Rod Davies of West Moon

I first starting taking an interest in coffee roasting in NZ in the 90s.....in a short space of time the concept of coffee changed radically in Auckland with cafes having their own, small roasters in the cafe space. I had heard that if you but a second hand popcorn maker (for $3) it will make a great roaster and so I did and was hooked! I soon graduated to a 7kg gas roaster and buying full (69kg) bags of green beans and selling to friends (I was a full time psychotherapist back then). We as a family decided to move to France so I put the roaster in the container along with my old Paris Dakar and everything else we wanted... I stayed in France for 13 years, worked as a brewer and the brewery bought the roaster where it continues still as Atomik Café....so when I arrived here in West Wales I naturally thought of continuing the roasting by buying a 10kg Toper and setting it all up here in Cilgerran.... Coffee roasting has changed a lot over the years, back in NZ 20 years ago we were producing a lot of medium to full roasts, robusta blends and generally coffee that captured the attention. These days the trend has very gone to the light, city roasts where the nuance of the coffee can be experienced.... I think I sit somewhere inbetween and aim to extract the coffee at the end of the first crack which these days would constitute medium roast.. Cheers Rod