We're all very excited to welcome back an industry giant, Chris Schooley to our fold, to lead October's Roast and Learn Together discussion. Tomorrow, the coffee that he's chosen will be listed and linked here, since it doesn't go up for public availability until then. I don't know the coffee yet, only the origin, and I think it's going to be fun change of pace.

I'm expecting the participation to jump this month, so I want to remind everyone of the very simple rules for posting and sharing so it makes the thread easier to navigate and learn from.

1) List your roaster used, charge weight, date of roast in the first paragraph at a minimum.

2) Post your follow up cupping results in the same original post (feel free to update the thread with a new post linking your original if you wish to direct attention to your new notes).

And one new, simple request. Please be respectful of Chris's time and efforts, he has many, many irons in the fire and I'd like to make his experience sharing with us as positive as possible. I'd like to see more industry professionals contributing to the learning of our forum body going forward.

I think the best way we can do that is if you have a question or comment you want to direct to Chris specifically, let's make it as easy for him to respond as possible. Please don't bury his inbox via PM's here (where he might get very similar questions asked multiple times). Simply include any question or comment to him in the thread and if it's going to be included in a large post, how about we put it at the bottom paragraph so he can see them easier?

Have fun!

Our coffee this month might be a surprise to some. But after hearing the amount of work that Chris put in to narrowing down his choice, I have no doubt that it will be an interesting coffee.

Let's hear it for Brazil

Off and running, Chris will jump in shortly for an introduction to the coffee.

Hey all, I'm really excited to be participating in this group and looking forward to what everybody's experience is with this coffee, including myself as this is a Brazil that was just added this week and I haven't received my sample of it as of yet. I picked this coffee for 2 big reasons:

1: There are a lot of misconceptions about Brazil and what Brazil coffees can be. Brazils have always been one of the most challenging coffees to roast because they behave so differently from others, resisting the roast and then roaring ahead out of control. Also (I know I'm folding a lot of reasons into this one reason), with so much focus being put on convincing people that acidity is a positive attribute in coffee, it's become what many people think is the only positive attribute, and coffees such as Indonesians and Brazils get dismissed. I'm always of the mind set that specialty coffee is not just one thing, that there are many amazing attributes and profiles possible. I mean, what a bummer if there's not, how boring would that be?

2: It's a coffee that I haven't yet roasted myself. I wanted to have as similar of an experience as you all will with this coffee as possible. I'm very much looking forward to sharing my roasting and cupping results.

I'm very very familiar with coffees from Brazil, and have visited the area this coffee is grown and processed. I can tell you that this is one of the most forward thinking coffee groups in Brazil, really focusing on selection in ways that just don't happen generally with production there.

Please consider that this is not a winey or bright or crystal clean coffee, but its potential for sweetness is phenomenal. Think about sweetness in your approach to roasting this.

I am of course sensitive to the fact that this is a public forum and I don't wish to buzz market here, but I did write an article on roasting Brazils that I will include here. Tom and Dan, please please please tell me if this is inappropriate and I'll remove it.

Love talking about roasting.

http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/conten ... ng-brazils

ces

Just a quick question. I realize you've just received this coffee, but do you know if it will be available in Taiwan through any of the people who buy your coffees?

Mine was waiting for me when I got home tonight. First sample roast done at 10:30 before going to bed, I would like it to have enough rest to evaluate on Sunday. Profile and comments will follow Chris'.

I'm waiting for mine in the mail. Cant wait!
Are we all shooting for C+?
Do we approach a natural bourbon differently than a natural catuai?
Would it be correct to expect a nutty character? Based on my limited experience on Brazil, that would be my expectation, even though my best roast of a Brazil at a lighter roast was a natural catuai.

Waiting for mine too.

I received a Quest M3 with black drum and BT and MET probes from another member here (mfortin) around a week ago. I'm looking forward to joining in these roast and learn together threads. I will be going to pickup my order in the next handful of days.

I was hoping some other Quest owners would be able to offer some hints for this coffee. For high-grown, washed coffees, I feel comfortable pushing MET up to 500 F and getting a nice <10 minute city roast. In the name of simplicity, I've been following Rao's advice on constantly-declining ROR and just coasting around 500 F, getting me a slightly longer drying than ramp period, but perhaps I should complicate it. With a washed Guatemala, MET peaking at 530 got me a bit of not-necessarily-bad-but-not-desired cacao nib in the front palate.

In any case, presumably a pulped-natural Brazil can't take quite as much heat - both due to the processing and the altitude of growing. I suppose I can't expect vibrant acidity, so dragging out the roast a bit is not the end of the world, and I will ultimately want to roast it to maybe 410-415 instead of <400. So any idea what my max MET should be? Should I be trying to extend dry and aggressively ramp, or is that not necessary since this won't cup well short of city+? Is extending dry only a necessary technique for very light roasts (which would explain why the Nords love it so much)?

Looking forward to talking with all you knowledgeable roasters

1st Try Roasting Notes:
I tried to be "gentle". I used a low charge temp, lower gas through dry and ramp. Around 1Cs I cut back on the gas. I didn't like the steep drop in DeltaBT and was concerned with stalling the roast towards 1Ce, so I applied a bit more gas. I think I dropped it too soon, but I thought I heard 2C's and got worried. There were no 2C's in the cooling tray and the moisture loss is very low. I called it a City Roast.

1st Try Cupping Notes
Dry Aroma - hint of dark raisins
Wet Aroma - unripe apple, graham cracker
Break Aroma - nothing much
Flavor - could not distinguish any
Acidity - low but present
Finish - Narcissus flowers, this was the strongest flavor in any catagory.
Balance / Sweetness - balanced, no outstanding features some sweetness.
Complexity - lacking

I'll try an AeroPress in a few days and update this post.

I'm in on this one. A low altitude pulp natural can be a fun challenge.

I ordered 5# and will play around with a few profiles, including my now world famous 35 minute profile just for yucks and giggles.

My goal will likely be to bleed out most of the acid and see what other nuances I can coax out. I'd like to try and get a nice syrupy chocolate bomb if possible.