<number-nine>
Number Nine.
A drum roaster, named like a locomotive, older than most of the staff. We do not fight her. We read her the way you read weather, and the coffee is better for it.
The roaster
She came off a line that stopped in 1971.
Twelve pounds at a time, a gas drum, a thermocouple Della trusts and a second one she does not. She has been turning since before the track was pulled up. Bram is learning her moods. It is going about as well as you would expect.
What she gives changes with the morning. Before noon she runs hot and wants watching. After a rain she runs cool, and the batch comes out a shade lighter, which we write on the bag and do not apologize for.
A morning roast
Charge to drop, in twelve minutes.
One batch, read off the drum. The curve is the whole story: the charge, the turning point where she takes the heat back, first crack, and the drop.
Charged hot at 400, dipped to the turning point by 1:30, first crack at 9:00, dropped at 11:30 and 430. Read the curve, not the clock.
Number Nine roasts what is on the bar. The notes name real things and never promise sunshine.