I tried coffee made with a Bellwether roasting machine

george coffee and provisions shop
The George Coffee + Provisions coffee shop in Coppell, Texas uses a Bellwether machine to roast its coffee.

by Lars H

Ever heard of the Bellwether coffee roasting machine? Bellwether is a company out of Oakland, California. They introduced a new roasting machine back in 2018 (and have since then come out with the Series 2 version in 2022.

What makes them different? The Bellwether doesn’t look like a traditional coffee roasting machine, because it roasts differently. It looks almost like a refrigerator, and is about the same size. Their machines are really designed for coffee shops and not particularly for high volume, large roasting operations. Coffee shops can save a ton of money by roasting their own beans, and the Bellwether is also a very easy to use, mostly automated machine that doesn’t require as much skill to operate. And in addition to all that, the machine was designed to reduce the carbon footprint of coffee roasting. So stores that use them also save money on energy costs.

I started looking around for coffee shops that use a Bellwether, and the only one I could find in the Dallas / Fort Worth area is in Coppell, Texas. A shop called George Coffee + Provisions. So I jumped in the car to drive there and try out some coffee roasted on a Bellwether to see if it was any good, and if I could tell the difference between an electric Bellwether and a typical gas powered coffee roasting machine.

I ordered an ice coffee and an Americano, both black, so that I could taste the coffee and get a better sense of the tasting notes.

Both the Americano and the iced coffee were good. I’d describe the notes as pretty mainstream. So nothing crazy fruity or citrus or sour like you sometimes find in specialty coffee shops that really like fancy beans.

And indeed, their flavor profile was quite popular because it was a very big shop with lots of seating, and almost all the seats were filled even at 11 a.m. on a weekday when I had expected the morning crowd to be gone.

If there’s any disadvantage to roasting on an electric, automated roaster like the Bellwether, I was not able to taste it as a customer. I thought the coffee tasted as good as any traditionally roasted coffee I have had at similar specialty coffee shops.

I give coffee on the Bellwether a thumbs up, and I would not hesitate to go to other coffee shops that use one of these roasting machines, or to buy from a roaster that uses them. I am not currently aware of any companies that roast beans at a high volume that use the Bellwether though. If you know of any, let me know in the comments so I can order beans from them and try them on my home machine.

Bellwether is all about having a low carbon footprint, and sustainability. What I’d love to see is some roasting company that uses these machines and then also sourced some kind of organic or biodynamic ultra clean coffee. I’d love to buy a coffee like that, as I typically aim for organic coffee and clean coffee at home.

Community Blend coffee beans roasted on a Bellwether machine
Community Blend is the bean blend that George Coffee + Provisions uses with their espresso machine and coffee machines, according to the barista I spoke with. I also ended up buying a bag to bring home with me. You can see that it mentions Bellwether.

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