AIR ROASTED COFFEE

What is Air Roasted Coffee?

Have you had coffee leave you with a sour stomach and an unpleasant, jittery feeling throughout your body? Or one that tastes burnt and bitter?  We usually attribute these characteristics to a particular style of coffee roast or brand of coffee. Maybe it’s neither. In many cases it’s the roasting equipment causing the undesirable flavors. You might stumble onto this realization by having a cup of extraordinary coffee, as we did, ask what made it so, and discover –  Air Roasted Coffee!

With Air Roasted Coffee you taste the coffee not the roaster. It’s the air that roasts the coffee not the surface of the roaster. So the coffee has a very clean taste that is intensely aromatic, minus the acids and bitter tars that are produced by conventional roasters. This roasting method was championed by Michael Sivetz, Chemical Engineer and Coffee Industry Consultant. He wrote the first scientific treatise on coffee, Coffee Technology.  Disappointed with the state of roasting manufacturing, he developed and manufactured the first practical commercial air roaster: the Sivetz Fluid-Bed Roaster.

Most drum roasters today introduce hot air into their roast chamber, then the beans tumble and touch the hot surfaces to roast, like clothing in a clothes dryer. The Sivetz system levitates the beans on a fluidized bed of hot air, keeping the beans moving and not scorching on hot surfaces. The sole use of hot air greatly increases the rate of heat transference to the beans, creating a cleaner, more aromatic roast free of bitter tasting tars. Sivetz sold hundreds of these roasters all around the world, and many have been inspired to create their own air roaster based on his design. We created this website for fans of Air Roasted Coffee and to help you find an Air Roaster near you!

 

Air Roaster graphic

In the coffee business there are a lot of experts, but few know what they are talking about.

  – Mike Sivetz

Michael Sivetz – Champion of the Fluidized Bed Air Roaster

When Mike Sivetz first began his career in the coffee industry he wasn’t necessarily all that interested in coffee roasters – they were simply one part of a larger responsibility. A chemical engineer, he was first hired by General Foods for their instant coffee division in Brazil. He later went on to Folgers in Houston. His only concern with roasting in both instances was with production output. His interest in roasters began when he was hired to design and build two instant coffee plants, one in Nicaragua and one in Brazil. His primary concern again was simply output. In order for the plants to operate the roasters would be required to run for twenty-four hours a day to build up roasted product for the instant coffee production. Running at such intensity, roasters frequently experienced failures to the bearings due to heat. He wanted to find roasting machines that could stand up to the production requirements and so began looking around for alternatives.

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Air-Roasted Coffee

Websites

United States

Roaster/Cafe Locations

  • Denver, CO Kaladi Coffee Roasters
  • Anchorage, AK Kaladi Brothers Coffee
  • Fairbanks, AK Alaska Coffee Roasting Co.
  • Ketchikan, AK and Tumwater, WA Raven’s Brew Coffee
  • Sacramento, CA Coffee Works
  • Mystic, CT The Green Marble Coffee House
  • Chicago, IL Gallery Cafe Chicago
  • Bloomington, IN Hoosier Coffee Co.
  • Covington, LA Campbell’s Coffee & Tea
  • Grand Rapids, MI Schuil Coffee Company.
  • Iron River, MI The Bearded Apple
  • Iron River, MI Contrast Coffee Company
  • Mt. Vernon, MO Keen Bean Coffee Roasters
  • Whitefish, MT Montana Coffee Traders
  • Las Vegas, NV Frankly Good Coffee
  • Peekskill, NY Big Bang Coffee Roasters
  • Poughkeepsie, NY North River Roasters
  • Maumee, OH Mission Arabica
  • Cleveland, OH City Roast Coffee
  • Sugarcreek, OH Wallhouse Coffee Company
  • Corvallis, OR Corvallis Coffee Works
  • Rickreall, OR Sweet Crema Coffee
  • Elverson, PA Twin Valley Coffee
  • Austin, TX Texas Coffee Traders
  • Taylorsville, UT Hidden Peaks Coffee & Roasting Co.
  • Auburn, WA Poverty Bay Coffee Company
  • Everett, WA Silver Cup Coffee
  • Madison, WI EVP Coffee

On The Web & Wholesale

  • Denver, CO Kaladi Coffee Roasters
  • Scottsdale, AZ Passport Coffee
  • California Olson House Coffee
  • Lebec, CA Black Coffee
  • Palisade, CO Mountain Air Roasters
  • Cocoa Beach, FL Wahoo Coffee Company
  • Bethlehem, GA The Canteen Cup Roastery
  • Carrollton, GA 4am Coffee Roasters
  • Greenfield, MA Pierce Bros Coffee
  • Grand Rapids, MI Joe’s Brother Coffee
  • Holt, MI The Coffee Barrel
  • Kansas City, MO  The Roasterie
  • Rogersville, MO The Rebel Roaster
  • Hampstead, NC Pirate’s Brew Coffee
  • North Wilkesboro, NC Blue Ridge Mountain Coffee
  • Lincoln, NE The Coffee Roaster
  • Reno, NV Warrior Roasters
  • Hainesport, NJ Rich’s Micro Roast
  • Cincinnati, OH  Seven Hills Coffee
  • Hillsboro, OR  Longbottom Coffee and Tea
  • Kutztown, PA Four Monkeys Coffee
  • Lyman, SC Bear Bean Coffee
  • Texas Constellation Coffee Co.
  • Houston, TX Fontana Coffee Roasters
  • Liberty Lake, WA Aeris Roasting Company

International

    • NSW, Australia Air Roasters
    • Sydney, Australia The Coffee Roaster
    • Bruges, Belgium A Shade Coffee
    • Canada Fluid Solar Roasted Coffee
    • British Columbia, Canada Serious Coffee
    • Ontario, Canada St. Joseph Island Coffee Roasters
    • Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia Soul Seed Coffee Roastery
    • Auckland City, New Zealand Project Coffee
    • Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Varietal Specialty Coffee
    • Singapore Just Coffee Company
    • Montagu, South Africa Rouxbean Coffee Roastery
    • Roodepoort, South Africa Brewtifull Coffee
    • Tasmania D’Entrecasteaux Coffee
    • Bangkok, Thailand Caffe De Aromi
Master Roaster John Gant, Sivetz V Roaster, Circa 1987

John Gant, Master Roaster, with Sivetz V Roaster, circa 1989

Image courtesy of Mark Overly

Looking for air-roasting manufacturer links?

Visit our Resources page here

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Air-Roaster Website submission

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More to come…

Bookmark this page, drink more coffee, and stay tuned!