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The Roastery Lab · Methods

What we measure

Green lot to final cup — every step's science, and the numbers we hold it to.

Pacific Roots is pre-launch, so every figure here is a house method and a target range — the standard we design and roast to, sourced in the Lab's science dossier, not a measured track record. When the first batches run, these same numbers fill with recorded results, in the open.

Green lot to final cup · nine stages
  1. 01

    Green Intake

    The cup is capped before the roaster ever turns on.

    • Origin, cultivar, process, and altitude set the flavor ceiling — washed lots read cleaner, naturals sweeter and wilder.
    • Moisture (target 9–12%) and density decide how the bean takes heat: dense high-grown coffee wants more energy, soft lots scorch.
    • Every lot gets an ID, a supplier record, and a suitability read before it earns a profile.
    Moisture
    9–12%
    Density
    g/L, logged
    Water activity
    0.55–0.65
  2. 02

    Profile Design

    A roast profile is a hypothesis about flavor.

    • Each product gets targets before beans move: charge temp, first-crack window, development time and ratio, drop temp, weight loss.
    • Intended use decides the shape — espresso profiles develop longer for solubility; filter profiles protect clarity.
    • The reference batch becomes the versioned standard every future roast is measured against.
    Dev ratio
    11–18.5% by product
    Loss target
    11.6–15.5%
    Reference
    versioned per profile
  3. 03

    The Roast

    Four phases, one audible turning point — the cup is decided in minutes.

    • Drying (charge → yellow): free water leaves; grass smell fades. Rushing it bakes the outside before the inside catches up.
    • Maillard (yellow → first crack): sugars brown into hundreds of aromatics; body and sweetness are built here.
    • First crack: moisture flashes to steam and the bean audibly pops — development begins.
    • Development (first crack → drop): clarity trades against depth. We watch rate-of-rise like a heart monitor — crashes flatten sweetness, flicks scorch it.
    Charge
    372–390°F by product
    First crack
    ~8:00–9:00
    RoR
    declining, never crashing
  4. 04

    Rest & Degassing

    Fresh-off-the-roaster is a myth — coffee needs its rest window.

    • Roasting traps CO₂ in the bean; for the first days it fights extraction, gassing out unevenly and souring the cup.
    • Every Pacific Roots product will carry a target rest window (4–10 days by roast level; espresso rests longest).
    • We cup at multiple days-off-roast before a batch ships — the rest curve is the Lab's first planned original dataset (experiment E-001), not folklore.
    Filter rest
    4–8 days
    Espresso rest
    6–12 days
    Cold brew
    5+ days
  5. 05

    Grind

    Grind size is the biggest dial most cups never touch.

    • Surface area controls extraction speed: finer = faster = stronger and eventually harsher; coarser = slower = cleaner and eventually thin.
    • Every method has a window — sea-salt fine for pour-over, breadcrumbs for french press, table-salt fine for espresso.
    • Grind fresh: aromatics start leaving ground coffee in minutes, not days.
    Espresso
    fine · dialed daily
    Pour-over
    medium-fine
    Cold brew
    extra coarse
  6. 06

    Water Chemistry

    Water is 98% of the cup — and the part everyone skips.

    • Minerals do the extracting: calcium and magnesium pull flavor; bicarbonate buffers acidity and protects machines.
    • The house protocol: RO water + one Third Wave Water espresso packet per 5-gallon jug. Never straight RO in a machine long-term.
    • Target 90–150 ppm TDS after mineralization, ~40–80 ppm hardness as CaCO₃, pH 6.5–8.0.
    TDS
    90–150 ppm
    Hardness
    40–80 ppm CaCO₃
    pH
    6.5–8.0
    Stage 06 · The Water Bench0/6 steps checked

    The golden rule

    Never run straight RO water in the machine long-term. Always RO + minerals.

    Pure water is hungry water — it under-extracts coffee and corrodes boilers. Minerals do the brewing.

    TDS after minerals

    90–150 ppm

    The extraction engine.

    Hardness (as CaCO₃)

    40–80 ppm

    Ca + Mg pull the flavor.

    pH

    6.5–8.0

    Bicarbonate buffers acidity and protects the boiler.

    Goal: clean flavor, safer machine, repeatable espresso.

  7. 07

    Extraction

    Sour means under. Bitter means over. Sweet lives in between.

    • Extraction yield — the % of the grounds that dissolves — is the master number: 18–22% is the sweet zone for most methods.
    • Espresso targets 19–22% yield at 8.5–10% TDS: 18g in, 36g out, 27–32 seconds at 200°F and 9 bar.
    • Ratio sets strength; time and grind set extraction. Change one variable at a time — that's the lab discipline in the cup.
    Yield
    18–22%
    Espresso TDS
    8.5–10%
    House ratio
    1:16 filter · 1:2 espresso
    Stage 07 · The Extraction Benchgrams in · science out · nothing stored

    Strength

    Water temp
    195–205°F
    Grind
    Medium-fine · sea salt
    Time
    2:45–3:30

    1 : 16

    352g

    water in

    ≈ 1 cup finished

    Est. extraction

    20.5%

    Est. strength

    1.35% TDS

    Bloom with 2× the coffee's weight for 30–45 s before the main pours.

    The brew compass — sweet lives in the box

    IDEAL14%18%22%1.01.41.8EXTRACTION →STRENGTH ↑SOUR·STRONGBITTERSOUR·WEAKYOUR CUP
  8. 08

    Milk Science

    Steaming is chemistry: sweetness peaks near 145°F and dies past 160°F.

    • Lactose tastes sweeter as milk warms — up to a point; overheat and cooked-milk flavors take over.
    • Aerate early and briefly (the stretch), then whirlpool to gloss: microfoam is thousands of invisible bubbles, not a cap of froth.
    • Cooler pours for cortados (130–140°F) keep delicate roasts alive; lattes ride 135–145°F.
    Latte
    135–145°F
    Cortado
    130–140°F
    Never
    >160°F
  9. 09

    Sensory & QC

    The curve proposes; the cup decides.

    • The QC protocol cups every production batch blind on seven axes — aroma, acidity, sweetness, body, clarity, balance, finish — before it ships.
    • Scores link back to the batch ID and its curve, so when a cup surprises us the data shows where to look.
    • A batch ships only after it passes its cup goal — QC is a gate, not a suggestion.
    Axes
    7, scored blind
    Gate
    cup goal per product
    Loop
    score → curve → next batch

How we stay honest

Every scientific claim on this page is classed. Established science is well-understood coffee chemistry; a Pacific Roots methodis a protocol we've chosen; a target is a range we design and roast toward; an observation is something a specific batch actually showed us. The target ranges here are design intent — the standard we hold ourselves to — not a measured track record.

Reserved words earn their place only after the event is recorded. We'll call a batch “verified,” “blind-cupped,” or in “production” once it has happened and the data is logged — never before. Pre-launch, the methods are real and the numbers are honest targets; when the first roasts run, you'll watch every figure fill with recorded results, in the open.

Taste what the methods build →Open every instrument →