In 2014, we worked hard for many months to build a high-quality filter-style roasted coffee.
It's now ready, and we are so pleased with the results.
Before 2014, we had resisted a deep dive into supplying many filter-style coffees.
Call it being careful or a tad too conservative, but it was more about keeping it simple for our customers.
Oh, and it also ensured our customers could avoid mistakes during purchases in our online store.
Instead of being a lighter version of our general espresso-style roast profiles, we extensively engineered a light roast coffee that could span many different brew methods, including espresso extraction.
The scope and definition of a "filter style" remains a constantly moving target (yet still evolving).
Roasters are trying to go lighter and lighter, which has the effect of dragging the rest of the market towards that goal.
Filter-style coffees tend to be led by the roaster, not the drinker.
Most offerings on the market are the brand's interpretation of what a filter roast "should be".
When roasting coffee, one person's light is another's dark.
Herein lies the circular nature of defining what a "filter coffee is", and depending upon your perspective, a filter-style coffee could be either incredibly "green" in the Nordic style of ultra-light roasting or contrasting dark roast depths in the US bulk-brew style.
You can see there is a broad spectrum of possibilities when it comes to filter-style roasted coffees.
The demand for filter coffees is growing faster than espresso as more drinkers consume them using a large array of brew devices instead of spending a lot of cash on expensive high-end grinders and espresso machines.
When it comes to great-tasting coffee, especially espresso, money talks, or you need to spend big to achieve nice-tasting espresso brews.
But with alternative brewing, the cost base is a lot lower and simpler.
There is also a growing base of coffee drinkers that avoid dairy, and instead of wrestling with acidic and unbalanced espresso roasts, they prefer the lower acid brews of cold, filtered or drip coffees.
The popular Aeropress has cemented itself as a goto brewer for filter roasted coffees.
With its cleaning tasting results, medium and dark roasted coffees amplify those "roasty" notes.
It's the reason why most Aeropress drinkers seek out lighter roasted coffees.
Likewise, there has been a popular sport of "bashing or trashing" various companies' filter-style offerings with bland, sour, woody, grassy, under-developed roasts to ashy, burnt, roasted, and over-developed.
Overall, only a few roasters hit the right spot for filter style, with every roaster having its kind or interpretation.
Some struggled to back it up consistently when they did get it right.
Our most important concern is ensuring our customers achieve the best possible experience from any of our coffees - whether a lighter-style filter or medium espresso roast.
There is a possibility that a customer may purchase the wrong product due to a mistake, whether it is because they did not notice or need help understanding the differences.
Similarly, the wrong brew or extraction could be used by a customer.
For example, a customer sees the term "filter roast", owns a filter brewer such as a percolator, purchases this lighter roasted coffee, and wonders why the taste is so different.
It happens, unfortunately, despite warnings in the product description.
OK, so we have explained enough warnings and the good news for lovers of filter coffees - we have finally released a limited range of genuine special filter-style coffees that are indeed lightly roasted.
Our filter roast is not attempting to pass as one of those deceptive "omni-roast" varieties that, for some strange reason, still seem to appear popular amongst coffee brands trying to please everyone.
If you ever see the term Omni-roast mentioned, we suggest you run a mile because it's the lazy way of trying to make one roast style fit all.
As we operate a large business roasting 20+ coffees daily, we must place some sensible boundaries around our filter offerings.
This ensures we maintain our high-quality standards and freshness.
The following list contains important, sensible conditions and expectations.
- Not all coffee beans are suitable for the lighter filter roast styles.
- The Filter Style coffees are a fixed list that changes often, sometimes monthly or quarterly.
- Coffees on our Filter list are different from our non-filter coffees, and they are also more expensive in terms of sourcing and production costs.
- At any time, we are only roasting and holding a small level of stock for each of the filter coffees; therefore, if the system shows the coffee as "back-order", it means there is none available at the time you placed that order, and it will be scheduled for the next filter roasting production, likely the following day.
- Orders placed for in-stock and back-order items will ship when the full order is ready.
- IMPORTANT - Filter coffees are not offered as "a la carte" roasting; e.g. we ask that you please refrain from sending us requests to roast coffees X, Y and Z as filter roast when they are not currently on the Filter list.
- There is science, engineering and precision behind what we offer; it's not just fly by the seat of your pants to dump the coffee out of the roaster before it reaches medium roast espresso, so we can call it filter roast.
- Turnaround time for filter coffees is slower than our current portfolio of super-fast same-day dispatch. If the filter coffee is showing as "back-order," it will be roasted when the next production of filter coffees is run.
- Generally, this will be the following business day but could extend to 2 business days at certain periods when our schedules are overloaded.
- Our filter coffee profiles have been developed with much effort and care.
- We roast these coffees on a smaller, dedicated platform to ensure quality.
- We have extensively tested these coffees to achieve the "best balance" across a wide spectrum of light-roasted coffee brewing.
- Our approach is neither Nordic nor old-school US, but it is a unique blend that works best.
