The Royal Blog

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 […]

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, […]

“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 […]

Editor’s note: This article was first published in Roast Magazine’s May/June 2021 issue, and is reprinted here with permission. Grinder Alignment: An Evaluation of Consistency, Cupping Settings, and the Impact of Roast Degree Experiment design, operation, summary and analysis by Chris Kornman and Elise Becker with contributions from Sandra Elisa Loofbourow One of the numerous […]

A Taste of Perception: Examining Bias in Side-by-Side Coffee Tastings By James Scott, Crown Barista Over here at The Crown, we taste a lot of coffee–so much that we probably spit out more than we swallow (can you believe that?). Between slurps, we describe each coffee in as much detail as possible. We are encouraged […]

Our industry is multidisciplinary and international; it’s important to maintain clear means of communication as well as mutual understanding of quality standards. Here follows a translation of our article “Cupping Basics – How to Set up & Execute A Great Tasting Experience” into Spanish in hopes that our Spanish-speaking colleagues can enjoy this article and […]

How to Set Up and Run a Coffee Cupping: A Step-by-Step Guide Cupping is the coffee industry’s more-or-less standardized practice for sensory evaluation. Using aromas and flavors it is possible to determine the quality potential of a given coffee, the success of a roast, and/or the presence of sensory defects. Cupping is an integral component […]

If you’re a cocktail connoisseur, you may have noticed a trend developing among your mixologist friends. The food and beverage industry has been steadily returning to the use of locally produced ingredients and preparing everything in-house. Of course, eating locally and seasonally was once the only option, but it’s an art (and necessity) that fell […]

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Daily Coffee News on November 22, 2017. In what might be a foolhardy attempt to correlate two of coffee’s most complicated concepts, I’ve dedicated a significant portion of the past few months to examining the relationship between the water activity of green coffee and the Maillard reaction during […]