Sweet Maria's DP Ethiopian Koratie

[IMAWriter]

Toms 92+ score is, IMO an understatement. (I can't compare this to the WP, which I didn't order)
This bean, even for an Ethiopian roasted very unevenly in my Behmor, a usually outstanding tool for getting even roasts out of beans like this.
My answer?...who cares?
Even with roast colors ranging from city to light full city, the coffee I brewed has been nothing short of awesome. In a different way, as delicious as the beloved Misty Valley and Biloya.
And THIS was after only 4 hours. The beans were smelling SO good, I HAD to
Both vac pot and Aerobie Press were so good. Extreme blueberry/light cocoa, and none of the wild side I thought might be there. At this early stage, not anything much in the citrusy area. No biggie.
I would recommended drinking this bean early on as I did, then compare notes each day thereafter.
Even with this lighter roast...well short of 2nd crack, I will be trying this as espresso around day 8 or 9...if there is any left. I'm roasting more tomorrow.
Sure, there are more "elegant coffees", but holy cow, this is just great stuff.

Roasted in the Behmor 1600
14 oz load @1#/P2/B
30 seconds subtracted prior to start, 45 seconds added after. First crack at 12:17 elapsed time.
First crack length 1:16 seconds (Total elapsed time 13:33)
Roast allowed to continue 2:30 past the end of 1st. Stopped 16:03 elapsed time, then into cool down cycle, allowed to cool for 8 minutes in the machine.
Note... I open the door of my Behmor at the end of 1st crack for 2-3 seconds. Not sure it helps, it's a holdover from lifting the "lid" during my CO/UFO roasts to attempt to "stretch' time between cracks.

[IMAWriter]

Oh yeah...TONS of chaff

[pauljolly65]

I agree that it is one special coffee, Rob. The fruit is nearly overpowering. I'm still drinking some I roasted eight days ago, and there's no citrus--just tropical fruit & blueberries. Amazing stuff.

The WP is really good, too, but in a much more subtle way. Being able to cup the same coffee processed both ways has been a lot of fun. For espresso, I tried a 50/50 mix of the two, thinking that it would be a good balance of wet- and dry-processed. I wasn't that impressed. But I've loved cupping the WP. It's refined, for sure.

Cheers,
Paul

[IMAWriter]

Paul...I've now vac pot sampled it both black and with a bit of 1/2 and 1/2...the way my spousal unit prefers her coffee.
hard to believe, but the berry essence is even stronger with dairy. After 10 hours, sampled black, there is the barest essence of bergamot (sp?) (Earl Grey like flavor) That Sidamo thing thing when light roasted.
Let me know what you think of a short double shot (1.25oz) of only the DP.
Enjoy.

[IMAWriter]

OK...looks like I'm talking to myself
5 days after roast impressions.
A slight strawberry essence has crept into play.
Overall, the coffee has taken on...shall we say a more "austere" presence. A bit more refined, and pulled together, which, I guess is common for many coffees that set up best after several days. It's not better
per se (that first brew only minutes after roasting were amazing), but more balanced perhaps.
What's most unusual for me, a straight double, no milk guy, is how this coffee is strangely comforting and desert-like with a bit of 1/2 and 1/2...no sugar.....yet
As vac pot is a alternate brew for us, I may order the even higher rated WP of this coffee. Supposedly, it is very fruity, brighter and cleaner.
Thanks for reading. Hope you try this!

[cannonfodder]

It is a good batch. I got 5 pounds a week ago and roasted up a blend of 50% Ethiopian, 30% brazil yellow bourbon peaberry and 20% aged Sumatra. Very fruity, almost too fruity. Next batch I will cut the Koratie down by 15% and bump up the Brazil 10% and the Sumatra 5%. It is a darn good coffee and makes a good espresso. I don't like it in milk, it still works but louses its sole.

[IMAWriter]

Dave, you said "I don't like it in milk, it still works but louses its sole."
OK..."louses" I call a typo, but "sole?"...sounds fishy to me
Kidding aside, I believe I you nailed it...too fruity...the upped Brazil and reduced Koratie should be the ticket.(not that I'm an expert..LOL)
I just roasted a blend similar to yours...post blended.
50% Brazil Cochiera (FC)/20%Koratie (C+)/20% Sumatra triple pick(FC)/10% Guat Antigua(C++)
None but the Brazil into 2nd crack...barely
Hopefully my Cremina will be back home. As that subject is OT, I'll post THAT story soon. Amazing.

[scalla]

Hey Rob, do you usually use P2 for lighter roasts? My lighter lighter roasts with the Behmor, using P1 and P4, have tasted grassy. Using a profile similar to P2 was suggested by a friend so I'm just curious. Thanks for posting the roasting info with evaluation. Very helpful.

[IMAWriter]

Dan....once again, it depends on the hardness of the bean, and the charge in the drum.
For whatever reason, P2 sort of resembles the curve I used when roasting with my CO/UFO combo.
I did get to 1st crack sooner with the combo...usually around 10 minutes on average. I actually would manipulate my temps to get there at the time, as I liked the results better than 12 or 13 minute ramps to first.
Not necessarily so in the Behmor. 11-12 minutes to first in P1 is great with Guats and such (hard bean)
I'm getting fond of P3 for espresso blends (preblended)
I reduce the charge to 13oz, leave the times alone. of course, I'm not shooting for Vienna roasts. I pull my espresso roasts (except when I mess up!) at or just before the 1st snap of 2nd...I might hear a snap or 3 at the beginning of the cool down mode. Just my preference.
I believe roasting for Full City +, etc requires some temperature manipulation that, quite frankly I don't need to do. The simplest thing is just to reduce the load a bit.
My earliest comments about the 1600 (made after I beta tested for Joe, as I spent 7 months with the roaster on the QT) were that this roaster did an awesome job in the city+ range...very even roasts, especially with beans that normally don't roast evenly...Harrar, Yemeni, etc.
I do like my full city roasts too, I just don't get they way as often as I used to, except by accident!
Has anyone else noticed that roasting in a behmor retains more moister in the bean? (less weight loss)
Also, I notice that even with degassing in 1 way valve bags, 10 days later, I still have considerable bloom.
Interesting.

[cannonfodder]

Dave, you said "I don't like it in milk, it still works but louses its sole."
OK..."louses" I call a typo, but "sole?"...sounds fishy to me
Kidding aside, I believe I you nailed it...too fruity...the upped Brazil and reduced Koratie should be the ticket.(not that I'm an expert..LOL)
I just roasted a blend similar to yours...post blended.
50% Brazil Cochiera (FC)/20%Koratie (C+)/20% Sumatra triple pick(FC)/10% Guat Antigua(C++)
None but the Brazil into 2nd crack...barely
Hopefully my Cremina will be back home. As that subject is OT, I'll post THAT story soon. Amazing.

Dang spell checker. I am roasting a new batch this evening with a different blend makeup.

[IMAWriter]

I'll be into mine on Friday...hopefully.
tell ya what, even with only 20% Koratie, I can sure smell it!

[shadowfax]

Hey Rob,

Just wanted to say that I got a 5 lb. bag of this stuff a little over a month ago after seeing your post on it. I've roasted it several times, tried it in blends (with ~ 50% Brazil Daterra Yellow Bourbon, ~25% Yemen, %25 Koratie), and as an SO espresso... Wow. It's a pain in the butt to roast. Really uneven, incredible ton of chaff, and plenty of quakers. I spend as much time sifting quakers after cooling as I do roasting a batch. I have done it at P3 and P1, usually cutting off just before a rolling second crack, which I've finally realized is maybe too much. Last Saturday, I roasted at P1 to just before the second crack (or maybe the very first crack... I have a noisy roasting environment, and sometimes it's hard to spot the stragglers on 1c vs. the first of 2c). Anyway, it was the lightest I have roasted anything in my Behmor, and I was really displeased with it on day 4, when I tried it for the first time as espresso. I tried it at a light and normal dose, at a few different temperatures, and all of them were overpoweringly light. Tolerable, but almost acrid. Today is day 6, and Holy cow! What a difference. The sourness is completely gone, and it's incredibly sweet and fruity. It still tastes like berry to me, but it doesn't have that blueberry oomph on the tongue... Still, I am not sure I would call it strawberry so much as blueberry and cherry without the sour kick. I love it--one of the best SOs I have had, right up there with a couple of Yemen Mokha Mattari's I have roasted, and CCC's Ethiopia Biloya.

Thanks for the tip!

[da gino]

I've been meaning to thank you for pointing it out, too. I was drinking a different Ethiopian from SM that they no longer had in stock as well as some of their blends and I was trying to decide what to order and after reading your post, I bought it and the WP and have really enjoyed both. They are probably my new favorite coffees (at least as straight espresso, which is what I love). I agree that letting it rest is important. Thanks for the tip!

[caeffe]

After reading through this it makes me want to buy some of these greens from SM.

But....
I only have the lowly I-roarst.

Is there a roast profile extrapolation from the Behmor to the I-roast?

I'm a newbie to roasting and have just recently started roasting more often - having only roasted probably 10x max.
So, it's probably a general question that may apply to not just this bean but to Behmor to I-roast - is there a decoder ring that I can kinda use?

[da gino]

After reading through this it makes me want to buy some of these greens from SM.

But....
I only have the lowly I-roarst.

Is there a roast profile extrapolation from the Behmor to the I-roast?

I'm a newbie to roasting and have just recently started roasting more often - having only roasted probably 10x max.
So, it's probably a general question that may apply to not just this bean but to Behmor to I-roast - is there a decoder ring that I can kinda use?

I'm using an iroast 2 with the following programming from a thread on Coffee Geek. I'm not an expert, but I really like the results and several others on that thread seemed to like it, too. I usually stop it some time between 11 and 12 minutes...

1- 3 min. 320 F.
2- 2 min. 365 F.
3- 2 min. 390 F.
4- 3 min. 410 F.
5- 5 min. 425 F.

It came from the following thread

http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/homeroast/219194

and was the post by "Jules_Gobeil"

[IMAWriter]

I've been meaning to thank you for pointing it out, too. I was drinking a different Ethiopian from SM that they no longer had in stock as well as some of their blends and I was trying to decide what to order and after reading your post, I bought it and the WP and have really enjoyed both. They are probably my new favorite coffees (at least as straight espresso, which is what I love). I agree that letting it rest is important. Thanks for the tip!

If the thanks was to me, you're a MOST welcome!
On a further note, I agree with an earlier poster about the difficulty in roasting this coffee. Like most Ethiopian coffee (and Yemen), it's a chaff monster, and the 'quakers" are numerous. yep, I pick out the very lightest.
I've been doing melanges with this bean. A city roast (60%), and a city ++, not to 2nd crack (40%)
Delicious whne pulled in my Cremina, almost overpowering berry and bittersweet cocoa. A double shot in 6oz of steamed milk is a glorious drink. I could imagine it frozen.
It's at it's best 5 days after roast, though right after the roast the city component is super blueberry.
This has been a great year for Ethiopian, especially after the bad Harrar year last year.

[da gino]

If the thanks was to me, you're a MOST welcome!...

Indeed it was.

[IMAWriter]

After reading through this it makes me want to buy some of these greens from SM.

But....
I only have the lowly I-roarst.

Is there a roast profile extrapolation from the Behmor to the I-roast?

I'm a newbie to roasting and have just recently started roasting more often - having only roasted probably 10x max.
So, it's probably a general question that may apply to not just this bean but to Behmor to I-roast - is there a decoder ring that I can kinda use?

Sorry for responding late. For some reason, I didn't get notifications till yesterday.
I see no reason why you can't have a wonderful roast with the IRoast. The Behmor roast is way longer, thus probably a bit better for evenness. Try to keep it light. You WILL have to pick some very light beans out, but keep the dark tan ones. That's where the berry comes from.

[Javacat]

Yes it is an interesting coffee. Not one of my favorites. Very intense grapefruit and a tad bit sour at a city roast in a press. Seems to easily get drowned out in espresso blends @ 20%. I never rested the blend past 5 days, so maybe I am missing out. I'll have to give it another try after resting it longer.

- Kurt

[IMAWriter]

Kurt. I really believe it may be how you're roasting it, perhaps?
You're looking for maybe city+, though it will be uneven. Tougher to get right in an air roaster, I bet!
Like many coffee's from this region, it takes several days for the roasted bean to "set up."
I've not tasted anything like grapefruit in mine. Are you sure you have the "Dry" (DP) process Koratie?
There is also a Wet process Korate that is entirely different, more citrus, as you're tasting.
Maybe the longer roast times of the Behmor, HotTop, etc get more out of this bean. Any comments on that supposition?