Coffee Roasting Level 1 (3days) - Vancouver

No prior experience required. 3 days, 10:30 am – 5 pm · Burnaby (Vancouver), BC · Google Maps · Apple Maps

Learning to roast coffee successfully requires mentorship over a period of time, varying from a few months to a few years with lots of trials and errors. In spite of that fact, we can teach you the fundamentals of coffee roasting, safety procedures, simple maintenance and basics about coffee in a weekend. Anything beyond that is not realistic in a weekend course. This course is a hands-on experience of coffee cupping, tasting, roasting and barista fundamentals to insure your roasting business success.

Want to go further? Pair this course with barista and business training and save with a bundled pathway:

• 7-Day Bundle (Flexible) — Complete Business & Barista at any CBI campus, then travel to Vancouver for roasting
• 5-Day Bundle (Flexible) — Complete Barista at any CBI campus, then travel to Vancouver for roasting
• 7-Day Roasting, Business & Barista Bundle — In Vancouver, all 7 days scheduled together
• 5-Day Roasting & Barista Bundle — In Vancouver, focused roasting + barista

Each class includes:

• Printed student manual, study guide, and certificate of completion
• Complimentary membership to the Wholesale Student Buying Club — alumni equipment discounts of 5–20% from suppliers across Canada, savings that can exceed the cost of the course when outfitting a café
• Free access to the  CBI Roast Log — digital tools you'll use long after class
• Lifetime Alumni membership and benefits — including exclusive access to low-cost consulting by the minute, available only to CBI graduates

Class sizes are small — most of your time is hands-on at the roaster, not in a lecture. Pre-registration required, no drop-ins.

Private groups welcome. We can schedule weekday or weekend sessions at our Burnaby lab or at your roastery. Contact us to arrange.

Curriculum

Roasting is about developing flavour — not colour. If you cannot taste your mistakes, you will never make the appropriate corrections to your roast. Tasting is fundamental to all culinary arts, and roasting is a culinary art.

Day 1

• Canadian Market Share
• Differences between Artisan and Commodity coffee
• Principles of Roasting
• Biology of tasting and the coffee tasting wheel
• Cupping, Tasting Espresso, Calibration and Discussion
• What is the #1 seller of coffee shops?
• Roasting differences for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Wave
• Myths and Stereotype Roasting for Espresso, Batch Brew, Pour Over and more
• Thermocycling

Day 2

• Espresso variations
• How to track a roast
• Philosophies of Roasting
• How to Choose a Roaster
• Main machine types of Roasting
• Different ways to develop a Roast
• Freshness standards

Day 3

• Profile Roasting
• Decaf
• Terroir & Processing
• Green Coffee Defects
• fire safety

Throughout all three days your Roasting Instructor will provide an overview of operating a coffee roaster, temperature time profile, breakdown in a roast and how to adjust for every outcome — followed by a demonstration of a complete coffee roast from start to finish. Each student is guided and given an opportunity to run many roasts on their own and with their classmates, with Q&A after each one.

Handouts and Resources included:

• Daily Cleaning and Maintenance
• Weekly Cleaning and Maintenance
• Monthly Cleaning and Maintenance
• Fire and Safety Plan Templates for Canada and USA
• Roaster Fire Protocol — Discovery
• Pollution Control information

Looking to go deeper? Advanced roasting courses are available by request. Contact us to learn more, or to arrange installation, cleaning, maintenance or repair services at your roastery.