The process of roasting coffee is essentially about the transfer of external heat into the coffee bean. Roasting requires the consideration of many variables, particularly the temperature, time, desired roast colour and aroma. Two important factors that can be overlooked in the roast are: bean density and moisture. If these factors are not or known or not considered, it can result in the incorrect application of heat during the roast or adjusting the temperature at the wrong time, leading to poorly roasted product.

At Bennetts, we cup every lot of coffee to determine a flavour profile and check for defects. Bennetts use SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) cupping protocols to ensure we cup all coffee the same way each and every time. We assess a variety of attributes, including fragrance, aroma, flavour, acidity, body, aftertaste and balance. We also assess whether the roasted and brewed coffee has a clean profile, is sweet, uniform or displays any defects which may taint the flavour,  therefore indicating an inferior quality bean.  Our process takes into consideration  a score for each attribute which is combined to generate our internal Q Score - a ranking out of a possible score of 100. Coffees scoring 80.0 and above are considered to be speciality coffees, exhibiting a high quality level.

Scores Internal Q score out of 100 Specialty Coffee Scores of 80+ High level of quality