For those who may have somehow overlooked it, Brian refers to Jim's offer in Have Your Home Roasts Assessed.

So far, not a lot of takers. But for a Nekisse roast, I'll say whatever you want me to (non-Homer drool smilie here).

BTW, Rama won the homeroasting competition; so he should be judging, not submitting.

I guess all that coffee would explain why you're posting at 1:28 am. I had missed this offer and plan to take you up on it. It's kind of like going to the doctor though. I'm generally pleased with my roasts but fear the unknown. In other words, I'm awfulizing. I fear you'll tell me my roast tastes baked or stewed or otherwise unpalatable. Then I'll discover that not only are my roasts bad but so are my tastes. I've got too much invested in this hobby both financially and emotionally for that to happen. Still, I think I've got to do it. Do you have any recommendations about the coffee one should use? I like Sweet Maria's Moka Kadir - that's what I'm leaning towards.

Send me a successful roast of one of your usual coffees, along with 150 grams of the green.

bean2friends wrote:It's kind of like going to the doctor though. I'm generally pleased with my roasts but fear the unknown ... I fear you'll tell me my roast tastes baked or stewed or otherwise unpalatable.

This makes a good point. There are two reasons people send out roasts to be tried.

The first is that they are not getting the taste they want or expect, and don't quite know how to describe the problem or fix it. Having your roast tasted by someone experienced is the best way to solve this.

The second reason is what you describe; you are generally satisfied with your roasts but wonder if you could do better. Here you have options. You can order highly regarded coffees similar or identical to what you are roasting yourself and see which you like more. For instance, Klatsh, Metropolis and PT's sell green and roasted versions of their espresso. You could enter the annual HB or other competitions and see where you stand in relation to the community. Or you can send the roast out for a check up.

All of these options are good if you got into home roasting in order to roast top rated, state of the art, coffee. But if you got into home roasting for other reasons, for instance, to supply friends and family with inexpensive but good coffee; then this sort of checkup may not work -- it could be like sending a bowl of your prize chili to a cordon bleu competition. The best way to avoid this sort of misunderstanding is to say exactly how you use the coffee, what you like about, etc. Then I can taste and make comparisons based on the standards you want to follow rather than my own.

I'm willing to do it; but I don't know if it will work. If what I get tastes flat; I can't see how I would distinguish a roast that took too long from coffee that staled in transit. Therefore, you need to roast something that tastes good seven to ten days out. A light-medium roast for espresso will usually work; but with a brewing roast you should make sure of this before sending out the coffee.