Page 9 - Food & Drink Magazine April 2021

uniqueness to our flavour profiles. We are bringing back the old traditions, but with the added benefit of today’s technology.”
The company offers single origin beans including Yirgacheffe; Guatemala Pachaya Volcanic; Rwanda Coco Honey & Peaberry; Colombia Finca Alto Bonito; and Brazil Bela Epoch.
But its blends are the result of internal collaboration, normally between Loupis and roaster Satin Rau, who work side by side to create various blends. Once formulated, a team testing phase begins for further edits, then to clients and then customers.
ENVIRO FRIENDLY
The family-owned business also prides themselves on following strict environmental and sustainable practices.
The factory runs on 100 per cent solar power and the timber it uses is sourced from a sustainable forest in Queensland. For every tree that gets cut down, another three are planted in its place.
Moisture in the wood is removed by airing in The Wood Roaster’s warehouse. This means the coffee house only burns dry aged timbers.
The company has also installed a second catalytic after-burner to its roasting system, to further mitigate emissions and by-product.
“The challenge at the beginning was trying to find the right timber. After trying a few different types of wood we decided on ironbark that comes from a sustainable forest in mid North Queensland,” explains Loupis.
“The reason that we use vintage timber is it produces extreme dry heat that makes roasting our beans to perfection easy and also produces no smoke to influence the flavour. This is due to the heat from the wood and afterburners on our roaster.
“Once the temperature is set the technology takes over, monitoring and controlling the temperature to the exact degree. That allows it to vent when it needs to be, and then discharge the beans at desired temperature so we get our perfect roast every time.
“One of the most important parts of coffee roasting is consistency; each and every cup of coffee must be perfect.”
EXPANSION PLANS
Never one to rest of his laurels, Loupis says the company will continue to invest in more machines and technology to help with their day-to-day operations and growth plans to take the brand into other states. The Wood Roaster currently supplies around 60 cafés.
ABOVE & BELOW : Looking to the past has brought new technology into the fire.
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | April 2021 | Food&Drink business | 9
RISING STAR
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