Go Behind the Roastery Window

When I set foot in our 6th street cafe, I am immediately greeted with an atmosphere of community and openness. The natural light, high ceilings, calm music, friendly and passionate baristas, and scent of freshly roasted beans are what drew me to Cirque in the first place. In my time at Cirque, one thing I have learned from everyone around me is that the coffee professionals here have no interest in keeping things secretive and mysterious. Everyone here is so excited about what we do, we just can’t keep it to ourselves! Coffee brewing and enjoyment is for everyone. We have our own weird way about it, and we can’t help but share with the community that continuously builds us up.

I had the privilege of sitting down with our head roaster, Elise Anderson, to hear about her career in coffee and process for preparing our latest limited coffee release, the Ethiopia Organic Chelbesa Raised Bed Natural. I immediately felt this genuine openness and passion for her craft, and an eagerness to share what she has learned.

When I walked into the cafe a couple of minutes behind, Elise was behind the counter sipping a drink she’d whipped up for herself and chatting with members of the Cirque team from the cafe, containers, and production team. She looked smart, put together, and prepared in fun colored overalls and her hair tied back with a bandanna. As I pulled myself an espresso shot for my usual morning americano, the team discussed our new summer drinks and limited time Ethiopian coffee, each with a full mug in hand. I apologized for my tardiness, and we took a seat at the bar, diving right into the agreed topic.

I set out my journal and favorite blue pen and prepared to scribble furiously. I first wanted to ask her if there was any sort of information I should withhold from publishing, so as not to give away all of our methods. She insisted that this was not necessary, and that she would prefer to be open about what she does. “Even if someone used our exact recipes and methods, they would get a different result. It can’t be replicated”. I admired this openness, and it put me at ease.

I was curious about how she carved this unique career path for herself. I, too, have wondered about roasting coffee, but the way to it has seemed a bit foggy. I learned that Elise has been roasting coffee for Cirque for about four and a half years, and she was able to start learning only five months or so after being hired as a cafe barista! She had previously worked in another cafe, and quickly discovered her passion for coffee. Upon realizing her interest in roasting, she went after it. “I applied to any place that roasted their own beans in Tulsa”, she told me. There was a special reason Cirque stood out to her. “When I walked in, I loved that you could see directly into the roastery through the window”. Not long after that, she accepted a position as a barista in the 6th street cafe.

Elise was clear about the path she intended to take. She continuously showed interest in the goings-on of the roast room and the care and craft that went into preparing Cirque coffee. Cirque was young yet at the time, and beginning to grow into higher volume orders and traffic. Co-founder John Pierce realized he would need to bring another set of hands to the roast room, and there was an eager candidate already in his cafe. So, after five months behind the bar, John began teaching Elise the roasting ropes.

Fast forward four and a half years, and she has done yet another incredible job with another truly special coffee. So incredible, I couldn’t help my eagerness to write about it! Limited coffees are a great way for Cirque to feature incredibly unique, high value coffees in an accessible and affordable way. They are high end beans purchased in small amounts and sold in smaller bags than our typical offerings. This works well for it to be featured on a specific brew method for a limited time. Our current limited offering, the Ethiopia Chelbesa Natural, was sourced, roasted, and brewed by none other than head roaster, Elise Anderson. She looked to Royal Importers, an importer she likes because they provide information about the farms where the coffee is grown - regarding farming practices, working conditions, and more. Elise found this Ethiopian in their category of “Crown Jewels”: that is, high quality coffee grown in small, micro-lots. When deciding on the qualities she would look for, she took into account the tastes and preferences of those in the roast room. Of course, it had to be something extraordinary and unique. She knew some preferred fruity, floral notes and aromatics, which are typically found in African, especially Ethiopian, coffees. She, herself, loves naturally processed coffees, which tend to bring out bright, fruit-forward notes. So of course, when she stumbled upon this Chelbesa, it was the perfect choice.

Twenty-two pounds of this Chelbesa were shipped to us to roast, creating a very small margin for mistakes. Elise had a good idea of how to go about roasting, based on her previous experience roasting Ethiopian and natural processed coffees. Confidently, she and Daniel Van Duyne, another member of the roast room staff, put all twenty-two pounds of beans into the roaster and began listening for the first crack in the beans. First crack often sounds a bit like popcorn and is a good indicator that the coffee is almost finished roasting. They turned off all other machines and noises in the room to be sure they could hear it. “I kept listening for first crack, and we weren’t hearing it. I worried … so I just dropped the coffee”. Turns out, she dropped it at just the right time. The coffee had cracked slowly and quietly, and the beans were beautiful. That’s some impressive intuition.

Typically, once freshly roasted beans are cooled, they are cupped to assess the roast, tasting notes, and aromatics. This is a quick brewing process. Elise and Daniel couldn’t wait, so they took the beans right over to brew as a pour over. As they inhaled, they were surprised to find much different aromatics than they had expected. Upon tasting, they noticed just how complex this coffee truly is. “The notes just kept flowing. We just kept tasting more and more”, she told me. It was a success!

Elise had originally intended this coffee to be brewed on our batch brew machines. However, after tasting that brew and learning the complexity of it, she had an idea for a brew that would bring out all of those notes and give it the cleanest finish: Kyoto cold brew. You might have seen this machine just inside the door to our cafe, in front of the roastery window that inspired Elise from the beginning. It’s a beautiful, gold-accented syphoning cold brew machine that brews slowly over time. Elise spent hours with this machine, knowing it would bring out the best in this coffee. And goodness, was it worth it. I’ll be honest, I’m not usually a cold brew drinker myself, and I have chugged many glasses of this cold brew coffee.

I was so interested to hear Elise’s point of view and style of her craft. I was truly engrossed in our conversation, and I hope you, reader, have been as well. Everyone here at Cirque is so thrilled that limited coffees are coming back, and I’m thrilled to get to share that this will be a monthly occurance! For now, stop by the cafe for a sip of that velvety Kyoto cold brew and maybe a bag of the Chelbesa for at home. While you’re at it, have a peek into our roast room window.