Behind-the-scenes: Silverwood’s Roasted Coffee

Good days start with great mornings, and a great way to start your day of adventure at Silverwood Theme Park is with a delicious cup of freshly brewed coffee – or a sweet blended iced coffee!

Early in the mornings, as the employees get ready for their day, you can catch the smell of the freshly roasted coffee beans that Lynn has prepared for the week.

I recently had the pleasure to meet with Lynn, early in the morning, before the park opened, to learn all about how Silverwood Theme Park creates their special recipe for the most delicious cup of coffee.

If you have ever stopped in at the first gift shop at the entrance, that is where you will find this magical coffee roaster machine. After all the years that I have taken my family to Silverwood, I never knew that the roasting coffee machine was an actual working roasting machine. There is a special family recipe that Silverwood uses, so I can not share too much info with you, but what I can share – it is pretty interesting!

Silverwood uses 3 different types of coffee beans that come from India, Columbia, and Brazil.

With equal parts of coffee in each batch, the beans then go over to the roaster, where they get roasted to that beautiful chocolate color and then cooled down before all those beans are taken to the back of the store to be freshly ground for all the coffee shops around the park. Lyn will also bag up the beans for retail shops – so you can bring home some of that Silverwood Coffee and drink it year-round. And even more exciting news…. You can even order coffee to be shipped to you when Silverwood is in their off-season break by calling 208-683-3400 EX 4702. So that means you can still enjoy your delicious cup of coffee from winter to spring!

While you are in the shop, slide over to the left and treat yourself (and or family) to a delicious pastry treat (I am in favor of the muffins!) and have the barista make you a yummy cup of coffee and bring home one of many souvenir cups available. 

I enjoyed the smell of the coffee beans roasting and really liked watching the process of them roasting from the pale color to that deep roasted brown, but when asked what kind of coffee I like to drink…..I was a little embarrassed to share that I liked my coffee to taste like creamer. If it tastes like candy or a sweet treat, I am all in for coffee. My husband will tell me that I should just drink the creamer because I am wasting a good cup of coffee. And he is right – but I just can’t help it 🙂

Him, on the other hand, likes to drink his coffee black and the darkest roast. You can hear him sigh with satisfaction with the sip of a good dark roast coffee. He knows a good bean and a good roast – makes the best cup of coffee. For me, if you can create a delicious blended iced coffee, I will forever be your friend 🙂

But I also learned while I was hanging out with Lynn that even a coffee that is covered up with creams and sugars… and yummy caramel, it still tastes incredibly delicious! It was honestly the best blended iced coffee I have ever had! 

So how does the roasting process work, and why do we roast coffee beans? 

During roasting, coffee beans are heated to a high internal temperature. This intense heat causes sugars and amino acids inside the bean to decrease while gases build up. The bean hardens and turns from a pale green color to brown, and a fragrant oil called caffeoyl is released- which is the delicious coffee smell we know and love. 

Here is where things get a little more interesting…. Over time, the roasted beans continue to release more carbon dioxide gas. But this gas can make the coffee taste stale. And unfortunately, grinding the beans can speed up the staling process because it increases the surface area of the coffee, making it easier for the gases to escape. Who knew?!

In fact, roasting beans releases a few substances that are responsible for the majority of coffee aroma loss. To get more “scientific,”… there are 2 gases, methanethiol and 2-methyl propanil, that give the most intense aroma but are lost just two hours after roasting. For this reason, coffee beans are exported in their natural state and should only be roasted at their final destination. 

So how do you not get a stale coffee after roasting???

The roasting process releases gases from the coffee bean, which is known as degassing. While that continues for many days, it happens fastest soon after the roasting process. But, if you try brewing the beans too soon, you’ll find the gas gives it a metallic flavor. And while the gases are being released, the substances that give your coffee it’s wonderful aroma are also being lost.

Is anyone else confused and in a panic over a cup of coffee yet???

The key to a perfect cup is getting the right balance between degassing and saving the aromatics in the bean. But here is the good news… Dark roasts usually degas more quickly than light roasts. The majority of carbon dioxide is released in the first 24 hours after roasting. This means the best time for grinding and brewing your beans can be anywhere from 2 to 12 days after roasting. 

It might sound strange, but cooling the coffee beans after they’ve reached the right temperature is almost as important as heating them. After roasting, the machine releases the beans into a cooling tray. This tray rotates to keep the beans evenly distributed, and at the same time, the air is drawn through small holes to cool them down at a steady rate. While the beans are rotating, the roaster will keep a close eye on them to spot defects. One issue to look out for is the presence of beans known as “Quakers.” Those are beans that have low sugar content, so don’t change color as much as other beans. While they may look under-roasted, they will actually taste burnt. Yuck!

I never knew that so much work went into something as simple as a coffee bean. Nor did I ever imagine so much science is involved. Now, I won’t feel as guilty while enjoying a coffee cup while my kids are doing school work. I will call it my science experiment 🙂

Fun facts: 

• Coffee boosts brainpower, attention, and motivation but never on an empty stomach.
• Coffee can relieve headaches and migraines. Caffeine helps with the medication needed for headaches.
• Coffee helps reduce stress.
• Coffee improves your memory – short-term memory. If things get too hard to focus, have another cup!
• Coffee helps you lose weight. It suppresses appetite and gives you a boost.
• Coffee beans actually come from a berry. An Ethiopian goat herder noticed that his goats were eating coffee cherries and gaining energy.
• Coffee is a fruit and grows on a bush. They are actually the pit of a berry, which makes them a fruit.
• SUPER FUN FACT… The Guinness World record holder for the “oldest cat ever,” a 38-year-old cat named Crème Puff, drank coffee every morning her whole life!

Meet The Conductor

Hello! My name is Jackie. I am married to a handsome handyman, and I’m the proud momma of 5 kids. About 12 years ago, I started my photography business, Jax Creations Photography. Last year, I started a family website called Wanderful Memories. I use this site to share ways other families can document moments in life through travel and lifestyle. A fun fact about me is that I love to cook/bake for others, and I throw a great dance party in the kitchen (when no one is around to watch my awesome dance moves, of course)! There are many parts of Silverwood that I enjoy, but if I had to narrow it down, it would be riding the Tilt-a-Whirl with my boys. I love to hear them belly laugh! My family enjoys visit Silverwood multiple times during the summer with season passes — it is the perfect way to split up the summer days by visiting the water park or getting their adrenaline going on a roller coaster.

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