Crack 🗞️ Slow News Day #77

Hey,

When green coffee beans are roasted, a critical part of the process is ‘the first crack’.

Akin to popcorn popping, this noise is an indication to the roaster that the process is nearing completion—a little longer and they’ll have a beautiful golden brown light-to-medium coffee.

The roasting process takes green beans and exposes their base elements (proteins, sugars, caffeine and acids), to heat and motion, transforming them into something delightful.

The first crack occurs when the water within the bean evaporates and the resultant pressure from the newly formed steam forces its way out. A few minutes more and things are exactly where they need to be.

It’s considered one of the most important parts of the roasting process, mostly because it’s so audible—easy to identify, a reliable signal. The roaster seeks it out, listening closely and waiting for its arrival.

Quite a comforting thought, isn’t it?

That at the zenith of heat and pressure, that point of absolute stress and bursting, just a few minutes more will lead to something new, something better. That on the other side of all the strain and tension is a vast place of transformation.

Even if it isn’t easy, even if it isn’t comfortable, the first crack is the signal that things are nearly in a good place.

Worth listening out for.

Slow down guide

Need a little help moving slower?

Ease your way out of Friday afternoon with this newsletter, a nice cup of something, and a little background music. Steal my setup if you aren't sure where to start.

After I press send, I’m heading to the (relatively) new Shillingford Organics café on Cowick Street. Right next door is Some People, a genuinely brand new addition to the street, where I’ll be getting my hair cut. Coffee, a bit of chit chat, and a trim. Cheers to the weekend, chaps and chapettes.

Keeping with the semi alliterative ‘Tr’/’Ch’ motif, give Charlie Cunningham’s While You Are Young a spin. Definitely not the first time he’s appeared in this newsletter, but I just can’t keep him away. This song closes out his excellent debut album Lines. He’s got a magical plaintive timbre to his voice, he plays his guitar with an economy of expression that makes it hit better, and I just all-round adore his sound.

Let your hours go to waste / let your night turn to day

Take it easy,