Roasting Education

Discuss roast levels and profiles for espresso, equipment for roasting coffee.
edschlukebir
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#1: Post by edschlukebir »

I've been roasting on an original Behmor for 3 or 4 years. Basically, long enough to know, that I enjoy it, but also to know without a lot of hacks, I'm pretty limited in what I can do with it. So I am currently building a 1k drum roaster. I'm making some progress, but before I get finished I am wanting to learn more about roasting.

So what are the best resources for actually learning about roasting. I know a lot mention Rao's book, and I've watched videos. But curious what others have found most helpful.
Thanks

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TomC
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#2: Post by TomC »

Coffee roasting "education" is best self-learned. It's not what we like to hear, but it's true. Books like Rao's and Rob Hoos' are good for some background, but the actual learning comes from diligent practice, tasting and analysis, and repeat.

There's plenty of archived discussions and lessons right here on HB. There's also a great resource on how to roast coffee from the Mill City folks. If you haven't been following their Youtube presentations, you should.
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markmark1
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#3: Post by markmark1 »

+1 For the Mill City videos. It's really great information for free. I also paid for "Boot Camp Coffee" videos, worth it, I guess it was. Not really a lot of money either.

But there is no substitute for spending time with your roaster. You just have to be prepared to roast plenty of coffee to sub optimal degrees.

I personally would really like to take a cupping course.

pcof
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#4: Post by pcof »

Another +1 for the Mill City videos.

all the resources out there helped me get a good starting point, but in the end trial and error is the ultimate teacher. Keep track of your roasts so you can figure out what is working and what isn't.

I went from a behmor to a huky and now an older Primo T

Roasty
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#5: Post by Roasty »

Ask any local roasters if you can shadow them when they roast. I thought I had pretty great roasting chops, but when I did this, it really did a lot to alert me to some of my habits that needed to go.

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millcityroasters
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#6: Post by millcityroasters »

TomC wrote:Coffee roasting "education" is best self-learned. It's not what we like to hear, but it's true. Books like Rao's and Rob Hoos' are good for some background, but the actual learning comes from diligent practice, tasting and analysis, and repeat.

There's plenty of archived discussions and lessons right here on HB. There's also a great resource on how to roast coffee from the Mill City folks. If you haven't been following their Youtube presentations, you should.
Thanks for the mention, but I'll only clarify that "self-learned" doesn't mean "alone." All coffee education including roasting is a sensory driven process and your progress will be enormously quicker sharing your ideas and roasts with other coffee ...nuts?

A couple of hours sharing a cupping table with a couple of people is probably worth a couple of months of reading. You can watch the videos and roast alone, but that table is where inspiration and illumination become craft.

edschlukebir (original poster)
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#7: Post by edschlukebir (original poster) »

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Tom, I hadn't seen Hoos' book either, so I'll probably pick that up. Yes, right now, that is what I am looking for. Background, make sure I understand some of the concepts and theory, while I am still piecing the roaster together.

Yes, I have seen a couple of the Mill City videos, and will watch more soon.

I also appreciate the advice to try and watch, or even sit down and cup with some roasters. And would love to do that sometime too.

Moxiechef
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#8: Post by Moxiechef »

Is there something different to look for in cupping roast for espresso vs. roast for brewing?

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TomC
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#9: Post by TomC replying to Moxiechef »


Yes, a cupping roast is used to analyze the coffee in a very strict objective sense. Jim Schulman has aptly described cupping as how an arborist would analyze a tree. Not looking for it's beauty, but it's health. Typically, a cupping roast is only going to highlight the terroir of the coffee, not have it glossed over by roast flavors. in more developed roasts, be it for espresso or typical brewing, the roast flavors are often sought out to balance the cup or to tame acidity that may be unpleasant in high concentrations.
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Moxiechef
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#10: Post by Moxiechef »

TomC wrote:Yes, a cupping roast is used to analyze the coffee in a very strict objective sense. Jim Schulman has aptly described cupping as how an arborist would analyze a tree. Not looking for it's beauty, but it's health. Typically, a cupping roast is only going to highlight the terroir of the coffee, not have it glossed over by roast flavors. in more developed roasts, be it for espresso or typical brewing, the roast flavors are often sought out to balance the cup or to tame acidity that may be unpleasant in high concentrations.
I guess I was referring to brewing an espresso roast to analyze the quality of the roast before resting it enough to pull it for espresso. Versus cupping to analyze the quality of a green coffee.

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