Frequently Asked Questions About Our Coffee

• What is Direct-Trade Coffee?
• What is Ethically Sourced Coffee?
• How long does Coffee Roasting Takes?
• What is a Drum Coffee Roaster vs. Air Coffee Roaster?
• What does Green Coffee Mean?
• What is Water-Processed Decaf Coffee?
• How do I find coffee that is easy on my stomach?
• Where do you deliver coffee to?
• Where and when is the Norwood's Farmers Market?

What is Direct Trade Coffee?

Direct-Trade Coffee is sourced through the coffee farms rather than a distributor. Most coffee is sourced through distributors that source from the individual coffee farms. With direct-trade coffee, more profits go directly to the farm and the communities where the coffee farms are located.

Some coffee farms are not suited to work with the direct-trade model, but more and more coffee farms are beginning to adapt to this model to help improve their profits and control of quality.

An additional benefit of direct-trade is the quality control. From the farmer's side, they can ensure their coffee isn't getting mixed with another in between their farm and the coffee roaster. On the coffee roaster's side, they can rest assured the quality will be more consistent, with genuine single origin coffee, as well as ensuring fresh crop that hasn't been stuck in a warehouse for multiple seasons.

What is Ethically Sourced Coffee?

Ethically sourced coffee is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days. For us, ethically sourced coffee, whether direct-trade, or sourced through a coffee distributor, means coffee that is grown by well compensated farmers who are living in good conditions, with a safe work environment.

In short, sourcing from happy farmers who are happy with us (the coffee roasters). These ethical sourcing practices work to ensure a positive impact on the communities where the coffee farms are located.

How long does Coffee Roasting Takes?

The Coffee Roasting process varies in length, but in general, coffee roasting takes between 9-12 minutes. Again, this can vary by machine type, machine size, coffee type, and a myriad of factors.

What is a Drum Coffee Roaster vs. Air Coffee Roaster?

A drum coffee roaster is essentially like dryer mixed with and oven. There is a drum with stirring vanes inside that tumble the beans around, while a burner below the drum heats the beans.

Drum coffee roasters can vary by heating source (electric or gas - atmospheric or infrared are most common for gas burners), but the principle is a mix of convection heating from the air that has been heated by the burners/heating element and conduction heating from the drum surface.

An Air coffee roaster is very similar to a popcorn maker. This style Air roaster blows the beans around inside a cylinder heating the beans with the hot air inside.

Air coffee roasters are different from drum roasters, as they are relying on convection heating to roast the coffee beans.

We operate on Drum Coffee Roasters, as we prefer the flavor nuances to this style machine.

What does Green Coffee Mean?

Green Coffee is coffee that has been processed by the coffee farmer, but is not yet roasted; most often appearing green. However, different processing methods can mean "raw" beans that are not green in color.

What is Water-Processed Decaf Coffee?

Water Processed Decaf Coffee is decaffeinated via either the Mexican Mountain Water Process, or the Swiss Water Process.

Mountain Water Process Decaf Coffee:

The Mountain Water Process is a natural way of decaffeinating coffee with water from the highest mountain in Mexico, Pico de Orizaba.

The caffeinated beans are soaked in water from Pico de Orizaba which removes the caffeination. The water extract containing the caffeine (along with many of the flavor characteristics of the bean) then goes through a filtration process to remove the caffeine but leave the flavors naturally found in the bean.

Once the extract/filtered water has been decaffeinated (~99.9%), it is then used to soak the beans again so they can regain their sugars, acids, oils, and other elements that make their flavor unique.

Swiss Water Process Decaf Coffee:

Swiss Water Process Decaf is more widely known that the Mountain Water Process and is very similar.

The Swiss Water Process involve immersing the raw coffee beans in hot water to remove the caffeine from the beans and create a green coffee extract, which is then filtered via a charcoal filtering proces.

Once the green coffee extract is produced and filtered, the beans are immersed once again to regain their flavor profile before they're dried and prepared to be roasted.

How do I find coffee that is easy on my stomach?

Usually coffee with lower acidity is easier on your stomach than coffee with much higher acidity.

We source and roast a lot of our coffees with a lower acidity goal, while still keeping the brightness and uniqueness to that specific coffee.

Not all of our coffee is low acidity, but many of them are. A safe bet for low acidity coffee would be a Kat's Meow for a medium roast and the Full Moon Espresso for a dark roast. These coffees are naturally lower acidity and roasted with low acidity in-mind and we often hear that these coffees are easy on sensitive stomachs.

Where do you deliver coffee to?

We deliver coffee to New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater, Oak Hill, Port Orange, and Daytona Beach, FL. If you're somewhere else close by in Volusia County and are looking for a delivery for an event, please reference our coffee bags for events page.

Where and when is the Norwood's Farmers Market?

The farmers market, which we attend most Saturdays is located in the Norwood's restaurant parking lot. The address is 400 2nd Ave E, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169.

The Norwood's Farmers Market is Saturday's from 8am-12pm. Come on by, say  hi, sample some coffee, and pick up your beans in-person!