Thanks TomC & Boldjava - just added espresso tasting notes from the_trystero to the original post.

Roast 1: Gene Cafe, 226g charge, 119.0v, 464* setting
• 1C: 11.00 (very, very muted 1st)
• Turn down time/temp, 12.00, 456*
• Pull: 14:15
• Ended with FC, right on cusp of 2nd

Observations:
1. Heavy smoker. Unusual amount of smoke poured out 30 seconds prior to 1st. Time is normal but smoke seemed high.
2. High chaff.
3. Bean is tight. Needs more heat (both variac voltage setting and temp setting).

Espresso:

Shot: 15.5g/22.5g shot. Bright. Apricot, watermelon, some mint.
Cappuccino: 1 oz shot/3 oz steamed whole milk. Comfort heaven. Chocolates, chewing/bubble gum, apricot. Delicious.

Bamm, wham, thank you Sam.

Updated July 5 posting with first tasting notes. Roast and Learn Together - July 2014

Please put a link to any updated post or we are scrambling to find anything. Thanks.

Like others, I found this coffee a bit hard to work with at first. FC came early, and stopped way too soon; the ramp took much longer than I expected given my level of heat input; and the output was nasty looking, with highly variable color and many beans that had not shaken off the silver skin well after FC was done. But even my mistakes tasted far better than I expected when cupped, which made me more excited to keep trying. I have played a bit with melanging of my first, awkward roasts, but I'll hold off on discussing that until I feel like I've found the right balance. For now, I just wanted to share a city-roast profile that brewed very well today.

Roasting Info:

Bean: Yemen Mokha Ismaili
Roaster: HG/BM
Charge Mass:200g
Charge Temp: 300F
Dry/Ramp/Development: 5:30/4/1:30
Finish Temp: 399F
Overall Roast Time: 11 minutes
Moisture Loss: 16%

Here's a picture of the profile curve:



What was striking about this roast was how much heat I needed to use to get such a small charge to get through ramp in 4 minutes. This roast took 11 minutes, but I had the ETs up at 500 for as long as I could get away with it, to try and keep things going at a decent pace.

The results looked hideous, and required quite a bit of culling of defective beans.

Cupping Notes:

Rest: 4 days
Brewer: V60-01
Water: 200g at 200F
Coffee: 12g, ground at 1.0 turns from 0 on the Lido2

Dry Fragrance: Intoxicatingly rich, full of sweet spice and wood notes. Strongly reminiscent of good rye whiskey.

Wet Aroma: Cinnamon toast, caramel, hints of sandalwood and banana.

Warm tasting: Rich, rounded body. High tones were tropical, featuring banana sweetness, papaya and some pineapple. Smooth milk chocolate center. Crisp, pleasant aftertaste with just a hint of brie cheese, which I found pleasant.

Cool cup: Emerging pear and apple notes. Darkening body. Lingering aftertaste, with plenty of sweetness.

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Based on these results, I subsequently did a C+ roast, which I haven't cupped yet. My thinking is that a melange with the C+ dominating will work well for espresso. I'm curious to see whether adding the darker tones will improve the brewed cup, as it was already quite spectacular, all things considered. I'll report back once I've played more with wet blending, hopefully tomorrow.

On a sad note, my heat gun blew up yesterday, so I won't be able to roast again until I rewire a new one into the dimmer to take its place. Sigh. I'm really looking forward to delivery on my first commercial grade roaster!

[creative nickname] wrote:
Dry Fragrance: Intoxicatingly rich, full of sweet spice and wood notes. Strongly reminiscent of good rye whiskey.

Wet Aroma: Cinnamon toast, caramel, hints of sandalwood and banana.

Warm tasting: Rich, rounded body. High tones were tropical, featuring banana sweetness, papaya and some pineapple. Smooth milk chocolate center. Crisp, pleasant aftertaste

I don't think I ever smelled good rye whiskey, but I was just thinking, as I pulled 60 grams of my City+ roast for a pot tomorrow, what an intoxicating aroma. And, yes, banana, but cherry tobacco too. These beans smell so good they're worth grinding just for the aroma. And, yet green, they are very funky.

Yeah, the dry fragrance was the most exciting aspect of this roast (although the rest of it was good, too). Maybe I was getting a bit grandiose with the descriptors, but the balance of wood, spices, and smoke really said "rye" to me. I smelled a bottle of Bulleit as a comparison and, aside from the alcohol notes, it really seemed pretty close!

Your description of Rye whiskey is probably apt. I was just saying my experience with Rye is limited .... in fact ..... to Rock & Rye about 50 years ago.

Roast 2: 226g, 119.7v, 467* setting
• 1C: 10.40 (again, very muted)
• Turn down time/time, 11.40, 460*
• Pull 13:20
• Ended in a City +

Observations:
1. Soft cracks irritate me. Never know with a noisy Gene on muted cracks if I caught the crack or the "sloshing" of beans in the hopper.

Preparation:
1. 7 days off roast
2. 60 grams to 1 quart finished coffee, KONE/Chemex

Evaluation:
° Fragrance - toast
° Aroma - toast, bananas
° Acidity - too light, subdued. Doesn't support the cup. That is my error in roasting.
° Flavor, nuances - bananas, red plum, light leather
° Body, mouthfeel - soft, invites a chew, medium cup
° Finish, aftertaste - not overly lingering

Observations:
° Not sure this is a good profile at all for the coffee. Whole thing seemed muted in comparison to yesterday's excellent espresso. (Roast and Learn Together - July 2014). Everything is understated.
° Not impressed at all with my roast or the coffee. Let's attribute it to my profile. This one has me head-scratching - too high of heat lost the fruits and acidity?

Next steps:
° Will play with some melanges, leaving enough of the FC roast for some more capps.

This may be my favorite coffee ever. And it's a surprise. I typically don't roast like this. I had 60 grams of my City+ in a 1 liter french press this morning. The beans smell terrific, bananas and cherry tobacco and something intoxicating - perhaps rye whiskey - or maybe it's that cherry brandy I remember from the 60's. The ground coffee flavors the whole house. The french press left me smacking my lips - there was some kind of acidity there balanced with sweetness. It was almost like drinking a fruit juice. I love apricot nectar - maybe that's it. I followed a cup from the FP with an Americano of the melange (1/3 City+ and 2/3 FC+) and a modicum and steamed milk (this is the standard morning drink my wife and I have - keeps us from too much milk and gives us some of the satisfaction of espresso). This, too left me smacking my lips. The only trouble with this coffee is I want to drink it all day. I have added some Guat. I had in the freezer to my melange. I plan to try that in an Americano tomorrow. Roast and Learn Together - July 2014