OUR COFFEE
Our approach to coffee is a mix of art and science, passion and play. Behind every cup of Will & Co, there’s a group of self-confessed coffee geeks looking to perfect the art of every roast.
Our signature blends are made from some serious quality coffee beans sourced from the finest coffee growing regions around the globe; from green beans grown in rich volcanic soil in Guatemala to the highest-grade Arabica beans from Zimbabwe. Each cherry is hand-picked at ideal ripeness. It’s a lot of work, but absolutely worth it.
SOURCING
When we say Will & Co is a culture of coffee from the ground up, we mean it literally. So for us it all starts with the origin. Our green bean team go to the ends of the planet to find the best producers to source the best specialty coffee. What can we say – we’re extremely particular.
For more on specialty coffee, see What's all the fuss about specialty coffee?
Once we’ve landed on an origin or farm we test samples of new batches of green beans prior to shipment to ensure they’re primo. Once they arrive we do it all over again, rejecting anything that’s not up to scratch.
Our coffee team spends an enormous amount of time cupping, sampling, tasting, roasting and brewing until everything is as close to perfect as can be. We don’t mind at all (its actually half the fun) – that’s what it takes to produce exceptional coffee again and again.
ROASTING
FOR THOSE WHO GEEK-OUT ON TECHNICAL DETAILS LIKE WE DO...
We start by measuring the moisture content of green beans, then adjust our roasting parameters to suit. The green beans go through a rigorous cleaning process before being put into our ‘Big Dog’ Probat drum roasters. The slower, controlled method of roasting delivers a consistent profile every time. Needless to say we’re big fans.
After roasting the coffee is checked again to confirm consistency (we repeat that word a bit), and again check on moisture levels to ensure optimum flavour. Next we add a spray of nitrogen to reduce any left-over oxygen and then the coffee is quickly packed in air-tight bags with a one-way valve to continue releasing CO2 gases, so it’s fresh-as-can-be upon opening. To make sure of this, we test each batch on production day and on a selection of days later to make sure our product stands the test of time. For more info on coffee freshness, check out our blog, How Long Can Coffee Beans Last in a Sealed Bag?
We tailor the roasting profile for each unique blend to ensure we extract the optimum flavour from every single green bean, producing a perfect coffee each and every time. ‘Walter White’, our custom Probatone roaster is housed at our Bondi HQ and is used for smaller batches of single origins, R&D along with experimental roasts that get eagerly passed around fellow coffee lovers and beach-goers. We have a lot of fun with Walter.
For the ultimate coffee geeks among you, here’s a technical breakdown of the steps we take to ensure each sip of Will & Co coffee is perfect:
1. We obtain green bean samples and test them prior to putting in an order.
2. Once the coffee arrives we pour it into holding silos and do further quality-assurance testing. Random samples of the green coffee are analysed for consistency. We reject anything that’s not of the highest quality.
3. Once the raw coffee is accepted it gets cleaned, de-stoned and passed through a metal detector to extract any foreign objects.
4. Now the roasting process starts. An Electrical Conductivity Moisture Analyser is used to measure the moisture content of the raw coffee, so we can roast profiles to specific moisture levels (we told you the process is technical!). Probat traditional drum roasters (considered the world’s best) allow a slower, more controlled method of roasting coffee that ensures consistency in taste and appearance.
5. After roasting, the coffee gets weighed and tested (again). We use an Optoelectronic Infrared colour meter to ensure roasting levels are consistent, and a Thermogravimetric Halogen Moisture Analyser to double-check moisture levels and ensure optimum flavour development.
6. The coffee is then fed through a Gravity Separator and passes another check to weed out any unfit roasted beans. Now it’s ready for packaging.
7. On production day we select a packet from each batch to perform further quality testing, and again at the end of its shelf life, just to make extra sure our coffee doesn’t dip on the quality scale.
Next, take your morning cuppa to the next level and match the best coffee beans in Australia with your favourite brew!
