Customer Project: Pull Caffé

Pull Caffé‘s roastery is located in the town of Yacolt on the eastern border of Clark County in Washington State and “really way out in the middle of nowhere,“ as Todd, who has been in the coffee business for over 32 years, tells us.

“Our PROBAT roaster was built in 1896. Not only is it the oldest PROBAT roaster in the world of this size, but it‘s also the only one still producing coffee in large volume,“ he passionately begins  his tale of how he came across his “dream roaster“.

In 2017, Todd and his team found the 13,000-pound “behemoth” in a farmer‘s barn in Serbia and what followed can be described without exaggeration as a rescue mission: “We felt it was extremely important to recover this piece of history. This 120 kg roaster has seen at least 19 US presidents and lived through two world wars. It is made of solid cast iron, brick-lined, and has an immense heat capacity, which I find particularly exciting from a roaster‘s point of view: all in all, my dream roaster.“

After a long and arduous journey with several obstacles, the roaster finally arrived at its new home in the USA, and Todd and the team immediately set about bringing the world's oldest wood-fired PROBAT roaster back to life. They meticulously restored it to preserve its antique appearance while maintaining its functionality. A friend dissuaded him from his original plan to sandblast the roaster, and today Todd is overjoyed that “his PROBAT“ has retained its original look instead.

A year after discovering the roaster in Europe, Todd finally got it up and running. Nevertheless, it took another four months before the first cup of coffee could be ceremoniously tasted. “We were overwhelmed by the nuttiness, and I immediately thought that this must be the way coffee used to taste. The combination of smoky aromas from the different types of wood we use to fire the roaster has ultimately created a flavor profile that is second to none.“

Pull Caffé is committed to tradition. In addition to freshly roasted, vacuum-packed coffee in cans, Todd and his team also offer sourdough bread from a traditional wood-fired oven.

Todd doesn‘t know what the future holds for his PROBAT roaster, but he is convinced that it will be around for much longer because it is not just a museum piece but a working roaster. And that‘s what is important for Pull Caffé: people can actually taste the history!