Born in different parts of the world, the passion for the art of coffee brought together the two founders, Rodica and Saad. The spontaneous decision to move to Paris completely changed Rodica's life. Here, in her small apartment, the idea and term BAROMAN was first born.
At first, it seemed like just a beautiful dream, but after finding someone (Saad) with the same mindset among her Instagram followers, the two set to work so that their love of coffee could bring joy to others. Read on to find out how the BAROMAN brand was created.
Speciality coffee is defined as any coffee that scores above 80 points on a 100 point scale. Typically, speciality coffee is grown at high altitudes, with much care and attention from the farmer. From there, it is sold at a premium to coffee traders, or direct to roasters. This way of roasting lets you enjoy subtle flavors such as blueberries, milk chocolate, honey and more in your everyday cup!
What is the difference between Arabica and Robusta?
Arabica is higher grade, and usually grown at higher altitudes. This is exactly what we have here at BAROMAN! Robusta is lower grade and much easier to grow. It’s known for its punchy, pungent flavour and is higher in caffeine. Robusta’s extremely strong in taste, with a definitive petrol or diesel taste to it. Some specialty Robusta coffees are being developed, but we prefer the Arabica taste!
Why does specialty coffee have a score?
All coffee is scored on a 1-100 scale and specialty coffee score over 80 points.300 grams of properly hulled coffee is checked after it’s screened. For context, that’s more coffee than what’s in an entire bag of our smaller Unite/Purpose blends!
First, coffee is sorted using screens (with literal sizes of the beans). Usually 100g is used because this is a very time-consuming process. Imagine looking at every single bean! Beans that are too big for the screen are weighed, with the percentage weight of the total being calculated. Specialty coffee has fairly even bean sizes so they can roast to perfection before ending up in your morning coffee.
The coffees then need to be roasted and cupped to find out the cup characteristics. Coffee scoring from 90–100 is graded Outstanding, coffee that scores 85–89.99 is graded Excellent, while coffee scoring 80–84.99 is graded Very Good. The Specialty Coffee Association has a series of more detailed specifications (SCA is the union of the Specialty Coffee Association of American (SCAA) and Europe (SCAE)).
What does the coffee process refer to?
Coffee processing refers to the way that a seed is removed from a coffee cherry. Like any other pitted fruit, coffee cherries have a seed, pulp, mucilage around the seed, and a protective skin. There are various methods to remove the seed from the cherry, and these methods affect the seed's flavor as it gets roasted and turned into a coffee bean—this flavor sticks around till the final brew. There are four different ways to process coffee, all of which change the sweetness, body, and acidity of brewed coffee. These methods are called natural process (dry), washed process(wet), Semi-washed (wet hulled), and honey processed (pulped natural).
How altitude can affect my coffee taste?
Cooler mountain temperatures provide a slower growth cycle for the coffee tree which prolongs bean development. This longer maturation process imbues the coffee bean with more complex sugars, yielding deeper and more compelling flavors. The general rule is that coffee cultivated at greater altitudes tastes better. Better drainage at high elevations also reduces the amount of water in the fruit resulting in a further concentration of flavors.