The Royal Blog

This piece was adapted and condensed from previous work by Sandra Loofbourow. Green Coffee Inventory Management: Inventory management may be one of the less glamorous jobs in a roastery, but it is also one of the most crucial. Good inventory management should reduce stress and increase both quality and profitability. In addition, be sure to have good storages practices […]

Editor’s note: This article was first published by Roast Magazine‘s January/February 2024 issue, and is reprinted here with permission. Freezing Green Coffee An Evaluation of the Impact on Sensory Quality Over Time By Chris Kornman and Isabella Vitaliano Between the months of December 2022 and June 2023, The Crown: Royal Coffee Lab & Tasting Room designed and […]

A New World History & Geography of Arabica Coffee Cultivars A Visualization and Narrative of the Historical Cultivation, Selection, Distribution, Mutation, and Hybridization of Arabica’s Most Common Cultivars, with the Context of Dates and Locations By Chris Kornman Graphic Design by Jeremy Yingling Copyright @ 2023 Royal Coffee, Inc. Print and Digital Copies Available Here […]

Editor’s note: This article was first published by Roast Magazine‘s September/October 2023 issue, and is reprinted here with permission. Technically Speaking: How Microbiome Activity During Post-Harvest Processing Affects Volatile Compounds in Coffee By Isabella Vitaliano Coffee is a highly complex compound. With roughly 200 volatile compounds in green coffee and roasted expressing upwards of 1,000, […]

Editor’s note: This article was first published in Roast Magazine’s July/August 2023 issue, and is reprinted here with permission. Transparency is an act of devotion When you love something (and specialty coffee people love coffee), you’re naturally compelled to want to learn everything about it. And if you believe your coffee has value, you’re more […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

Editor’s note: This article was first published in Roast Magazine’s Sep/Oct 2021 issue, and is reprinted here with permission. Author’s note: I remember the first time I talked to Felix Chambi of Cooperativa San Juan. It was a fall afternoon late in 2019; we had been texting back and forth and he decided to call. […]

It’s no secret that I love a good density reading. In terms of ease of measurement and how much it can tell you about your green coffee, the metric is unmatched.  I’m also a giant nerd for amateur data sleuthing, and looking back over many years of Crown Jewel data recently led me to wonder a little […]