I can name four formative tastes. The first was in late 2009 at the Blue Bottle stand in the San Francisco Ferry building. My first coffee there was a latte, and I found it flavorful and mild. It was also the first time I'd seen latte art. Soon afterward I had a straight shot of their Hayes Valley Espresso and found it drinkable all on its own. It was rich, almost sticky, and had stone fruit. I don't remember much more of that shot. One of their baristas pointed me toward this site.

Later my wife and I visited Seattle and Hal Perry took us to a Zoka cafe where I drank a shot and about a minute later a strong and unmistakable taste of lavender emerged. Wow. Coffee could taste like this?

Added: Rob, are there ways that you tune a roast and/or extraction to reveal a strong flavor note like that lavender?

Another add: I first tasted the full complexity potential of coffee at Chris Tacy's (aka malachi) legendary H-B San Francisco cupping table back in about 2010. There were many fine coffees at that table and a Panama Esmeralda Geisha roasted by Tim Wendelboe that blew away all the others.

The first time I tasted good coffee was in 97 or 98 when I tagged along with a sales rep for Opto22 industrial controls when he visited Diedrich (I was providing tech support to the sales force at the time). The receptionist was very apologetic for the drip they had in the waiting area, it had been roasted during a class a few days earlier. Prior to that I had no idea there were flavors in there other than 'coffee' flavor.

drgary wrote: Added: Rob, are there ways that you tune a roast and/or extraction to reveal a strong flavor note like that lavender?

I would say yes, there are some ways to hone in on or accentuate the flavor of lavendar if it shows up in the coffee, but sourcing a coffee with a note like lavendar is the first step (as I am sure you would agree). I would mess around primarily with the development time (depending on where your baseline hits obviously).

You also make a great point in talking about roast and extraction. Brewing/Extraction is such a critical part of determining what is accentuated or subdued in a coffee. One of the more important lessons I learned as a roaster was how to properly brew coffee! There have been times when I do work for clients who are doing quite a good job roasting, but their brewing practices are causing them to be unhappy. Then a roasting consulting turns into a brewing/barista consultation with some roasting elements tacked on.

Regards,

Rob

robhoos wrote:
For me, it was my first Natural Harrar when I started working in coffee that just tasted like pure blueberries

Speaking of blueberries, something always seems to come along and pick them out of my Harrar before I drink it. Any tips on intensifying that specific flavor in a bean that allegedly has that note?

Thanks,

Dregs

About 20 years ago, there was virtually no specialty coffee shop in my home town. I purchased roasted whole beans from Starbucks, and thought they were quality products. (S*bucks sold small bags of various origins, not-so-dark roast at that time.) There was also heated debate on BBS regarding the choice of beans: Should we buy big name brands, imported but stale; or we should go with the local roaster, fresh but vague on origin description and dubious green bean quality.

In 1999, I stumbled upon a specialty shop. The owner insisted its customers smell the dry fragrance of freshly grounded coffee, twice, before brewing, and he explained variety, regions, weather, soils and levels of roast. For the first time, I tasted the wild, mint-like flavors from Ethiopia Harrar. The slow pace in the shop was an isolated corner of a busy city, and the black coffee (coffee and tea only, no sweet treat in this shop) was three times more expensive than a cup of black coffee from nearby Starbucks.

I always wonder if I would still enjoy the same cup of coffee now, but this shop is long gone.

robhoos wrote:What was your most formative memory of tasting a coffee?

That was a few years back when my wife bought me some coffee from Carrboro Coffee Roasters. The proprietor is Scott Conary, who you guys in the industry have likely heard of. I was entirely uninitiated in terms of coffee at that time. The coffee was a Yirga Cheffe that blew me away. Although not my favorite type of coffee, the complexity of herbal and fruity flavors was like a horn of plenty being unloaded on me. Soon afterwards I had a Mexican coffee with a full load of chocolate, molasses and caramel. I had not realized that there was such a spectrum of flavors. Up until then, all I had was burnt, more burnt, or totally burnt. I was hooked. And usually, when I get excited about something, I try to do it myself. So I built myself a small roaster. I don't think it could get any more formative for me.

How have the experiments with some of the concepts presented in the book been going? I know some of you had said you were trying things out. I'd love to hear about your experiences.

For the past month I've been playing with several of my roasting parameters, recording the responses of my roaster, and comparing my consistency & reproducibility of the machine. For example, I pulled-out one of my previous "good" profiles: Dry/MAI/Development 3:30/3:30/2:10, and wondered if I could extend the MAI phase to make it sweeter, 3:30/4:00/2:10. Nevertheless, it's a new bag of bean, and now it is warm/humid spring instead of the blizzard/dry winter. It is challenge (and fun) to roast both target profiles, and to compare the tastes.

The five key parameters (Dry/MAI/Development/Total Roast times & Drop temperature) are interconnected and most likely I would have to alter at least two parameters at the same time. In the above example, if I change MAI, the Total Roast time also has to be changed. Anyhow, last weekend I ran two batches for our Roast and Learn Together - May 2015 , and here are the profiles (for SO espresso).


Roasting Info:

Bean: Tanzania Pulp Natural Igamba Mpitu PB, Batch #1, 357F FSSF-Rao 409F
Roaster: KapoK 500 sample roaster
Charge Mass: 227.0 g
Charge Temp: 357.4F
Dry/MAI/Development: 3:18/3:34/2:10
FC-start temp: 379.8F
Finish Temp: 408.6F
Overall Roast Time: 9:03
Weight Loss: 14.41%

***



Roasting Info:

Bean: Tanzania Pulp Natural Igamba Mpitu PB, Batch #2, 304F FSSF-Rao 409F
Charge Mass: 227.1 g
Charge Temp: 304.0F
Dry/MAI/Development: 4:36/4:05/2:28
FC-start temp: 377.1F
Finish Temp: 408.6F
Overall Roast Time: 11:10
Weight Loss: 14.80%

***

I had more liberal fan-gas combinations, and reduced the fan at the first crack start (1Cs) to counteract the expected RoR dip. Both profiles have the same drop temperature, declining RoR, and the similar development/total time ratio (per Rao). Obviously, the roast times of each segment are completely different. I'll update my taste notes later.

Still am waiting for the tasting update!
Would also like to know your highest MET during these roasts.
Best success!

Erhard

I was distracted by the FOTR and completely forgot to update this (and Jim's) thread. Taste-wise, none of the above two profiles were my favorite. In retrospect, I suspect my RoR during the development phase was too fast, and it had a hint of savory flavor. I was hesitating to use the descriptive words like "beef broth", but it might be as well the same taste as others mentioned.

I've been messing around with the air flow settings for the past few months, as well as tweaking other roasting parameters- charge weight/temperature combinations and power settings. There is a RoR thread over RoastersGuide (http://forums.roastersguild.org/viewtop ... ed794100cb ), and in this thread Jamestooill pretty much summarized everything I've learn in the past. (To be in prospect, I prefer City+ roasting level for both drip and SO espresso. Generally, weight loss was from 12.5% to 13.5% for drip, and 13.3% - 15.7% for espresso. The espresso was in Normal-Lungo range, 197F-201F, 25-30 sec.) Hoos' book provides a frame work to bridge qualitative descriptors to quantitative, controllable operation. For example, I wanted "sweeter and fuller body" but didn't know how to get there before reading this book. Now, I'd try to "increase MAI phase from 3:30 to 4:30" and see if I can get desirable results.

I break up my adjustment of power and fan settings into many pre-determined small steps, and during a roast apply these small changes at different time points to fine-tune the curves. For example, if I feel BT was rising too fast, I may cut off power from 32% to 28% slightly earlier in this batch to tame the heat. Similarly, if I feel it sluggish, I would still cut off power from 32% to 28%, just cutting off heat at later time point, (but not cutting heat from 32% to 25%). It gives me better control. My sample roaster is equipped with BT & ET probes, but no MET readouts. Since it is dual-walled solid drum design, and I only increase power in small steps during the early drying phase, I'm not worry about tipping/scorching (e.g. too high MET) in the early phase while heat input is increasing. In the above two batches, I reduced air flow post-1st-crack to counteract the RoR drop, but it might end up with too much heat remaining in the system. I've tried to counteract the anticipated post-first-crack RoR drop with air flow, without increasing power input. Not claiming fully successful though, but here are two of my recent roasts of the same bean.

In the following two batches, I increased air flow post-1st-crack, and effectively further reduced the RoR in the development phase. The batch dropped at 409F was too dark for my liking. The batch dropped at 400F was surprisingly good. It had medium-high air flow from the onset of the roast, and kept increasing till the end of the roast. The BT readouts at the first crack was shifted to lower temperature than my other batches, presumably due to the high air flow interfering. The SO espresso was well-developed, sweet, complex nuance, and (surprisingly) retained higher end notes (including floral notes and acidity), without any trace of savory taste. This Tanzania (400F) stands up against my personal favored Ethiopia perfume-chocolate bomb. The 409F batch was consumed as latte.