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Date: 10/11/2022
SPRINGFIELD – The aroma of coffee fills the air as Tim Monson roasts coffee beans destined for a local bagel shop.
Monson is watching a computer monitor to check the progress of his coffee beans in an air roaster. He explains the three thermo probes are allowing him to know the temperature of the beans and when the process should stop.
Once the beans have roasted, they are dumped into a colling device that will quickly bring their temperature down to room temperature.
If fresh coffee is what you crave, then Monsoon Coffee Roastery at Gasoline Alley on Albany Street is the place to go.
Monson explains what he is roasting today, is packaged after it cools and then the next day “heads right out the door.”
Monson has moved the business he owns with his wife Andrea for a third time. The couple started roasting coffee in the Monkey Wrench Building in the South End, then moved to location at Gasoline Alley and now has the largest space yet, moving in about a month ago.
The expansion of the roastery is going hand in hand with other developments, Monson said. Corsello Butcheria, the specialty butcher shop in Easthampton, is expanding with a shop in the complex, as is Nosh, the downtown restaurant, that will be establishing a bakery there. Already there are micro-greens being grown at Gasoline Alley.
The result will be, Monson said, a destination point for food lovers. “That’s what we want to make,” he said. Part of the future expansion will be an area in which food entrepreneur can rent a profession space to manufacture their products.
Tim and Andrea Monson started roasting coffee beans in 2018 and moved to Gasoline Alley in 2019. The business survived the coronavirus pandemic in part because the shop had a walk-up coffee bar where people got their daily cup. “I felt lucky,” he said of the business experience during those two years.
The business now has its “hallway expresso bar” where people can grab a cup to go.
The Monsons now roast 500 to 600 pounds of coffee a week.
Tim Monson explained that freshness means a lot in the coffee world, adding that roasted beans can go stale in four weeks.
To help ensure that freshness, the beans are sold to the public in vacuum-packed metal containers. The metal cans are also environmentally friendly, Monson added.
“I was tired of knowing the bags were going into a landfill,” he explained. “We spent a year to find the best metal can. They work really great.”
Metal cans are definitely recycled, he added and the metal used in these cans can be melted down and manufactured again as cans 100 times before losing integrity.
The labeling on those cans have more than just a great name – including Liquid Sunshine, Organic Panic, Soul Rave and Overtime – but information on where the coffee was grown, the name of the farm and in some case the elevation of the farm.
The Monsons do a similar kind of research to find the right beans to import. For instance, Monson said he sampled 18 different samples of coffee from three different regions in Columbia before settling on the coffee they wanted to carry.
“There are more tasting notes in coffee than there are in wine, he said. He added a person can tell the difference in the beans coming from different hillsides.
Of the coffee market, Monson said, “Now there are people looking for a high-end coffee.”
The roastery offers monthly subscription packages of beans and has cans of nitro cold brew coffee as well. The roastery also features local delivery for orders more than $60.
The roastery’s coffee bar is open Tuesday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information go to www.monsoonroastery.com.