I've searched and have not been able to find anything on point. Question for those of you who are roasting on smaller machines (500g-1kg) and selling some of your coffee: If you're roasting, say, 10-20 lbs of the same coffee trying to follow the same profile, do you end up mixing all of the roasts together before bagging or do you bag each roast individually? I'm planning to sell 10 or 12oz bags from my 600g roaster, so I end up doing quite a few back to back roasts to sell. Is it best practice to keep the roasts separate for bagging, so that one bad roast doesn't ruin the whole batch, or better to mix all of them together so that they're consistent bag to bag? The latter approach seems to make the most sense to me, but I'd like to hear some opinions.

Thanks!

Neal

Whatever you prefer. Keep track in case of food laws. I don't mix but I sell 16oz bags.

I only roast for my own consumption. But say someone buys two bags or gets another one after trying the first. From the perspective of a buyer, consistency is valuable and that's what you get if you mix.

Perhaps cup mini samples of each batch as QC? I sometimes go as low as 4g in an espresso cup, there's no need to waste a lot of coffee. Any failed batch can be discarded or offered at a discount.

As long as you are following the same profile as close as possible, you shouldn't end up with a ruined batch. I think mixing together helps smooth out the possible slight inconsistencies between roasts.

Thanks everyone. This is all good advice.

All the batches I do to sell are mixed. I do some blends so stuff gets mixed up at the end anyway. I roast and pour into a lidded container. As for legally, I recently went through the CFPM training and there are certain regulations pertaining to keeping track of lots of food items. However, those usually mean lots of raw foods from the source and not necessarily cooked batches. However, health inspectors can require a wide range of things specific to the industry and your situation so you may want to ask there if you are operating under a Cottage Food License or similar.

Purely from a service perspective, I'd want to make sure there is consistency. If you are selling to others then you are likely good enough to not have wild swings in a profile enough to ruin a batch. If you suspect a batch may have veered off course then sample from it to make sure. That way no one gets a bad batch whether it is diluted within good batches or the entire bad batch in a bag. Neither is a good outcome.

portermoab wrote:Is it best practice to keep the roasts separate for bagging, so that one bad roast doesn't ruin the whole batch,

It is best practice not to sell bad batches at all.

Also, if you plan of selling coffee legally, it is best practice to follow state laws:

https://ag.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/ ... 2021-1.pdf

I certainly wouldn't sell a bad batch of coffee.

It's a question about how "bad" batches are defined. Several micro roasters over here sell beans from trial runs, cupping roasts and experiments at cost. They market it as slag, leftover and floor sweeper but it's all very much drinkable and much better value than what can be had at a similar price point. A win-win-win for the roaster, consumer and environment. Of course, don't sell for example scorched or burnt beans