A Blind Roast

Eyes wide shut-that's how Gerry Leary roasts coffee for the Unseen Bean. Blind since birth, Leary relies on smell, sound, and passion to the perfect the art of coffee

By Jordan Salcito

YOU CAN LEARN A LOT ABOUT COLOR FROM A BLIND
man. Master coffee roaster Gerry Leary-who's been blind since birth-roasts beans by feel and color.

"Red and black are hot, blue is cold," says the founder of The Unseen Bean Inc., a Longmont coffee roasting company. Measuring the precise temperature of a bean is where art meets science in the delicate craft of coffee roasting.

On a 1994 trip to San Francisco, Leary was sipping coffee when he heard what "sounded like a giant rock polisher-like pebbles falling on tin." That riot of noise came from the cafe's in-house roasting machine. The owner-whose tiny shop required him to be in several places at once-roasted coffee beans mainly by sound and smell. That sensory discovery jolted Leary, at that time an auto mechanic, in the direction of a new career.

Years later, with a certificate from the Coffee Training Institute near San Francisco in one hand and a talking thermometer in the other, Leary set up his own roasting company in Longmont.

Leary christened his business The Unseen Bean (friend Elizabeth suggested it in jest and it stuck) and created a logo-a sketch of his seeing-eye Labrador, Midnight, wearing sunglasses and sniffing a steaming cup of coffee. Clear-faced bags labeled in braille and typed lettering show off the jewel-like beans.

Custom-roasted to order, the specialty beans are organic when possible and shipped the day they're roasted. One such roast is a Panamanian-Ethiopian blend called "Passion," which is velvety, rich, and complex. Bursting with hints of chocolate, amaretto, and smoke, a cup is irresistible and intense. As flavors swirl across your palate, passion perfectly sums up Leary's secret ingredient-the one that separates his beans from all the rest.

The Unseen Bean, 303-772-1154, www.theunseenbean.com.