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Plastic containers full of raw beans line shelves in the roasting shed at Gregory Rock's Rocsato Coffee Roasters in Endicott.
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The skins that come off the beans during the roasting process are called "chaff" and Gregory Rock said he often uses them in the garden like mulch.
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Gregory Rock pulls a sampling of the freshly roasted Bella Bold beans out of the roaster.
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A cemetery on the St. John's in the Mountains property, the former home of an Episcopal Church mission school in Endicott.
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The Arabica coffee (left)Â contains almost twice the sugars of the Robusta, a hardier bean which has more caffeine and is considered more bitter in taste. However, the Robusto bean can grow at lower altitudes and is more pest resistant. Only about 25% of the world's coffee is Robusta. The Arabica bean is more elongated, making it a little larger than the smaller, rounder Robusta.
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Gregory Rock takes a whiff of a freshly roasted batch of his Bella Bold, a medium roast coffee, in his roasting room located in a shed on his Endicott property.
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An old photograph of teachers who used to work at the school on the St. John's in the Mountains property where Gregory Rock and Aimé Sposato now live.
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A loom that is original to the St. John's in the Mountains Episcopal mission school remains in the large stone building, which is now a private home.
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Gregory Rock and wife Aimé Sposato own the St. John’s in the Mountains property, an former Episcopal Church mission school.
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The coffee roaster requires specific settings to obtain the desired flavor of the beans.
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Gregory Rock, of Rocsato Coffee Roasters, stands on the porch of his roasting shed. Rock roasts at his home, the historic St. John's in the Mountains in Endicott.
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A selection from Rocsato Coffee Roasters, using Kenyan, Honduran and Tanzanian beans. The Panther Blend is specially made for Ferrum College.
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A freshly roasted batch of Rocsato Coffee Roasters' Bella Bold falls from the roaster into the stirrer and cooling tray where air is sucked downward.
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Gregory Rock's roaster, made in Oklahoma, has a small window where the beans can be seen as they are roasted.
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One of the rooms in the historic home on the St. John's in the Mountains property features musical instruments, a nod to its owners who met while studying music in college.
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A variety of coffee beans in limited quanitities sit atop a ledge in the shed where Gregory Rock operates his small business, Rocsato Coffee Roasters.
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Photos by STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS
Gregory Rock and his wife Aimé Sposato, the provost at Ferrum College, purchased the historic St. John’s in the Mountains property, a former Episcopal Church mission school. Gregory runs Rocsato Coffee Roasters out of a shed on the property.
ENDICOTT — Gregory Rock takes a single freshly roasted coffee bean between his fingers and crushes it, releasing its aroma and inhaling deeply.
