The Future of Coffee with James Hoffmann

Leading coffee industry expert James Hoffmann sits down with Bellwether Coffee to talk about the sustainability of the coffee industry, the need to move away from fossil fuels, and the potential of electric roasting to make the coffee industry more sustainable. James also discusses which retailers might benefit from roasting their own coffee, the importance of decentralized roasting for freshness and quality, and whether electric roasting has an impact on coffee taste. To see more, visit bellwethercoff...
See James Hoffmann's video "Roasting Coffee With Sunlight" here: • Solar Coffee Roasting:...
"Can You Turn Sunlight Into Delicious Coffee?"
"Solar Coffee Roasting: A Weird Desert Experiment"

[@BruceChanen]

James Hoffman has indeed made coffee more valuable and more enjoyable to me. Mission accomplished. Thanks James.

[@leventejuhasz2525]

+1

[@local_chemist]

Roasting on a BW myself for my business and I’ve had professionals tell me they can tell the difference. Im glad to have James on the side of - no you can’t. Having one has also posed a gas roaster has also posed a challenge cause others have trusted more that coffee from a gas roaster is just ‘better’. Thanks hoff for jumping in on this. I have a V1 and am hoping to get a V2 because of its more efficient capabilities.

[@LimitedWard]

I have literally zero reason to own one of these, but somehow I still want one.

[@tobymoorhouse]

Me too

[@isadoracini]

James does that to us

[@Eshelion]

Cause they look pleasant.

[@roboliver9980]

That is a beautiful machine. Imagine a store with green coffee where you go in and choose source and roast profile yourself. It’d be a real experience!

[@MCDreng]

Coffee should be roasted with a profile specific to it for the best flavor. It's one of those things that shouldn't be chosen by the customer. If you've seen that Kitchen Nightmares about the mix and match curry restaurant? Same kind of thing there.

[@roboliver9980]

I disagree there’s enough coffee nerds out there who’d love to test profiles and then others who are just interested that would enjoy following a suggested profile to roast fresh.

[@roboliver9980]

I disagree there’s enough coffee nerds out there who’d love to test profiles and then others who are just interested that would enjoy following a suggested profile to roast fresh.

[@roboliver9980]

I disagree there’s enough coffee nerds out there who’d love to test profiles and then others who are just interested that would enjoy following a suggested profile to roast fresh.

[@lifeisart5450]

​@roboliver9980 if the coffee nerd is willing to pay a high price for that, but I doubt. It's a huge investment such a roaster, no one is going to let you roast and experiment with coffee on it unless you pay a premium price.

[@zacp96]

Another thing you could do is create a list of coffee shops who use these Bellweather roasters (with their permission ofcourse), so a customer whos interested in sustainable coffee, roasted on premises especially, could go to and find new coffee to try. Personally I'd travel specifically to try coffee like this, and I'd love to drink more sustainable coffee!

[@BellwetherCoffee]

Totally agree! We've talked about this in the past, but you are right - now is the time.

[@Alexonthetube]

Hey 3 months in the future now, and they’ve implemented this feature on their website! Awesome recommendation

[@GokusonSS5]

Sustainable coffee. I'm curious, where does the electricity come from when you plug the electric roaster?

[@BrewingMatter]

I see James Hoffman, I click.

[@nuansd]

James Hoffmann was in Berkeley?? Damn, wish I'd seen him around.

[@Stillshot10200]

Does anyone know how much these cost? Seeing this inspires me to finally start a cafe. I knew I would want on-site roasting and this may now be the time.

[@Alexonthetube]

75k

[@MTrain-jt2yz]

$14,000 base model

[@AustinCoffin]

Huge fan of James Hoffman and I like the Bellweather roaster concept, I am also very invested in learning about how resource consumption affects our health and future. But I cringe when new products make bold claims about "sustainability." I'd argue that a well built natural gas powered drum roaster that has been around for 10, 20, 50+ years that can roast large batches of coffee is less bad regarding resource consumption than the impact of manufacturing and shipping large volumes of Bellweather roasters to individual shops to work towards a "decentralized" roasting infrastructure. I hope I'm wrong because I like the idea of it. And I'm not against the concept, and I hope it keeps succeeding, I only think the marketing of it being a solution that makes a serious impact should not be taken lightly. Also moving towards electrification of appliances is a good thing, but at least where I'm at in the US, it's not as easy as being able to choose that our electricity comes from renewables unfortunately. I understand there will be a large messy phase between fossil fuels and renewables, but the subject needs to be treated with nuance. I also realize I'm probably being too critical of a simple (and well done) marketing video, you have to push the unique factors of a product I get it. Keep going!

[@YrnehLrak]

Any product endorsed by James Hoffman is a product I want to go far!

[@Eshelion]

Those machines looks nice and seem to work nice, several questions though: 1. Why are they this big? 2. Can't the screen be smaller and not necessarily LCD, to reduce the amount of energy used? 3. How their energy efficiency looks compared to current roasters?

[@johnsheib]

You've got the best hair, dude. I can't stop looking at it.

[@thestringquartetcompany]

I am intrigued, what do coffee cherries tase like?

[@jakegarcia1796]

I got to tour a coffee farm about a year ago and the coffee cherries taste actually pretty sweet, with a bit of tart. To me it was like a sour grape, but the actual cherry doesn't have much meat, it's very little. The majority of the cherry is the actual coffee seeds themselves.

[@PaulG-k9w]

James, you should have told me you were coming to Berkeley. I would have invited you over for an espresso.

[@SuperSecretJohn]

Y'all misspelled his last name in the first second of the video. 😅

[@scottburnette8308]

I don’t understand the need to have music constantly that is too near the level of James talking. It is distracting and without earbuds makes him really hard to understand. It’s a talkie, not a musical.

[@sabolinda5254]

One day I want to be able to know with an simple & affordable analytical setup at what temperature a coffee has been roasted

[@campbelltron]

daddy hoff

[@alanwalker8067]

I have tasted coffee roasted on a Bellweather and it truly is no where close to a traditional gas drum roaster. The result was quite similar to what I have sampled from the fluid bath roasters. There is a depth in most coffee profiles that can only be unlocked by a quality gas burning drum roaster. I agree more development needs to be done to offer better alternatives to roasting but you can only get there by replicating the process that historically set the benchmark.

[@BellwetherCoffee]

Hi Alan! We would love to hear more about your experience and send you a sample straight from our headquarters in Berkeley, CA. Please send us an email at [e-mail] with subject "KZbin" when you have a moment. Looking forward to your thoughts!

[@chch242]

Everything good and well executed, until they put the roasted coffe in a hardly recyclable multilayer bag 😞

[@jonf671]

Good video but please remove or lover the music!

[@youngdegenerate]

I want lab coffee.

[@dan77773]

I want a nuclear espresso.

[@ivankreitman1526]

Are my eyes deceiving me or is that Snoop Dogg in the cupping room?

[@lesmcd2281]

I love your coffee videos, but your misguided ideals on electric power is hurtful. Cobalt, which is a necessity in electric alternatives involves a lot of child slavery. And even then a lot of alternatives store electric energy to use, but its supplied by the same coal and gas power unless specific solar or wind power is intentionally implemented, but the child slavery is still there. If you can watch videos of children being beaten in the cobalt mines for not having the energy to continue and still feel good about falling for the traditional fuel is bad meme despite all the new evidence that its either not impactful,or you will have no impact because China is the biggest polluter anyways, then continue with the blood of kids forced to mine cobalt on your hands.

[@CrispyGFX]

Les, this may be difficult for you to comprehend, but electrical power is the future whether you want it to be or not. Fossil fuels WILL run out, and even in an alternate reality where they somehow didn't, our current understanding of how they affect the ecosystem and people's health alone would be enough to consider moving away from them. To say otherwise just because 'electrical is bad right now' without giving any thought into how the industry will evolve in what new technologies may emerge as more industries shift away from fossil fuels is so unbelievably foolish and shortsighted that it makes you seem as lost in the past as the dinosaurs your coal is made from. The 'slavery' you crusade against is just as ubiquitous if not more so in the fossil fuel industry as well. Same with ANY industry that digs ANYTHING out of the earth.

[@lesmcd2281]

@@CrispyGFX fossil fuel was supposed to have run out years ago. Snake oil salesmen will always catastrophize to scare the less intelligent into buying what they are selling. Which is i guess why they've done their best to turn science into a cult of belief over testing and turned critical thinking skills into far right conspiracy. You are throwing the baby out with the bathwater in your rush to be virtuous, and that baby is landing in a cobalt mine, where it is beaten to get you your "environmentally friendly" alternatives.

[@hsavin6069]

@@CrispyGFX so child labor is a good thing ?? Got it!!

[@neojng]

the effort these climate deniers will go to prove electric is bad astounds me. Enjoy living in ignorance.

[@lesmcd2281]

@@neojng its sad you are in a cult and have been robbed of your critical thinking skills...

[@DaddyMakesCoffee]

Man, 4th and 5th wave gonna be solar home roasters!