Hidden Gem: Learning to roast fresh coffee in Woodstock

This is part of an ongoing summer series. Come back each week to learn about another hidden gem.

A coffee shop in Woodstock, Ont. is giving customers a behind the scenes look at making the perfect cup of joe.

Early Bird Coffee Roasters opened its first location in 2018.

Owner Elio Caporicci said he felt drawn to the industry.

“For a couple of years leading up to that point, I was exploring ideas of a business concept that I could kind of sink my teeth into and open up,” he explained. “This idea of roasting coffee and having a little café presented itself.”

Before that, Caporicci had never roasted coffee and learned almost everything from reading books and watching videos.

“In late 2017, I bought myself a little home roaster, started roasting coffee at home and putting a business plan together,” he said.

With help from Tourism Oxford, the idea of a roasting lab in addition to the classic café came to life.

Early Bird Coffee Roasters opened the first of its two locations in 2018. (Stefanie Davis/CTV News)

Roasting process

The lab experience starts with a coffee flight.

“We sample the three types of coffee, the group decides what coffee they like best and then we turn on the machine and we roll that particular batch,” Caporicci explained.

The roaster with a fresh batch of beans at Early Bird Coffee Roasters in Woodstock, Ont. (Stefanie Davis/CTV News)

The batch begins with beans so fresh they’re green.

Customers then watch as they go into the coffee roaster.  

About 12 minutes later, the beans turn brown.

Caporicci, meanwhile, shows lab participants how the beans evolve throughout the process.

Early Bird Coffee Roasters owner Elio Caporocci lines up bean samples as they move through the roasting process. (Stefanie Davis/CTV News)

Once the beans are heard cracking, they’re done.

Each member of the group is then given a bag with the beans they’ve roasted.

Coffee takeaways

“I hope [customers] just get a little bit more understanding of the other side of the coffee world,” Caporicci said. “We talk about how the coffee is grown, growing regions and what makes one coffee different from another.”

A sampling flight of coffee is part of the roasting lab experience at Early Bird Coffee Roasters in Woodstock, Ont. (Stefanie Davis/CTV News)

Allyson Manak Majer, a barista at Early Bird, said she often hears from customers who don’t know much about what goes into a cup.

“For most people, it’s the first thing they drink in the morning,” she said. “Where does it come from and where does it get roasted doesn’t really get thought of.”

Anyone interested in the roasting lab experience has to book in advance. They run in groups of three to six.