The Royal Blog

Author’s Note: When I first joined Royal, I had a vague idea of the difference between a Grade 1 and Grade 2 Ethiopian washed coffee, but didn’t really understand the complexity of the […]

Celebrating Coastal Coffee from Lake Kivu: Chris shares his recent trip to the Coocamu Coop.  It’s difficult not to be transported to some kind of other world when visiting Coocamu (pronounced with an emphasis on the 2nd syllable, “coo-CA-mu”). There is a road to the station, but the preferred way to visit, if like me […]

It’s been said that those who stand for nothing will fall into a constant state of decline.  As an outspoken critic of “my way or the highway” approaches to education and one-size-fits-all solutions to roasting and quality control concerns in specialty coffee, it may not surprise you to learn that I take issue with the […]

“Every Act of Creation is First an Act of Destruction” -Pablo Picasso Lately, I’ve been speaking with my roasting students in the big-picture mode about their superpowers. Roasting is often spoken of in esoteric chemical terms or couched in industry-specific language that can sometimes alienate newcomers. To wit, the old SCAA flavor wheel was used […]

We’d like to give our sincere thanks to our Crown Jewel customers. With your support, we’re able to continue to explore the boundaries of specialty coffee and highlight innovative producers around the globe. Here’s a look back at the year in Crown Jewels: We released 48 Crown Jewels from 17 countries totaling almost 70,000 lbs […]

By Isabella Vitaliano, Lab & Education Coordinator Edwin Noreña is an agro-industrial engineer, biotechnologist, and coffee producer based in Colombia. It’s an impressive list of attributes and the coffees he produces follow suit. His strict academic background is contrasted with his trailblazing processing technique: co-fermentation. Co-fermentation is largely considered an outcast in specialty coffee. A […]

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the July/August 2022 edition of Roast Magazine under the Column “Technically Speaking” and is reprinted here with permission TL;DR – Key Takeaways for Saving on Coffee Shipping 🚛 Leverage Your Supplier’s Freight Rates – They often have better LTL rates than you can negotiate alone. 📦 Choose the Right […]

Publisher’s note: Caitlin McCarthy-García, Spencer Ford, and Charlie Habegger stopped by The Crown to taste a selection Yemen coffees sourced from the Muslot family, both as pour overs and espresso. The relationship between Royal and the Muslot family goes back decades. You can read about how the relationship started and Royal sourced its first Yemen […]

One of the most frequently misunderstood accounting problems in coffee roasting is the loss of mass during the roasting process.  Green coffee goes in, roasted coffee comes out, and there’s magically less of it. Even at small scales, improperly calculating your roast yields can cause major inventory and financial headaches, so it’s worth knowing exactly […]

Reflecting on the last six months of roasting styles at The Crown.  For as long as we’ve been serving coffee, The Crown’s menu has featured a revolving door of fresh and seasonal coffees served across a number of brewing styles. By far, our most consistent outturns (aside from cold brew in the warmer months) are […]