I didn't get a chance the try the BMF, but in general, Brazils are almost always my base for blends.. Unless im doin' some "what Ive got left" blends.. Which can easily have something like a kenya for a base, and a sulawesi for body.(which btw was just not good espresso..lol)

DP Brazil Cerrado-Fazenda Aurea
DP Brazil- Fazenda Do Serrado
Brazil Ipanema Tree-Dried
Brazil Carmo de Minas - Fazenda Esperança
Dattera Farms-Brazil Yellow Bourbon
Brazil Ambiental Fortaleza

These are the Brazils which I have used fr espresso. I used them ALL as single origin shots, and the ONLY one which I didn't use as a blend base, was the Dattera Yellow Bourbon, for obvious reasons.

Its hard to pick favorites, because brazils make great espresso, whether SO or blended. The Fazenda Do Serrado was very good, as was the Carmo de Minas. I REALLY have been enjoying the Ipanema.. Ive still got roughly 2lbs. And I just finished a batch of the Fortaleza, which was also very good. Going by what I have used and liked in the past, some suggestions by homeroasters, as well as sweetmarias.. Most brazils make good blend bases and SO shots.. The sweeter, "competition level" brazils, like the Yellow Bourbon, might work, but I would want to have it by itself, whether extracted or brewed.

The Fazendao Do Serrado was/is in BlackCat Classic... Unless they have changed it since two weeks ago. just some fun facts.

GC7 wrote:Charles

I use a bit less starting mass (225-230 gm). I start the beans at 25' (167* on HotTop temperture probe) at full power. At 3' or so I put the fan on 3 for 30" and then lower to 2. About 2' before estimated start of 1C I lower heat to 7 and fan to 1. Generally with this profile I get the start of 1C at 10.5-11 minutes. As 1C gets rapid I lower the heat to 5 or 6 and let it go like that until about 1' or so before estimated 2C (I ry for about 4' between start of 1C and 2C) when I raise the heat again to 8 and wait for 2C. Generally with this bean I don't let it get more then about 10" into second.

Enjoy!

Thanks for this, I'll play with it. Why the lower bean mass, because its more responsive? I've noticed a lot of hottop users seem to go lower than 250.

I pulled a shot after 8 hours rest because I was curious. Very chocolatey indeed! Very low acid as well, or did I roast it too long? Seems like it would mix really nicely with east africans.

I look forward to trying it tomorrow morning.

Charles

After almost a year with the HotTop I am still expermenting and learning. I do think I will need to get a bean mass probe but until then I will make do on time, intuition, sound, smell and the internal temeprature probe. I did a few early on with 250 but the roasts seemed to take too long and I didn't seem to have options for controling heat at the beginning of the roasts. Even with 225 I seem to be on full power much of the time if I want to get to 1C within 11 minutes of so. I'd be curious if others would tell us if longer roasts are OK for brewed coffees especially. I want to keep bright fruity notes in my beans which is harder then my popper roasts.

This BMF bean is pretty easy to get right and keep that cocoa powder flavor with a sweet background of for me some orange zest in a SO shot. I've used this in a blend from 60% down to 40% while combining ethiopians and lately Yemen sharisi. 45% BMF, 35% ethiopia IMV and 20% Yemen is fantastic. I have one resting and waiting for next week of 45% BMF, 25% Yemen, 20% IMV and 10% Kenya Makwa (trailings left frm this great batch) hoping to get a bit more dried fruit and sweetness. We will see but this is exactly why I home roast.

Let us know what you get.