27th June 2020, LA SOSTA SPECIALTY COFFEE opened its new headquarter, the “Torrefazione Laboratorio”, in the real heart of the Florentine green countryside.
The coffee roastery of La Sosta is situated only 8km far away from the Florentine Cathedral in the close village of Cascine del Riccio, easily reachable with public transport.
If you are at the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence, you can take the bus n°36 direction Cascine del Riccio and you will be lead directly few steps away from the Coffee Shop.
The “Torrefazione Laboratorio” LA SOSTA is a production space equipped for the production of Specialty coffees, but also a reference point for Specialty Coffee lovers, where you can taste, smell, learn, be fascinated but also more generally share moments of relaxation and true passion.
An ambivalent coffee shop that acts both as a roasting laboratory, for expert customer who has already identified their needs but also as a real research and development center.
LA SOSTA coffee shop begins its work from the selection of coffee grains with the meticulous choice of raw materials, to the careful and meticulous care of the roasting process, ending with the establishment of a direct and transparent relationship with its customers to understand tastes and needs in order to fully satisfy their needs.
WHAT IS COFFEE ROASTING?
Roasting is the "SIGNATURE" we give to our coffees. The roasting process is used to transform the still green grains, taken from the jute sack coming from the plantation, into a semi-finished product.
The coffee roasting process or better the roasting of the grains is a "cooking" process. The raw coffee grains are placed inside a Roasting Machine, which transmits energy to the grains thanks to the heat developed by a flame.
The roaster machine keeps the grains inside a drum which, by turning, always keeps the coffee moving.
LA SOSTA coffee roaster laboratory uses a 15kg Brambati BR15s roaster machine that generates heat through a flame that is not directly in contact with the drum, but heats the air which will then run through the drum, hitting the constantly moving beans, cooking them.
When cooked, coffee transform itself through thousands of small chemical reactions:
- it changes color, from green to yellow and then brown;
- it increases in volume, about double;
- it loses almost half of its density and about 80% of its water content;
- it noticeably develops sweetness and acidity;
- it becomes aromatically 10 times more complex.
THE ROASTING PROCESS
Roasting means to cook, so triggering a chain of chemical reactions that must never be interrupted but managed. Breaking this chain of events would compromise the construction of the aromatic spectrum, losing quality in aroma and taste.
La Sosta's goal is to obtain a balanced result between the acidic, sweet and bitter components of coffee.
Each coffee has unique characteristics based on origin, "terroir", variety and processing. The purpose of La Sosta cooking process is to enhance the intrinsic characteristics of the raw material by always finding the best "recipe".
By treating Specialty Coffee, La Sosta designs and creates different Roasting Profiles according to the characteristics of the coffee itself in order to EXALT what each coffee has to offer.
The result is three different toasts LIGHT, MEDIUM / LIGHT and MEDIUM.
LIGHT is the intermediate compromise for filter and espresso.
MEDIUM / LIGHT is for those who love a balanced and complex espresso.
MEDIUM is the convinced choice for espresso.
La Sosta toasts and packs on the same day to extend the life of the cooked coffee.
