Brad and Nina Bradshaw.
Camera IconBrad and Nina Bradshaw. Credit: Supplied/Nic Duncan

Taste Great Southern: Denmark’s Stash Coffee to host open day at roastery

Bronwyn DonovanWestern Suburbs Weekly

THERE is nothing quite as wonderful as the smell of a freshly brewed coffee, except perhaps the taste.

It is a notion Stash Coffee owner Brad Bradshaw dedicated his career too three years ago, upon leaving his former career as an IT engineer.

In a purpose-built shed among award winning vineyards in Denmark, Mr Bradshaw and his wife Nina keep one eye their coffee roaster and the other on a complex computer program.

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The program closely monitors their coffee beans’ reaction to temperature, which Mr Bradshaw said was a key component to producing a quality flavour.

“A lot of coffee roasters are still doing this manually (but) this (program) allows a higher level of control,” he said.

“Since roasting is the process of heat spreading both through the roaster and through the coffee beans, poor temperature monitoring has the power to affect the entire roast.”

Brad Bradshaw monitoring a 10kg coffee roast.
Camera IconBrad Bradshaw monitoring a 10kg coffee roast. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

In order to repeat a successful roast, Mr Bradshaw has to control the settings of his roaster to match heat previously achieved, which is represented by line on his program that he must try to trace.

“The ‘first crack’ of a coffee bean means the moisture in the roaster is gone and the batch is near completion,” he said.

The other component to high end coffee is buying ingredients from the best importers, according to Mr Bradshaw.

“We are producing coffee at the top end of the market because we are very selective and we’ve got the beautiful benefit of being in the country,” he said.

“The days I’m roasting, I’m just roasting; I’m not dealing with people at the same time or running a cafe.

“I’ve worked in busy environments but here we’ve got the benefit of being isolated and being able to focus on this because we’re not distracted.”

Stash Coffee produces about 250kg of ground coffee a week with each batch individually roasted, blended and individually taste tasted before it is sold.

The roastery will host a free open day event with demonstrations and tastings on March 11 from 10am-1pm at Singlefile Wines, 90 Walter Road, Denmark, as part of the 2018 Taste Great Southern.

Taste Great Southern

When: March 8-25 Where: WA Great Southern region including Albany, Denmark, Mt Barker, Ongerup and Katanning Events: Visit www.tastegreatsouthern.com.au

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