a 12-pound roaster by springtime, Lloyd said. All the coffee roasting is now done on-site at their downtown cafe.
The actual roasting method the Lloyds settled on is called fluid-air bed roasting. The process uses hot air to evenly roast the beans. According to Lloyd, the beans get heated to 465 degrees to produce a batch of ready-to-brew beans. During the process the beans crack or pop twice. The sound is very similar to popcorn popping.
The bean expands during the process, and the chaff is expelled, helping to insure the only thing roasted is the bean, keeping the flavor pure.
Another advantage of this air-roasting process is the efficiency of the heat. What I do is relatively quick, Lloyd said. It takes 12-13 minutes for each batch and then about 90 seconds to cool.
The speed of the heating is important because it removes the moisture quickly to prevent the beans from cooking rather than roasting. This quick roasting produces beans much lower in acid. This not only adds to the smooth taste of air-roasted beans, it means some who are unable to drink coffee made by other methods due to stomach irritation can enjoy this type of roast.
Lloyd said, I get a lot of control with this roaster ... Its fun to find that sweet spot in the bean. You have to tweak it. With every bag you get in, the water content is different, and then as the green beans age, after weve had the bag for a little while, it changes even more.
Lloyd also said, The beans, its like a fruit, like different kinds of tomatoes are different depending on the variety and the season and when it gets harvested. Were not dealing with a cookie-cutter product. Its a fun challenge.
With a deep love of the community and a desire to know how everything in their business is sourced, the Lloyds are excited to have recently had their coffee certified as fair trade and organic.
We give a percentage of our sales back to the fair trade organization, Lloyd said. One of their suppliers is a direct trade farm in Nicaragua, and the others are domestic importers working with local farmers at origin.
Sure House Coffee Roasting is all about supporting community. Every detail of the cafe shows loving concern from the handcrafted, custom-made mugs and planters to the tables created by a Columbus artisan out of locally and sustainably sourced Ohio wood. Their plants are from a Wooster garden center.
Sure House beans are available at the cafe and several local retail outlets, and their wholesale business is on the upswing. The cafe itself is designed to be all about the coffee and the community.
We will always have this gathering space, Lloyd said. Its a really simple concept. The baked goods are made by Elizabeth from her own recipes.
Another unique offering is their cold brew nitro. Some places in town will have our cold brew nitro on draft within the next couple of months, Lloyd said. Its pretty popular in urban areas. The idea is similar to a soda fountain, and the coffee produced is smooth, clean and bold.
The coffee business is a family affair. A Saturday afternoon found Lloyd roasting beans in the back while his sister and oldest daughter worked out front in the cafe. With five children the Lloyds Sure House cup is full.
I love roasting coffee. Its really a fun thing to do, Lloyd said with a big smile as he got back to work scooping beans into the roaster for the next batch of Sure House Coffee.
Sure House Coffee Roasting Co. is at 151 S. Market St., Wooster.