Paulig: Roasting coffee with renewable energy

Roasting coffee requires experience: it takes a true professional to smell and see when the roast is just right. Paulig boasts plenty of this experience. Finland’s favorite coffee, Juhla Mokka, and other familiar Paulig brands are roasted in Vuosaari, Helsinki. Since August 2015, the coffee beans have been roasted using renewable and 100% Finnish energy: Gasum biogas.

Roasting for just the right flavor

100% Finnish biogas is used by Paulig specifically in coffee roasting. Gas is led through piping to the roasting machine where air is heated with a gas burner to a temperature above 500 °C to roast the coffee beans. In the roasting drum the coffee beans pop and crack for 5–8 minutes until their temperature reaches 180–240 °C.

– The roasting time depends on the roast level sought. The flavor of light roasts is more acidic than that of dark roasts, explains Paulig Operations Director Jani Reilimo.

Biogas introduced as an all-in-one solution

– Introducing biogas was an all-in-one solution for us, says Reilimo.
No additional investments in equipment were required because Paulig switched to biogas from natural gas. The properties of upgraded biogas correspond to those of natural gas, and biogas is suitable for all the same uses as natural gas.

Cutting emissions towards zero

Beans for around 100 million packets of coffee are roasted every year at Vuosaari.
– The switch to biogas reduced our annual carbon dioxide emissions by almost 2,700 tonnes – an amount corresponding to annual emissions of around 1,300 gasoline-fueled cars.

Thanks to biogas and wind power, 92% of the energy consumed by the roastery is renewable. In the future the figure can rise to 100% as cooperation between Gasum and the Helsinki energy utility Helen Ltd has also made district heat produced with renewable energy available on the market.

Care for the environment has been an important element in Paulig’s corporate responsibility work for a long time. Paulig has also made a commitment to the promotion of sustainable development in the coffee chain by participating in the coffee & climate (c&c) initiative enabling coffee farmers to better respond to climate change.