Real city roasts that scream with flavor are the one roast that I am struggling the most to achieve. I am perhaps confused about something. When roasting very light, should one still try to achieve the full amount of development time from the onset of first crack to the end of first crack, or does roasting very light simply imply that you proceed "normally" to the end of the first crack and then stop regardless of time (which would certainly stop well before the normal three minutes of first crack to the end of the roast cycle)?

Thanks

Hi Noah, I'm not an expert, nor do I know what roaster you are roasting on, but City roasts still need to complete first crack all the way and then progress a little after that. Beware with City roasts on a home roaster, especially a popcorn popper, because in my experience these roasts are under roasted and unbalanced. Very acidic and unappealing. Coffee still screams with flavour when roasted up until the first few snaps of 2nd crack and then cooled rapidly.

I hope this helps.

If you're using an un-modified popper, this will be very difficult to control... especially in the important drying phase. I've had success spending 5 to 7 minutes at moderate heat, taking the beans slowly up to yellow/drying (beans up to 300F), then using a higher heat up until the aroma gets a little sweeter right before first crack, then returning to a moderate heat throughout first crack. Dump the roast just as soon as you're convinced first crack has completed, then cool immediately!

CHAD

Without knowing the details on "how modified" your modified air roaster is, nor how controllable it is, I offer this: Most popper roasters are very fast, particularly in the critical early drying phase. If you can hold the environmental temperature to around 300-320 degrees until the beans begin to turn tan after the green phase, and slow it down enough to get first crack to happen no sooner than about 9 minutes along, it will go a long way towards allowing the beans to develop better later in the roast.

Most air roasters finish so fast that allowing the drying phase to occur before dropping the green flag and running the race to second crack is a big help.