Why we roast small and often

We roast small and we roast often, most mornings before the doors are open, because coffee is a fresh thing doing a convincing impression of a shelf-stable one. The bag on your shelf is not lying to you exactly. It is just being optimistic.

A big roast once a week would be easier on me and worse for you. Coffee is best in the days just after it comes off the drum, not the weeks, so a small batch that moves quickly beats a large one that sits and waits to be sold. Number Nine holds about enough for a few days at a time, which turns out to be exactly the right amount of foresight for a shop this size.

It also means the board changes. What is on the bar today is what came off Number Nine recently, and recently is doing real work in that sentence.