High/Low Grown Coffee and MET

Discuss roast levels and profiles for espresso, equipment for roasting coffee.
Goldensncoffee
Posts: 166
Joined: 10 years ago

#1: Post by Goldensncoffee »

Hi all,

I'm looking for some guidance with METs and determining whether a bean is grown high or low. I don't always see an altitude listed under the greens for sale. Is there a chart somewhere that shows all the different regions and whether they would be considered high or low?

Are there any guidelines as far as MET for high/low growns?

Thank you for any info you can give me

The roaster will be a Quest M3 if any of this is roaster specific

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keno
Posts: 1409
Joined: 18 years ago

#2: Post by keno »

There are some regional differences in elevation (e.g., Africans are high grown, Brazilians tend to be low grown), but the problem is that there are lots of exceptions. But luckily, you can actually tell the difference between low grown (soft) and high grown (hard) beans by looking at the center cut on the bean. I would make roast profile decisions more on the basis of observed bean density than the reported elevation, which may be incorrect or as you note non-existent.

Here is a link to an article about this that may answer your questions: The Naked Bean: Roasting to Perfection

Good luck with the new roaster!

Goldensncoffee (original poster)
Posts: 166
Joined: 10 years ago

#3: Post by Goldensncoffee (original poster) »

Thank you for posting this link Ken. I never knew that you could look at the center cut and tell whether it was grown high or low.

After reading his article I have another question. He says that fresh crop coffees need a 3-5 minute drying period. Don't we have a lower heat drying phase on all beans?

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bean2friends
Posts: 687
Joined: 14 years ago

#4: Post by bean2friends »

Goldensncoffee wrote:
After reading his article I have another question. He says that fresh crop coffees need a 3-5 minute drying period. Don't we have a lower heat drying phase on all beans?
I usually shoot for about 5 minutes in my Huky, a little longer for soft beans. Sometimes I go a little fast and end up with a 4 to 4 1/2 minute. I'd consider 3 way too fast, but when using a popper that's often what I would get.

Goldensncoffee (original poster)
Posts: 166
Joined: 10 years ago

#5: Post by Goldensncoffee (original poster) »

Yeah I dry for 3 mins or until I stop seeing steam on my current setup. I'm still a little confused by the article as he's advocating a dry phase only for certain beans (I could be misunderstanding). Are there any beans that don't or shouldn't get a 3-5min "drying phase"?