Cultivation, selection & transportation
The perfect cup of coffee begins with the perfect coffee bean.
That’s why each of our coffee blends begins with the world’s finest raw coffee beans. Cultivated by some of the world’s leading coffee producers, they’re sourced, selected and transported according to the highest possible standards.
Making the journey to Italy in jute sacks, each sack is carefully positioned to ensure the even flow of air, preserving the beans and protecting them from mould. And every step of the journey is certified. From selection, to sanitation and delivery to our factory, our compliance standards are world class, ensuring every bean reaches us in the perfect condition.
Blending
Once the beans have arrived in our factory, it’s time for blending.
For us, the perfect blend requires the perfect balance, which is why we use a blend of Arabica and Robusta coffee.
People talk a lot about the difference between the two, arguing Arabica’s the superior blend, with Robusta a distant second.
We disagree.
Sure, you can make a great cup of coffee with a 100% Arabica blend. But by lowering the percentage of Arabica and balancing it with the perfect amount of Robusta, you create a balanced and delicate flavour that pleases the palate and lingers on the tongue.
So that’s what we do. Sourcing our Arabica and Robusta beans from a variety of plantations, we combine the perfect amount of each, to create a distinctive and unforgettable blend.
Roasting
For the team at Hardy Coffee, the soul of coffee is born in the roasting.
The process in which raw green coffee releases its organic qualities, it’s in the roasting that the fruity or chocolatey aroma we all know and love is brought to life.
For our team of experts, it all comes down to a crucial quarter of an hour - the time in which the 800 substances that make up the distinctive, flavourful blend that is Hardy Coffee come to be.
Step 1 is to place the beans in a large rotating drum. Once the temperature reaches about 200 ◦C, the grain dries, turns brown and releases a mouth-watering roasted aroma.
In Step 2, the beans increase in volume by 60% and take on a medium dark brown hue.
Finally, in Step 3, the beans become darker still, losing some of their flavour of origin and taking on the flavours of the roasting itself. They also lose about 18% of their weight, becoming hard and brittle. Once the roasting’s complete, we leave the beans to air dry, locking in the flavours and aromas that make our blends so distinctive.
In the end, it all comes down to timing. Leave the beans to roast for too long, and you lose the sweetness and aroma roasting creates, replacing it with a bitterness and acidity that’s memorable for all the wrong reasons. That’s why we time our roasts to the second, ensuring every blend has the perfect balance of taste and aroma.