Mike Russo pedals his stationary bicycle and a series of spindles and sprockets connects to a drum that rotates over a wood fire. He gets a leisurely pedal and his coffee beans get a nice even roast.
“It’s coming together, a little toasty smell,” says Russo.
Russo says he and his partner Sarah took up coffee roasting as a hobby because they missed enjoying a good cup of joe. The birchwood comes from Dawson, the bike comes from a museum in Parry Sound, Ont. The oven was a flea market find and the drum was fabricated by a metal worker.
Getting it right
Getting the roast right required a bit of experimentation.
“There’s a ton of info online, but we’ve done a lot of trial and error. We burned a lot of batches in the beginning.”
The process is a labour of love, he says, with no small amount of labour.
“You’re splitting the wood and heating the oven up. You load the drum, spin the drum. After a certain amount of time roasting, you dump the batch.”
Each batch makes a about six pounds of coffee. Russo says he can turn out roughly 15 batches per day.
