Alexis Gagnaire: The art of roasting

ÉPISODE #2

De la ferme à la torréfaction : Expression aromatique

La connaissance et la compréhension du bon café peuvent se manifester tard, un peu comme le talent.
Alexis Gagnaire, torréfacteur français venant d’une famille de restaurateurs, a découvert la spécialité du café sur le tard après s’être installé à Londres. Comme la plupart des gens, il n’avait jamais réalisé que le café pouvait inclure tant de détails comme le nom du producteur, la variété du grain, l’altitude et la méthode de séchage. Avant de revenir en France, il s’est forgé une expérience directe à la ferme Granja la Esperanza en Colombie. Il y a appris à torréfier correctement : dans le respect des matières premières. Il est ensuite revenu en France avec cette compréhension de l’innovation et du café écoresponsable. Aujourd’hui, il travaille au Café Kawa, torréfaction artisanale dans Paris, comptant 22 employés et plusieurs partenaires allant des fermes aux coopératives.

Making the magic happen

Gagnaire believes that a good roaster must be a good technician who knows how to work the machines and select coffee and a creative one who can experiment daily to craft new recipes for blends. He cites profiling as the job’s biggest challenge: choosing how to roast the coffee and what energy to apply during the process.

He finds roasting exciting because transforming the coffee with integrity directs the flavor in a way that highlights both the terroir and the producer’s work–if amiss, the coffee fails to reach its full potential. Yet to him, the most rewarding parts of his work are discovering new flavors, new producers, and new places worldwide.

During the roasting process, quality always makes a difference: preserving the essence of the beans and treating them with respect is crucial to unleashing their full potential. Coffee requires a final transformation before being consumed, and during the preparation, the consumer must respect the work of both the producer and the roaster. “Preparing a coffee is a job that requires rigor and passion,” says Gagnaire. “Rigor is greatly facilitated by using a bean-to-cup coffee machine.”

The impact of our choices

“Roasters are one of the important links in the coffee value chain,” Gagnaire says. “We are the ones who buy the raw materials. Our choices are therefore important and can move the lines. We are responsible for promoting sustainable agriculture that respects the environment.”

He states that preparing coffee from beans is the best way to enable a more natural coffee-making experience. To Gagnaire, good coffee, good water, and a good machine make a coffee Perfetto. His personal favorite? A double espresso–good morning coffee portends a good day.