What type of beans?

We purchase specialty grade beans which is a more expensive grade of coffee grown at higher elevations allowing the coffee cherries time to soak up more nutrients which creates those wonderful flavor nuances.

Order cycle?

We roast and ship Mon – Fri so if you place the order during this time, it immediately gets added to our daily roasting queue in the same order as it came in. First in, first out.  We recommend figuring on about 24-48 hours for in-house custom roasting of your order.

Shipping methods?

We use UPS and USPS as our shipping partners. You choose the shipping carrier of your choice and the shipping speed.

Shipping time?

Depending on your choice of carrier, shipping is usually estimated between 2-10 days. Choose “Best Way” for most economical but quickest shipping time. Choose UPS 2^nd Day Air for quickest shipping time.

Expedited handling?

Yes, at checkout choose “Best Way Expedited” this will run your order to the top of our roasting queue to be first roasted and shipped quickly. Choose this option if you need your order in hurry.

Returns?

If your item was damaged in transit or if there was unexpected order mixup simply email us at orders@smokinbeans.com and we will be happy to provide a resolution for you.

Refunds?

Occasionally, there may be a shipping error or something where a refund may be applied. Simply email us at orders@smokinbeans.com with details so we can quickly help you.

Fresh Beans?

Yes, we are very selective on the beans we purchase, and we only carry beans from the most recent harvest from any origin at any time. So, you can rest assured that you are getting the very freshest beans available.

Specialty Grade?

Yes, our beans are all top tier coffee beans with specialty grade ratings. Specialty-grade beans must score over 82 points in terms of bean quality, flavor nuance, defects, and size. Specialty grade beans fetch premium prices, but we believe that in coffee “you get what you pay for” if you buy cheap beans, you get cheap taste, if you buy top tier beans you get top tier taste. We like the top-tier taste the best.

Roasters?

We are currently roasting on 16 small batch roasters from small 1 kilo machines up to 15kg drum roasters. It takes a lot of roasting machines and roast masters to operate them to be able to offer choose your roast options. Which is probably why most other roasteries do not offer this service but we believe the customer should have the option to choose their roast so they can seriously dial in their own coffee repertoire.

Rest time?

Do our beans require rest time? Our answer is no, not for most beans. You place the order; we roast it within 24 hours or so and it gets on the UPS truck for a couple of days so by the time you get it maybe 3 days have passed and that is adequate rest time for most beans. Try the beans on first day, then be mindful of any change in taste over next couple of days and you will have your answer for that bean and roast level. We say don’t wait to drink good coffee our beans are all good.

Roast profiles?

Each coffee page has a guide to help you determine which roast profile will best suit your taste.

Processing methods?

Each coffee page has an explanation of processing methods.

Is higher growing elevation important?

Yes, at higher elevations the coffee plants grow slower and develop more flavor nuances.

Bitter or sweet?

We roast for sweetness. You will notice right off that our coffees have a mellow sweetness that comes from a deep understanding of the roasting process on the part of our roasters.

Ultimate freshness?

We recommend ordering fresh roasted coffee about every two weeks to always stay in that “ultimate freshness” range. As coffee sits after roasting, those wonderful aromatics slowly begin to evaporate. Flavors are most complex in the first 1-3 weeks after roasting then slowly become less with each passing week.

Expiration?

Coffee is rated for 12-month expiration date. We stamp the 6-month mark, but we say try to order just enough for 3 weeks or less then order more often to ensure you are drinking it within the first 1-3 weeks for most complexity in flavor nuance.

Blends?

For our blends we use only top-grade beans, there are no cheap fill-ins like other roasters may do. Our blends using top tier beans have amazing complexities not found in single origin beans. Our philosophy is that a well-crafted blend will outperform a single origin every time. That “well crafted” is key. We have been blending for many years, and you will taste our blending skill in any of our signature blends.

Blends by roast?

Absolutely, that is one of the foundational premises that the blend needs to be specifically formulated for the target roast level. We have a whole list of blends at each of our 8 roast levels so you can simply choose what taste notes, acidity, body, or sweetness characteristics you want and there will be a blend specifically tailored for that.

Favorite roast range?

Yes, for most beans we strongly favor city roast range – from city to full city with medium being the sweetest most nuanced point. You will find for example that we have more blends specifically tailored to the city and medium roast levels because this is the “sweet spot”.

Full city is also good for most beans but can already be taking on a bit of a roasty edge and harsher roast tones are beginning to ramp up. For greatest sweetness choose either city or medium.

Grind?

Lighter roasts are easier to dial in for pour over and drip, think light, city, or medium roast. While darker roasts are easier to dial in at darker roasts like full city or espresso roast.

Brewing ratio?

Try a 1:16 coffee to water ratio at 200*F with target drawdown under 3 minutes. For espresso try 18 grams coffee to 36 grams espresso in about 30 seconds.

Cold Brew?

We have several cold brew blends on in each of the roast level categories from light roast to Italian roast. Brew at 1:8 ratio at room temperature for about 18 hours then dilute up to ½ with milk to taste.