☕ Coffee ☕: Ingredients, Roasting, Grinding, Brewing, and Tasting

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Roasted today:
Guatemalan Finca Candelaria Bourboncito
Kenya kiamababa kii Peaberry

Think I hosed the Guat beans. Some look like they have tipping and some minimal scorching, and some just seem unevenly roasted. I had inadvertently watched the Bean probe temp and not the Environmental temp probe when I added the Guat beans, and added them a bit too hot. Thought they could handle it, but I guess not.
Think I did better with the Kenya beans. No tipping or scorching. Added these below 400º being the peaberrys and all.

Worried about the end roast temps. I am under the impression that if you don't hit 380+ that its not going to be good, but these both seemed to be needing to drop. I thought if I took them further itd just be to fulfill my desire to hit a particular temp, yet looking at the beans it seemed that had appropriate color and I sensed that they were ready. Hard to explain. Maybe it is just the nervousness of a noob roaster.

I asked the developer for the artisan software about the evaluations (Good,OK,Leathery, Flat, Acidic, etc) where those came from. He said based on observations by Jim Schulman on Home Barista .com. I couldn't find any specific places to look to find the particulars however.

It seems that I am getting a little better in slowing the roast and anticipating the 1C mark. Perhaps too much so based on the Guat roast.

Time will tell.

the only thing that I have to accompany my coffee is typically... work.

TD

Guatemalan FCB #1.png


Kenya Peaberry #1.png
 
jammin said:
^cateful w/the Yemen. They're super dry and can roast very quickly. That said, they can stand up to darker roasts quite well at times.

I often wonder what I'm missing out on giving them a delicate, light roast
Click to expand...

Very different flavor. Quite strong coffee flavor. Earthy and woodsy. A little bit of spice. Little acidity. Delayed bittersweet chocolate faintness. Most unusual flavors I've experienced in coffee to date. Wondering if I screwed up the roast.
Roasted 8 days ago, evening roast session.

TD
 
TrickyDick said:
Very different flavor. Quite strong coffee flavor. Earthy and woodsy. A little bit of spice. Little acidity. Delayed bittersweet chocolate faintness. Most unusual flavors I've experienced in coffee to date. Wondering if I screwed up the roast.
Roasted 8 days ago, evening roast session.

TD
Click to expand...

If you have the same yemen that I have from SM, that sounds about right. Earthy and woodsy. Thinking about it, it's like the Saison of coffee, kinda funky and different, but still coffee.
 
Yeah that's the one that I have. I'm wondering if it'd be better with a blend but I can't think what would complement those flavors. It's almost too bold but could be my brewing. I'm very disenchanted with the technivorm drip brewer. Been trying to get the hang of the clever brewer
 
^blend it with a fruity, DP Ethiopian. Those 2 would roast well together if you wanted to do a melange.

Blend it with some Sumatra for a traditional mocha-Java. Better yet, a PNG!
 
Dry process. The mucilage is left on the bean as opposed to a washed coffee (wet process). It's part of the reason they can be tough to roast. Systems that rely on direct heat can burn those delicate proteins/sugars.
 
Is this also called "natural" process?

By the way, guy on the artisan user email thread with a homebrew failed bed roaster is manually creating the curve he wants with the designer feature, then he has his PID follow the curve. I hate to take on projects, but this sound like it could be worthwhile.

TD

Oh yeah, melange comment. Did you mean mix up the beans and roast them together as opposed to blending the roasted (separately) beans?
 
Watched a you tube video of willem boot roasting his geisha coffee. He dumps at 351 degrees from what I gather in that particular roast. This is much lower than I would have expected. He also grabbed a few beans shortly after dumping and ate them, which as he said, was to catch a glimpse of what the coffee might taste like later, and to assess how brittle the beans are (but not why he cared about that). Anybody else do this?

I find that I now wish I had a sample port on my hottop.... Wonder if you could open the chute and quickly close it. I might try that in artisan control mode with no heat and maybe get a little tray to catch the beans and then return to the top chute just to see if it would work. Maybe could do a event button to open pause and close...

Also saw a guy made a fluid bed roaster that I might do a DIY stab at to try and get a PID traceable profile curve. That would be kick ass.

Last thing I need is another project.

TD
 
I usually eat a bean or two out of each roast. I don't know that it tells me a whole lot about the roast because it's most often one of the beans that gets stuck in the roasting drum which is most often roasted darker than the rest.

It's funny you mention that today though, the couple beans I sampled from the roast I just did during my lunch break (Colombia Herrera Finca Las Florestales from SM) tasted a bit off to me. Not sure if it's the coffee, the roast, or maybe just that bean wasn't as overroasted as most that get stuck in that spot. I figure I'll find out in a few days when I get a feel for the brewed coffee if it's a sign of anything significant.
 
That Maui mokka I have is now up on sweet Maria's, for any that are interested. This is the same stuff they sent me for free! I still have a half pound left to roast.
TD
 
Stocking up for my week of nights (on call) so I roasted four half pound batches last night. Three Ethiopia beans, and a Colombian (or is is Columbian?). After watching W.Boot dump beans at 350-something degrees, I decided to risk shorter roasts. I don't think from memory that any finished above 380. 360-370 final temps. I sort of suspect that I need to recalibrate my bean temp probe but no way that I know to do that. Also, I discovered that yes, you can use the bottom eject door on a hottop to sample the beans mid roast with a few caveats. First, upon closing the door, beans will get stuck and it will remain partially open dumping even more beans. You could manually raise the roaster off level to make the bean acclimate to the front of the roaster, then open door, and manually lower the rear of the roaster back towards level until you get a sample to drop onto the cooling tray, and quickly lift again before too many have dropped and close the door again.
Secondly, as if that first business wasn't tedious enough, you need to wrangle all the beans off the cooling tray to smell and inspect them, and then dump back into the top chute. It's simply not designed to be able to sample, and I think I'll just try to smell what is happening through the front top side vent, which actually seems to be pretty good at smelling what is happening without all the hassle that I just described.

Looking forward to trying the first of these lighter roasts tomorrow (since I'm totally out) with a 36 hour rest. Previously I had been under the assumption that there was something magical about 390° and having underdeveloped roast without getting to that temp. Time will tell.

TD
 
^keep me posted on that light Colombian roast. I did one yesterday as well. 9:45 total roast time. Short finish. Beans are super wrinkly. Hoping for the best as these beans aren't very acidic to start with.
 
Will do.

I have four options for coffee to drink tomorrow and I might pick the columbian. I have never much enjoyed commercial columbian coffee. This was my first columbian home roast. I think I roasted it a little further than the other Ethiopians I did that same night, maybe took to 185? Hard to see from the low rez graph I saved. Still on the light side though past end of 1C. That one was the Timana Florida I believe from Sweet Maria's. Thanks again for that hambela tip-off. That was the BEST of what I've had since starting to home roast. With 14.5 more pounds, lots more enjoyment to be had. I wish that the GCC site sent emails to members when something new was posted for sale. Rarely do they have anything, so again, thanks for that tip off.



TD
 
^i hear ya about GCC. talk about dumb luck - i hadnt looked at that sight literally in months and randomly i checked in for one of their best offerings. i roasted a nice ethiopian from sweet marias right after a batch of that. i was drinking it this morning and couldnt help but notice how much thinner the body was. the GCC is the glory hole of coffee sites :p

i used to think colombian was crummy coffee as well.. most the time it's mediocre at best. man im tell'n you though; when it's good, it sure is good. as with all things home roasting, you never know how your hand affected the roast though.


in the espresso world, people talk about the "god shot". its when you pull the perfect shot and moon/stars line up. it hits your lips and boom - "wow thats good". i've always speculated about the proverbial "god roast". i had one in iraq with my bread machine/heat gun roaster. it was a wet process ethiopian sidamo. the brewed coffee was 100% floral/rose petal with incredibly sparkling acidity. it was a great coffee to start with, but this roast was off the charts. out of 5lbs, i was never able to duplicate that product. i've had a couple other roasts that were similar in nature, that sidamo was once in a million. really makes you wonder what a coffee has within it that your roasting right out of it :p George Howell's philosophy on roasting is very blunt: whatever you do roasting only takes away from the terroir of the bean and degrades it's inherent quality. needless to say, he is a serious advocate of the light roast. i love the principle of everything you do to the bean needs to have a purpose though. if i had money to burn, i'd buy a lot of coffee from George - he really knows how to source and roast
 
Never heard of George Howell before. Where can you buy his coffee beans?

So the columbian coffee is really nice with a light to medium roast I think I said it was 383-385 or so when I dumped. Anyways, even after just about 36 hours since roasting, it is good. I'm not really great at writing tasting notes. This has changed my perception about columbian coffee for sure.
 
^sometimes temps can be tough to compare roast levels with as our systems are different. I usually hit 1C @ 383* but on my old hottop it was usually 391*. My Colombian should be working its way through my grinders hopper tmrw I think. Hope it turns out good like yours!


http://www.georgehowellcoffee.com
 
I'm pretty sure that my HotTop readings are off. I don't know if there is a way to calibrate or not. Since I did the "+" upgrade for the USB port, the temp graphs I'd done manually on paper were different temps than I was seeing with the artisan app. Don't get me wrong, I love the HotTop, but it's not perfect. The quest was a bit more than I wanted to spend. I'm thinking that the BT probe though is reading lower than it should be. This is based on multiple roasts where I'm seeing 1C beginning at a lower temp than it did before the upgrade. I have not complied any data to prove this, just an observation.

I'll look at that website. Thanks.
 
Well guys, I just finished spending 2 weeks travelling throughout Europe; in that span drinking more espresso then I have in my entire life. It was great and all, but by the end of it I just wanted a cup of SO Kenyan so bad!

In case anyone is interested/curious, here is a quick summary of what I found. Personally, I enjoy learning different customs and ways so maybe you'll find it interesting as well.

Germany: This was the one country we went to which actually offered drip coffee at a lot of places - not just americanos. The espresso here was actually pretty good - just about all espresso was made from an actual espresso machine. Latte's and Machiattos were freakin' delicious everywhere, and the coffee in general was a lighter roast.

Paris: Ugh, Paris. How can you go to a place serving a $2.50+ shot of espresso, only to watch it come from a machine just a few notches above a gas station cappuccino maker?!? The croissants were amazing, but the coffee was not. Also, want a coffee with your dessert if dining in? $9. For the "experience"....

Italy: Actual espresso machines - yay! Dark, dark, dark roast - boo! (to me, at least) But what do you expect from a place known for dark roasts. On the bright side, yes the drinks were just about all from an actual espresso machine, save the occasional small gelato place.

Switzerland: Kind of like Paris, many places were serving coffee out of machines. AND charging a lot for it (everything was expensive - a hamburger in Montreux? Starts at $26. And they complain they don't get tourists haha). This was a bummer.

I was so happy to be back home finally and brew up some coffee in the Chemex. I found a new love for espresso, but I sure did miss my brewed cup of coffee.
 
Here is a question for you guys though: any of you have a Kruerig-type Espresso maker?

While we were over there, our hotels had either the Nespresso or the Tassimo; we both preferred the Tassimo over the Nespresso.

It got me thinking about maybe getting one, just for the ocassional espresso. BUT the pods aren't cheap (especially when you roast at home) and you can't use home-roast because there aren't (good) refillable pods.

So, anyone have one of these? Like it?

Maybe there is a time and a place for it.
 
Just had my first taste of Kopi Luwak! My neighbor was given about 1/2 lb from a friend who just returned from Vietnam. He knew I'd appreciate it, so he gave me half! I was running short of time, so I just pulled a shot on my espresso machine and made it into an americano. The straight shot was a bit harsh, but as an americano, it was quite pleasant and smooth with a nutty and almost buttery finish. I was very surprised how much different it was by simply watering it down. I wish I knew what bean variety was used, but it came with no such info. Hopefully, in the next few days, I'll have a chance to break out the french press and try a bit in there.
 
This morning the wife expressed something intriguing to me: She wants to learn how to roast coffee.

So, tomorrow morning we'll give it a go. Her lack of wanting to hear me tell her how to do things coupled with my roasting instructions ought to make this a fun experience, I'm sure.
 
Finally got around to roasting with the wife; she was attentive and understood things. But once I started drawing graphs it was clear to me (from her sudden outburst of laughter) she thinks I'm crazy. So we kept it simple and did an 8oz batch of Ethiopian.

I never really thought too much about how many in-the-moment decisions are happening while roasting until I was teaching her. I explained a lot of procedural things, but she would always find something to ask me about, "why do you do that?" "how do you know when to do this?" (that's the tough one to answer) etc etc.

Looking at it through newbie eyes again, dang - roasting can be intimidating.
 
JonW said:
Just had my first taste of Kopi Luwak! My neighbor was given about 1/2 lb from a friend who just returned from Vietnam. He knew I'd appreciate it, so he gave me half! I was running short of time, so I just pulled a shot on my espresso machine and made it into an americano. The straight shot was a bit harsh, but as an americano, it was quite pleasant and smooth with a nutty and almost buttery finish. I was very surprised how much different it was by simply watering it down. I wish I knew what bean variety was used, but it came with no such info. Hopefully, in the next few days, I'll have a chance to break out the french press and try a bit in there.
Click to expand...

Are you the same Jon from ECC??
 
JonW said:
Yes
Click to expand...

Hah! I thought I recognized the avatar! I use the same handle on ECC also.



Had to drink crap coffee today since I got lazy and ran out of roasted beans. Blech!!! This was supposedly roasted by a Sarasota Fl coffee company. Pre ground stuff in a Mylar pouch that I picked up at a resort and never brewed with the in room Brewer. Have had worse, but priority one after I'm finished with work today will be roasting some proper coffee.

Once you dive into this rabbit hole, there is no turning back
 
TrickyDick said:
Once you dive into this rabbit hole, there is no turning back
Click to expand...

LOL, I've been down this hole before. I've been roasting for about 15 years. I started by doing my own blends for several years, then found that I really liked Redline from Metropolis Coffee in Chicago. I was buying their unroasted version of Redline called Greenline. I held steady with that for several years until about 2+ years ago I found a local roaster here that I tried and really liked their blends. I've since given up roasting and have been buying from them exclusively.

I still get the itch to roast, but my coffee drinking is somewhat 1 dimensional in the fact that I pretty much only do espresso now. I've got so many other things going on that it will likely be a while before I jump back into roasting.

Here's a pic of my morning ritual station:

LaSpaziale_and_Cimbali.jpg
 
Here's a pic of my TC/SC roaster. I actually have two of these, one digital and one analog. I built the analog one for my mother who used it for a couple of years, but she wasn't able to roast consistently with it and got frustrated doing it.

I love the fact that you can do up to 1lb batches in these things.

roaster.jpg



roasted_beans.jpg
 
Nice!

I will never have the luxury of a local roaster I suspect. I live in a wasteland of all things modern and popular. Amazon is a godsend.

FYI, SM has a bunch of Kenya beans and many are new arrivals!!! I just bought a crap ton! I should be good through Easter!!

TD
 
I had to drink a poor roast I did that I screwed up and it wasn't good so I added 1/4 tsp of pumpkin spice to the grounds for one mug of coffee. Turned out nice as a good way to save the beans.
 
Wife and I have the day off so we walked to Metropolitan Coffee. Funny we've lived a couple miles away from them for over two years but never been there.

Interesting place, and it was packed mid morning today. Got a cup of Kenyan they were offering and it was amazing. Once it cooled it was pretty flat but when hot it had great flavor.

I wanted to try a shot of Red Line but I had too much caffeine today so I couldn't fit it in.

I asked the baristas if they could sell me Green Line (the green beans for red line) but they said they don't do that. A little disappointing since they sell it on their website, but I was hoping to buy it without paying for shipping. Oh well.
 
HarborTownBrewing said:
I asked the baristas if they could sell me Green Line (the green beans for red line) but they said they don't do that. A little disappointing since they sell it on their website, but I was hoping to buy it without paying for shipping. Oh well.
Click to expand...

If the day comes that I get back through Chicago, I'll definitely be stopping there. I think their main roasting and shipping warehouse is actually in a different location now which may be why they were unable to sell you Greenline.
 
So last few roasts have been really great!

I have decided to just drop the beans when first crack is done, or mostly done. If the cracks get too far apart, like popcorn kernels, I'd rather have a few Not popped vs whole bag of burnt popcorn. So same with the coffee. Forget about the temps! Try to coast into the beginning of first crack without too much heat to shoot for 90 seconds or longer until dump. So far been working great!

TD
 

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