- Kei Mouth, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Taste the Love at Wild Coast Coffees
If you can’t find a decent cup of coffee, what do you do? You probably go home and brew your own. But that option was way too straightforward for Ian Williams, who, when faced with a dearth of tasty coffees in Kei Mouth, decided to open his own coffee shop. And when that didn’t solve his problem, he went one step further and started roasting his own beans. That might sound like a simple enough solution, but not when you approach the problem like Ian did.
Good Ideas, Clever Ingenuity, Great Coffee
Rather than splashing out on a roasting machine from an online coffee merchant, Ian decided to build his own—something that should possibly come with a “Don’t try this at home” warning.
Fortunately, Ian has an abundance of experience dating back several decades to when he was just a kid and couldn’t keep his hands off his dad’s tools!
While his practical skills have had years of honing, what about the business side? After all, you don’t build a 2.5kg coffee roasting machine just to quench your own thirst, and selling it requires a different set of skills altogether—but Ian also has those in spades.
It’s been nearly five years since Ian opened his first coffee shop, Selections, in Kei Mouth—a move that soon saw him hunting around for different roasts and flavours.
When his endeavours failed to produce the kind of quality he was after, he decided it was time to start roasting his own and promptly closed his shop and started designing his very first roasting machine.
Bean There, Drunk That - From Coffee Shop to Roastery
Rather than hopping on the easiest bandwagon, Ian shirked the idea of a traditional drum roaster, saying, “There are way too many moving parts.” Figuring that a hairdryer can produce heat, Ian designed his first machine around that, but it created so much smoke that you had to leave the room.
He didn’t diverge far from his original concept, however, and even today’s machine is, he says, “basically a big hairdryer” with a few tweaks.
Between the original machine and his current one, Ian designed a roaster that could only do 600g of coffee at a time, so he spent his early days “just roasting 600g every 10 minutes.”
The one he uses now is considerably bigger, with seven and a half kilowatts of heater elements and a selection of fans similar to those found in a vacuum cleaner. The concept remains the same, however, with the fans blowing the beans through the heaters, roasting them as they jump around like popcorn.
Patents, Passion, and the Pursuit of Perfection
Ian was so chuffed with his new design that he thought he might patent it, only to find out he was several years too late. Fortunately, the patent has now run out, so, Ian explains, “Anyone can make them now, but they’re still not cheap. Even a small machine like this one will probably cost 350,000, and it can only roast a maximum of two and a half kilos at a time.”
While that is impressive, Ian’s already designing a bigger and better machine which, he says, “will probably be a five to seven and a half kg machine with two fans and about 16 kilowatts of heated elements.”
Currently, Ian roasts each bean following his own carefully developed roasting profiles, but he still sees room for improvement. While the air roasting method generally ensures a more even roast than the drum roast approach, it’s still challenging to perfect, especially for lighter roasts. As Ian explains, darker roasts are subjected to longer roasting times, causing the beans to lose moisture and up to 20% of their green bean weight. This decreased weight makes them more agile, allowing them to bounce more freely inside the roasting chamber.
Lighter roasts, roasted for shorter periods, retain more of their original weight. This greater weight makes them more sluggish inside the roaster, making it harder to achieve the even distribution needed for a perfectly uniform roast. To solve this problem, Ian plans on using a greater number of more powerful fans in his next machine, ensuring greater bean mobility and a consistently even roast.
Another thing Ian has struggled with is removing the waste products produced during the roasting process.
The first part of the process involves heating the beans until they begin to transform and then comes the first crack, which is when the skin bursts open, releasing dust and oil into the atmosphere. If this dust and oil come into contact with the roasting bean, it gives the coffee a more bitter flavour—something Ian was determined to eliminate.
Once again, he used an existing machine to give him inspiration—”I saw a vacuum cleaner with a dust separator and thought if I made a big one, I’d be able to use it for a coffee roaster,” which, being Ian, is exactly what he did.
The Man Behind the Machine
While it might sound as though Ian always has the answer, it hasn’t all been plain sailing. For starters, he says, “I’m not that clever. I was sent to university, but I didn’t like it. I was too much of a bad boy and just wanted to party.”
He didn’t give up on education altogether, though, and soon secured bookkeeping qualifications and other certifications that stood him in good stead as a business-oriented person.
It wasn’t long before he established his own business producing mini conveyor components for the chicken abattoir industry, and this remains his main source of income. The coffee roasting business, on the other hand, is more a labour of passion than a financial necessity.
A Legacy of Innovation
Today, Wild Coast Coffees stands as a testament to Ian’s innovative spirit and dedication to crafting the perfect cup. Whether you’re a coffee connoisseur or just someone in search of a quality brew, it’s well worth popping into The Oystercatcher and securing yourself a bag of Ian’s carefully curated coffee beans.
If that doesn’t quench your thirst for knowledge and a decent cup of coffee, why not get in touch with Ian and let him show you the ropes with one of his interactive coffee-roasting experiences, right here in the heart of Kei Mouth?
Contact Ian via Facebook or drop him a WhatsApp at +27 82 655 0874