The Roaster's
Blog
Brewing guides, origin stories, roast science, and notes from the floor of the Beanlytics roastery in Richmond, BC.
How to Taste Coffee at Home: A Q Grader’s Method
Taste two or three coffees side by side, black, at three temperatures, and name five things: a Q Grader’s cupping method scaled to a kitchen, with real lots.
Fruity vs Chocolatey Coffee: What Makes the Difference, and Which to Buy
Fruit arrives with the green coffee. Chocolate is made in the roaster. A Richmond roaster compares the two families lot by lot and says which suits your brew.
What Is Specialty Coffee? A Q Grader’s Definition
Specialty coffee is coffee graded for distinctive quality: traceable, defect-free and scored by trained tasters. A Q grader explains what the grade means.
How to Choose Coffee Beans: A Roaster’s Guide for Canada
Choose coffee beans by brew method first, then flavour family, then how adventurous you feel. A Q grader’s guide for Canada, each step ending in a real lot.
Sidra Coffee: What It Is, How It Tastes & Why It’s Prized
Sidra is one of specialty coffee’s most prized varieties. What it is, how it tastes, and the two Sidra lots we roast: washed Ecuador and anaerobic Colombia.
Ethiopian vs Colombian Coffee: What’s the Difference?
Ethiopian vs Colombian coffee: floral and fruit-driven vs balanced and sweet. A side-by-side on flavor, origin and processing, and which to choose for how you drink.
Colombian Coffee Guide: Origin, Flavor & Sourcing
Colombian coffee is more than the balanced classic. Huila’s farms grow floral Gesha, Sidra, and Pink Bourbon. Regions, varieties, flavor, and how we source it.
Brazilian Coffee Guide: Origin, Flavor & Sourcing
More than commodity blends: Brazilian specialty coffee tastes of chocolate, almond, and caramel. Regions, the natural process, and our Cup of Excellence estate.
Ethiopian Coffee Guide: Origin, Flavor & Sourcing
Ethiopia is coffee’s birthplace: heirloom varieties, jasmine-and-berry cups, farms up to 2,200 m. Regions, processing, and how we source from Limmu.
El Salvador Coffee Guide: Origin, Flavor & Sourcing
Pacamara, heirloom Bourbon, and volcanic highlands: what makes Salvadoran specialty coffee special, and how we source our washed Pacamara from Chalatenango.
Ecuadorian Coffee Guide: Origin, Flavor & Sourcing
Why Ecuadorian coffee is specialty’s best-kept secret: regions, the Sidra variety, flavor profile, and how we source ours from 2,100 masl in Pichincha.
A Look at the Evolution of Hybrid Brewers
What if one machine could brew pour-over clarity in the morning and pull espresso-style shots by afternoon? That is the promise of hybrid brewers — and at Beanlytics Craft Coffee, our roastery in Richmond, BC, we have been watching (and tasting) their evolution closely. Here is how these versatile machines went from niche curiosity to […]
How to Brew Specialty Coffee at Home — Pro Tips from a Vancouver Roaster
If you’re passionate about coffee, you already know that brewing a fantastic cup of specialty coffee at home requires both knowledge and skill. At Beanlytics Craft Coffee, a specialty roaster in Richmond, BC, we spend our days on the small details that separate an average brew from an extraordinary one. In this guide, we’ll provide […]
The 13 Best Coffee Roasters in Vancouver, BC (2026)
Vancouver has enough specialty roasters that the hard part is not finding one, it is picking. This guide covers thirteen of them, sorted by how you would actually buy: online and shipped to you, over a café counter, or off a shelf somewhere near you. On who wrote this: Beanlytics is a Richmond roastery, so […]
How Coffee Processing Shapes Flavor in Specialty Coffee
Why Processing Matters In specialty coffee, processing is the bridge between the coffee tree and the green beans a roaster receives. It covers everything that happens to the cherry after harvest: how the skin and fruit are removed, how long it ferments, and how it is dried. These steps dramatically affect acidity, sweetness, body, and […]
Water Chemistry for Coffee Brewing: What Actually Matters
The right water chemistry can change your cup more than your grinder. Learn which minerals matter, ideal TDS range, and how Vancouver tap water affects specialty coffee.
Building a Coffee Community in Vancouver, One Roast at a Time
A coffee community is built at a cupping table: a room of people arguing about whether a lot tastes of peach or apricot, and carrying the conversation on after the cups are cleared. At Beanlytics Craft Coffee, building those moments through events, partnerships, and education is as central to our mission as roasting itself. The […]