The Angry Roaster · Dundas, Ontario
How We Roast
“We Don't Know What We're Doing.”
Every Tuesday and Friday, we roast coffee. And every time a new coffee shows up, we stare at it and wonder what the hell we're doing. That's not modesty. That's just how it feels.
Everyone in coffee has a theory and a method, and that's what makes roasting interesting. Put the same coffee on the same machine, hand it to three different roasters, and you'll get three different coffees. We've learned that firsthand. We started on a Loring, moved to a Mill City, and now roast on a Typhoon fluid bed. Every machine taught us something new, and every new coffee still keeps us humble.
So who's right? Nobody. Coffee is subjective, and we don't believe in right or wrong, only what's right for that coffee.
We Roast What We'd Drink
Here's the rule that decides what makes it into the roaster: we have to want to drink it. For us, that means sweetness and balanced acidity. If a coffee doesn't have both, it doesn't make the cut, no matter how good it looks on paper.
Not Light. Not Dark. Right.
Every bean, origin, process, and varietal comes with its own challenges, so we don't roast to a level. We roast to the coffee in front of us.
We start with data: water activity (how much moisture is available in the bean), humidity, density, and process. From there we pick a starting point and an end point and roast toward it. Afterward, we check color and weight loss to keep every batch consistent.
But in the end, taste is what matters. Everything else is just how we get there.
It Starts With People
For us, coffee is about relationships. It all starts and ends there. It's personal.
That's why, when we source, we do our best to build real relationships with the producers themselves. We want to hear it from the source, not just from the importer's version of the story.
Every Coffee Has a Mood
Every coffee we sell has a place on our Angry Meter: Calm, Mood Swing, or Angry. That label is a promise. A Calm coffee should taste smooth and familiar. An Angry one should be fruit-forward and wild.
So we choose each coffee with a category in mind and roast it to match. It's also how we stick to our mission of bridging the gap between everyday drinkers and the specialty crowd. You don't need a coffee degree to find something you'll love. You just need to know your mood.
Sometimes We Miss
Sometimes we nail it. Sometimes we miss, and we roast it again. Coffee is a natural product, and anyone who says they've mastered roasting is full of bullshit.
After all these years, we still approach it as students. There's always something to learn.