At 2 Avenue des Gobelins in the fifth arrondissement of Paris, our coffees are roasted on demand; and it is the same coffee we offer at the Tour d’Argent restaurant and in all our establishments: the brasserie La Rôtisserie d’Argent, our bakery Le Boulanger de la Tour, and the deli shop La Petite Epicerie.
The origins of the coffee plants would come from the African continent, and it is a custom rooted in the Yemeni culture. Ethiopia, and the whole Arabic area in general, are the birthplace of Arabica, hence its name. History and colonization of the territory then made the coffee plants travel to the colonial trading posts, especially Bourbon Island. Nowadays, coffee trees exclusively grow between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, where the climate is hot and dry.
When ripe, the fruit is red and contains two beans, exhaling grassy and floral perfumes. The last layer surrounding the coffee beans is the silverskin, which will detach itself during roasting.
Two methods are dominant to take off the fruit from its envelope. The first one consists of a daily mixing of the fruits to dry them, which is traditionally done on African beds. The second one was developed in wet countries, it starts by soaking the fruits for them to swell and be easier to smash and dry. An alternative method, more confidential, has the surname of “honey” and is based on organoleptic transmission from the fruit to the bean.
A coffee tree produces between 300 and 400 grams of coffee beans, and it is only after 4 to 5 years the tree will give fruits. The harvest extends on several months. The Brûlerie des Gobelins roastery favors “picking” being multiple collects in the morning, every day, but there is also “graping” consisting of a weekly harvest without selection on the tree.
The best beans are then selected by hand, to toss out the bad ones, not ripe enough or broken. After that, they pass on a treadmill equipped with several diameters, to get different sieves for the roasting. The first men and women engaged in the process are the harvesters and pickers, then those dedicated to pulping, drying, and bagging.
90% of the specialty coffees come from the growers. They sell their production to a processing plant because the process asks for a huge investment and every producer cannot have his own. Typically, fifty harvesters are located in the mountains, whose 90% do not have more than 10 hectares and work with one factory down the hill.
.png)
Brûlerie des Gobelins is delivered every week and favors producers working in agroforestry whose traceability is checkable. It calls a trader to work directly with the processing plant, or in the best case contacts the grower himself. It is when its roasting artisans get to work all the organoleptic qualities of the coffee develop. Our tip: the greasier the beans are, the older the coffee is, there is in general 20% to 25% of fat in coffee. You better taste it in the first months of your purchase, it will be more tasteful!
The Tour d’Argent blend is roasted three times because it counts three different origins; the beans are therefore of three different colors. It is a non-amalgamated roasting that allows the aromas of each variety to fully express themselves. The beans are weighted to assure the same cooking for every batch, at around 206 Celsius degrees for 10 to 15 minutes in constant rotation. Two parameters are taken into consideration in the choice of the initial temperature: density of the beans, and residual moisture content.
The Brulerie roaster dates of 1975 and offers the tree types of existing heat, convection, conductive, and radiation, demanding a master of the equipment. The beans crackle following their density, and it is at this time the taste and colour of the beans evolve. It happens quite quickly and asks for the exclusive attention of the artisan. He has to adjust and lower the heat if necessary for the coffee not to burn. He then makes sure the coffee beans get cold fast.
How to recognize a good coffee? At first sight, by its cream: if it is too clear, the coffee lacks density, it has been under-extracted, water was not hot enough... but a maroon halo in the cup is also a bad sign.
From green coffee beans to roasted ones, the volume doubles. Indeed, they lose energy, layers, and water: one kilogram of green coffee beans will eventually give 850 grams of roasted beans. By the way, if your coffee bag is swell it does not means it is of bad quality, but simply that gas continues to get away from the beans because coffee remains a living product!
To cloture, the coffee intensity is totally independent of the caffeine content. In an espresso, around 6 cl., water pours faster, so there is less caffeine, and it only stays in the body for 30 minutes to an hour. The theine molecule on the opposite is only active after an hour and remains in the body for 3 to 4 hours.
Without further due, discover and taste the charming aromas of our Tour d’Argent coffee blend, which offers a typical vivacity of the fruit, quite complex, and a lot of flavors in the mouth.
