Leroux’s roasting expertise

What is roasting?

First of all, it’s worth recalling the very definition of roasting. Roasting is an operation that consists of cooking certain food products (coffee, cocoa, chicory, etc.) in contact with air, to develop the typical aromas of roasted products and to give them a brown color. At Leroux, the master roaster caramelizes the juices at just the right temperature, without burning them, just long enough to bring out the chicory’s unique taste. But what does this mean in practical terms?

For Gilles, the process has seemed simple over the years. The roasting balls (see photo) are loaded with chicory before being lit. The fire supplies heat to the inside of the ball, where the chicory is cooked before being cooled.

Roasting has come a long way in 30 years.

Gilles joined Leroux in 1985, and to say the least, he had to be versatile. Starting out in loading, a few years later he moved to the “brûlerie” (the roasting area), where he has remained to this day, evolving along with roasting techniques. And ” in 30 years, there have been changes”.. In the early years, our master roaster remembers the much more manual work involved in roasting. Not a single step was automated, with human intervention at every level. Today, the process of loading a roasting ball is virtually automated, but in the old days, bags of cossettes had to be emptied by hand. Cossettes are strips of dried chicory. Alongside this handling work, the machines were also operated manually. The first generations of roasters had manual controls and had to control the temperature or roasting time as best they could. Then, 20 years ago, the first technological developments came along, making the roaster’s task much easier. Today, although the roaster’s job is still a physical one, he or she is aided by technology.

The roaster: the guardian of Leroux know-how

Don’t tell the roaster that these innovations have fundamentally changed his craft. His work may be less physical than it was 30 years ago, but it’s no less a question of know-how. In the course of an explanation of how things work, he can tell you that a roast is finished by the smell alone. Technology may help, but it’s no substitute for years of experience.

Without telling us everything, Gilles reveals a few secrets that are passed down between master roasters.

It’s at this point that roasting transforms from a technical or even industrial process into a genuine savoir-faire. It’s no longer a question of numbers and processes, but of sensoriality and experience. To the question, “How does the roaster know when the roasting is complete?” Gilles smiles and replies that he just knows. If roasting time and temperature are the most important aspects of roasting, you have to add to them the management of the product’s color. This last point is a matter of experience. The roaster opens his roasting ball, observes the product and is able to tell whether it is ready or not. Roasting is color-controlled, and only the skilled eye of the roaster can quickly assess this aspect.

“Roasting is the very heart of Leroux, without it, nothing can work”. Through his experience and his years spent at Leroux, Gilles will have introduced us not only to a profession, but also to a real know-how which, despite much evolution, is still passed down between the different generations of roasters.