THE FIRESTARTERS

By Christopher Schooley

Who are The Firestarters? They are the people who relish the intimate relationship with the flame afforded by coffee roasting. Many of them are recognizable by the singed hairs on their arms and the mischievous grins on their faces.

     We decided to talk with some of these roasters to find out what keeps them lit and see if maybe they’d tell us a story or two around the old chaff fire.

RITA FOX is the Roaster for Rozark Hills Coffee Roasterie, Inc., in Arkansas. I talked to Rita about her discovery of the wonderful world of coffee, the pursuit of beauty in coffee, and life on a dude ranch.

Christopher Schooley: Rita, what was your very first working experience?

Rita Fox: Beside the typical teenager stuff like babysitting and working at a Dude Ranch with horses, my first real job that paid my rent was working as a waitress.

CS: And what does the typical teenager do at a Dude Ranch?

RF: I fed and watered the horses and saddled them up. You know, I’d lead people on horseback on trails and into the woods.

CS: Did they have cowboy coffee?

RF: (Laughs) No, no not that I know of. I was only 14 or 15 years old and not really all that aware of coffee yet.

CS: What is your first coffee-related memory?

RF: Other than being with Marty [husband Marty Curtis of Combustion Systems], who has been refurbishing and installing coffee roasters and equipment for more than 20 years, I would have to say my first encounter with coffee was in 1988 when Marty was installing an afterburner at a roastery and I went with him. It was there that I saw my first green bean, watched my first roast and thought, “How cool is that?!”

CS: And after that you knew you had to roast coffee?

RF: What happened is that my parents retired. They loaded their trailer on the back of the truck, hooked their new home to the hitch and traveled full time. Every time they went to Arkansas, my dad would marvel at the beauty. After a few trips he looked at Mom and said “I wonder what property sells for around here.” Mom said she knew then their traveling days were over. They bought 80 acres and in three years, had built their new home with just the two of them.
     Once they were done with the house, Dad, not being an idle man, got fidgety. Well, Marty and I flew down to visit them and Dad said “sit down kids, we need to talk.” He proposed that we move to Arkansas and start a coffee roastery and here we are.

CS: What is your favorite part of roasting?

RF: I really do enjoy roasting from beginning to end, but at first roasting scared the hell out of me. I guess what I most like though is watching how you can transform a bean, seeing all the changes along the way. And I just love my little sample roaster, it’s as cute as can be.

CS: What kind of machine is that?

RF: It’s a San Franciscan, it looks like a miniature of the Probat with the little trier and little door. I also like it because gas gauges and a bean probe have been added. I didn’t have those on the last sampler.

CS: I know, the last one you had was the 1934 Gothot three-barrel I’m using now. It’s definitely a “fly by the seat of your pants” machine without any gauges or a probe. I do like that it keeps you honest though, it keeps you fine tuned with the beans. What’s the newest roaster you’ve ever used?

RF: Well, the 1938 Probat UG-22. There are probably six or seven roasters in the shop at the moment, but I’ve always used the 22k and the 15k. Now we’re buying a Barth from overseas that is supposedly a 60k but the dimensions look more like a 45k. So we’re trying to figure that one out.

CS: Are you worried at all about moving to a larger machine?

RF: We’ve grown enough to warrant it. I’m a little apprehensive, but also excited.

CS: How many roasts are you doing in a day?

RF: Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 or 20. I’m starting to do duplicate roasts of a couple of our coffees so that’s why we’re going to the larger roaster.

CS: What is your typical roasting day like?

RF: We roast to order, so while my roaster is heating up, I add up how many pounds of each varietal I’m going to need to roast, multiply for shrink, and then I roast it. Afterwards I do any blending that is needed and help finish any bagging and boxing for shipping. Mom and I do the deliveries.

CS: What do you find most challenging about roasting?

RF: Consistency. Trying to achieve greatness with each roast, and yet always thinking that you can do better. You want each roast to be better than the last one.

CS: I love the photo of you picking coffee. What coffee origins have you visited, or which ones would you most like to visit?

RF: I have been to Costa Rica and Colombia. I would like to go to Africa, Indonesia or any of the many places where coffee grows.

CS: And where was that picture taken?

RF: That was at the Doka Estate in Costa Rica.

CS: Do you remember how much you picked that day?

RF: That was actually a contest we had to see who could pick the most cherries in 15 minutes. You could only pick the reddest and ripest cherries. You couldn’t cheat by picking the green. I don’t remember exactly who won, but I certainly didn’t end up picking the most so I don’t know what the prize was (Laughing).

CS: What do you think is one of the biggest currently issues facing our industry?

RF: What worries me is that we’re pretty rural where we are down here in Arkansas and people don’t spend money the same way that they do in the city. With the rising energy costs, I’m worried that people won’t be able to afford beautiful coffee.

CS: Rita, tell me your best fire story.

RF: My first fire was the largest I’ve ever had, therefore leaving the largest impression on me. While the rest of the family was in the office with a freight representative, I was in the plant roasting the very coffee that he was negotiating to ship for us. When I realized there was a problem with one of my roasts I dumped it in the cooling tray and lo and behold it was on fire. I ran to the office door and yelled “Fire! Fire!”
     Of course everyone ran to my rescue and we attempted to extinguish the fire. Unfortunately, it had already spread into the chaff can and up the exhaust stack. Smoke was billowing out of every orifice of the roastery, engulfing our entire little town of Rose Bud which back then had a population of only about 150.
     The freight rep, realizing we had a pretty substantial fire going on, offered to take his leave to free us up to take care of the problem. Plus I think he was a little nervous, but we had promised to send him home with a sample of our goods. We assured him that if he would just bear with us until we got the fire under control we would make sure he got some of our coffee. We finally got the fire contained and he got some coffee (not burnt) to take home with him.

CHRISTOPHER SCHOOLEY is the roaster and green coffee buyer at Metropolis Coffee Company in Chicago. He drinks his coffee black. Chris and fire go way back. Tell him your fire stories at ceschooley@yahoo.com.