Ask the Roaster - Paolo from Nero Scuro
How was the Roastery founded, what was the inspiration?
Nero Scuro started out of a passion for coffee and hospitality. Silvia after a career in communication agencies, become a Cordon Bleu graduated in Patisserie in Sydney (AU), and managed operations and customers for several top-level pastry and coffee shops. Paolo, a coffee passionate, born industrial engineer, discovered that roasting comes down to manage chemical reactions in miniature scale. He started attending roasting courses and seminars all over the world since mid-2000 and eventually become involved with the Nordic roasting approach. At some point, in 2013, he bought a Probat roaster, only to eventually realise he would need a proper place to install and operate it.
At that point, we both thought it was a good idea starting a specialty coffee roastery as we could fruitfully combine our experiences, and so Nero Scuro was born.
What's your favourite part about working at the Roastery?
My favourite activities are cupping lots of different origins, particularly when composed of less-known varietals or prepared with innovative processes and, then, develop custom roast profiles for them.
What's your proudest accomplishment?
We regularly support competitors for Barista and Brewers Cup, nationally and internationally, and work with fantastic wholesales customers in custom projects. This allows us to roast quite frequently coffees that you don't see too often in a roastery. For instance, over the last twelve months, we roasted 10 different Panama Gesha lots, prepared with experimental processes, as well as Sudan Rume beans, and several anaerobics from various origins, all with cup score above 90 points.
What three words best describe your Roastery?
Craftmanship - Research - Freshness
What’s your favourite place to enjoy a coffee, and what coffee would that be?
A cold brew made of an anaerobic Gesha, on a beach under a palm tree.
Finally, what Dog & Hat combination would you choose?
Frenchie in a Panama Hat.
