Michael Ratcliffe might have the best smelling job in the world, as far as coffee lovers are concerned.
The roaster for Artigiano Roasting Company works in a large warehouse space on Underhill Avenue in Burnaby, pouring 45 kilograms of green coffee beans into a red and steel Probat roasting machine.
He checks the colour of the beans intermittently and, after 12 or 13 minutes, releases the roasted beans - now a rich brown colour - into a cooling basin.
The roasting facility is relatively new - Caffè Artigiano started the program in the summer of 2012, and Ratcliffe was hired on then - but he has been working with specialty coffee for most of his adult life.
"I got into roasting because it offers a very unique challenge in the culinary world. There's not a lot that's known about it, and you are working with an organic product that's constantly changing," Ratcliffe says. "I like to create things for people to enjoy. Coffee's really important to a lot of people, and I think that's kind of cool, that I get my hand in that."
His personal favourite is Artigiano's Kenya Kiungu coffee.
"I'm in love with our Kenyan right now," he says. "I always love Kenyan coffees."
The company, which has cafés in Vancouver, Burnaby, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Victoria and Calgary, opened the roasting facility about 18 months ago, according to Ratcliffe.
"We decided that we needed to take control of our own process and roast our own coffee," he says, adding it is all roasted to order, so it is delivered fresh.
Ratcliffe can easily roast about 1,200 kilograms each production day, he says. The coffee goes out to the cafés - either to be served there or in packages for retail sales - and to fill online orders.
The facility will also have a café on site, probably in the next six months or so, according to Ratcliffe. The beans are purchased from importers and farmers throughout the world, Ratcliffe says, at above fair-trade pricing.
"It's purchased based on quality, and quality comes at a premium price," he says.
Like choosing grapes for wine, each coffee bean variety has its own profile, according to Ratcliffe.
"You take the insoluble green coffee and through roasting, just like through fermenting the grape, you bring forward the natural intrinsic quality in that coffee," he says.
Currently, Artigiano has a special single origin espresso from Guatemala that came in a very small lot, with only a few bags, Ratcliffe says, and it should be out before Christmas.
And what's the best way to enjoy your favourite roast? Ratcliffe says the most important thing to keep in mind is, fresh is best.
"Buy coffee fresh - buy it like bananas. Don't buy more than you need," he says, adding, "Make it in a way that you enjoy it.
"Treat it like a luxury," he adds. "It is something to treat yourself to, and remember that."
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