From Green to Gold: The Art of Coffee Roasting at Coffee Circus

There is a moment inside the roasting drum — usually somewhere between eight and twelve minutes into the process — when everything changes.

The green bean, which has been slowly drying and yellowing under rising heat, suddenly cracks. It sounds a little like popcorn. Roasters call it the first crack, and from that point on, every second matters.

What happens in those final minutes determines the flavour in your cup. Not the brewing method, not the grinder, not the barista — the roaster. That is where it starts.

At Coffee Circus, that moment happens every week at our Hub in Valletta, one of Malta's first specialty coffee roasteries.

Understanding it changes how you experience every cup we serve.

What is a green bean?

Every coffee starts as a green bean — the raw, unroasted seed of the coffee cherry. In this state, it has almost none of the flavour we associate with coffee. It smells grassy, slightly earthy. It would taste nothing like what ends up in your cup.

The transformation happens entirely through heat. Green beans sourced from our farming partners in Ethiopia, Colombia, and Guatemala arrive at the Valletta Hub having already been processed at origin — washed, natural, or honey process — which shapes their initial flavour potential. But it is the roast that unlocks it.

What roasters actually control

Roasting is often described as an art, but it is equally a science. Our master roasters at the Valletta Hub work with three main variables:

• Temperature. The drum temperature rises throughout the roast, but the rate of that rise — what roasters call the Rate of Rise — is as important as the temperature itself.

  A steep curve early in the roast develops certain flavours; a flatter curve develops others. Too fast and the outside of the bean scorches before the inside develops. Too slow and the bean bakes flat, losing brightness and complexity.

• Time. From the moment the green beans enter the drum to the moment they are discharged, every second is tracked. The total roast time for a specialty batch is typically between ten and fifteen minutes, depending on the bean and the target profile.

• Airflow. Moving air through the drum carries heat to the beans and removes the chaff — the thin skin that separates from the bean during roasting. Airflow also affects how much smokiness develops in the final cup. Less airflow, more body and darker notes. More airflow, cleaner, brighter flavours.

The first crack — and what comes after

When the bean reaches a certain internal temperature, the moisture and CO₂ trapped inside expand rapidly. The cell walls crack. This is the first crack — audible, unmistakable, and the signal that the bean has entered what roasters call the development phase.

From this point, the roaster has a window — usually between one and four minutes — to decide when to stop the roast. That decision defines the roast profile:

• Light roasts are stopped shortly after first crack. The bean retains more of its origin character — the acidity, the florals, the fruit notes that come from altitude and processing method. A light roast of our Ethiopian single-origin tends toward brightness and complexity. It rewards slow brewing methods like V60 or AeroPress.

• Medium roasts develop more sweetness and body while preserving some origin character. The balance shifts toward chocolate and caramel notes without losing the brightness entirely. These roasts work across a wide range of brewing methods.

• Dark roasts are taken further, sometimes toward or past a second crack. Origin character recedes and roast character takes over — bittersweet, bold, with lower acidity. This is the profile many people associate with espresso, though at Coffee Circus we believe even espresso can sing at lighter roast levels.

The range the brand has always worked across — from blonde roasts to dark profiles — reflects this philosophy: different beans, different origins, different brewing contexts call for different roast decisions.

Why roasting weekly matters

Coffee does not stay fresh indefinitely after roasting. In the days immediately after roasting, beans release CO₂ and the flavour is still developing — this is why freshly roasted coffee often benefits from resting for two to five days before brewing. But beyond two to three weeks, the aromatics begin to fade. Ground coffee loses them faster still.

At Coffee Circus, beans are roasted weekly at the Valletta Hub and distributed to all eleven locations within days. That is not a logistical detail — it is a quality commitment. The coffee you order at any Coffee Circus location, from Marsaskala to Valletta to Marsalforn in Gozo, has been roasted recently enough to be at or near its peak.

It is also why we encourage buying beans in smaller quantities more often, rather than a large bag that sits open on your shelf for months.

Seven Beans — the product of all of this

Every coffee served at Coffee Circus and available to buy across our locations and online is Seven Beans Coffee — roasted at the Valletta Hub, graded to SCA quality standards, and sourced through direct relationships with small-scale farmers and cooperatives who share our values on sustainability and fair trade.

The name matters. Seven variables shape the flavour of every bean that leaves our roastery: origin, altitude, variety, processing method, roast profile, freshness, and brewing method. Change any one of them and the cup changes with it. Our roasters work to understand each bean well enough to make the right decisions across all seven.

The result is the coffee in your cup — which started as a green seed from a hillside in Ethiopia, Colombia, or Guatemala, and became what it is through the decisions made at a roastery in Valletta, Malta.

That is worth knowing.