P and I made an impromptu visit to the George Howell roasting facility in Acton, MA recently. We are considering buying from their coffee club to keep us stocked with fresh and delicious coffee beans.
We were blown away with the technical precision of their roasting lab. Jerry gave us a thorough tour of the bean testing area, the bank of espresso and drip machines, the bags and bags of beans ready to be roasted, and especially the two large roasting machines — with technicians on their laptops right alongside.
Everyone who worked there was in the best of moods and it seemed like a great work environment. I’m sure that leads to better tasting coffee. There was another visitor while we were there, a blogger from the New York Times, Oliver Strand, which made the visit a little more exciting, plus we got to meet Mr. George Howell himself. Oliver Strand posted this photo, and P took this photo of barista art in a demi-tasse cup.
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