I roasted 2 batches in my P1 yesterday. Cupped today. I tried 2 different profiles both ending at a BT of 425 degrees.

First batch: 115g green weight. 17% moisture loss. 236 deg. charge temp. I used my "regular" 4-4-4 profile on this batch (This profile seems to give me the best results in the cup every time when blind tasting).

Second batch: 115g green weight. 17% moisture loss. 241 deg. charge temp. I applied a little more heat than usual at the beginning (first 5 mins) and then hit 1C at 8:00. This roast was dropped at 11:00.

I blind cupped both batches this afternoon. The dry fragrance was sweet and a bit earthy. The first roast was really good. It was extremely sweet with lower acidity. I got a lot of chocolate notes. Slightly earthy but surprisingly clean. As the cup cooled I got some slight citrus notes.

The second faster roast was not nearly as good. It still had some sweetness but almost tasted a bit sour. The chocolate did not pop as much. I think this roast was underdeveloped. This has been what I've experienced with shorter development times in my popper with other roasts.

I didn't get any pepper notes. This week I will do a lighter roast and see how it cups. Overall, I really like this coffee and will try it in the Chemex tomorrow am.

I made a Chemex of this coffee this am. I don't know what happened but it was just awful. I prepared it the same way I do almost every morning (when I use my chemex). Is this possible? How could it be cupped and taste so good and then be so bad in a pour-over. I mean there was no chocolate, no sweetness....it was not good. Has this ever happened to any of you?

Since you asked about a pour-over, here are my notes from my first roast this month, which I brewed in a v60. (I didn't cup it, so I can't offer any comparisons there. I'll try to do an immersion brew sometime soon.)

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Roasting Info:

Bean: Sumatra Lintong Aek Nauli
Roaster: HG/BM
Charge Mass: 250g
Charge Temp: 325 F
Dry/Ramp/Development: 4:45/4:30/3:30
Finish Temp: 420F
Overall Roast Time: 12:55
Moisture Loss: 16.5%

Profile Plot:



Cupping Notes:

Rest: 3 days
Brewer: v60,
Grinder: Lido 2, 1 full turn
Water: 250mL, 200F
Coffee: 15g

Dry Fragrance: Sweet tobacco, tomato jam, cinnamon, cloves

Wet Aroma: Rice pudding, raspberries, lychee, cinnamon, hints of tobacco.

Warm taste: Savory, lightly spicy, and sweet all at once. Smoky dark chocolate, raspberry. Deep, creamy body. Slightly drying at the finish.

Cool cup: Getting sweeter and brighter.

Overall Impression: This was a delicious cup, especially given that I don't normally like drinking C+ roasts that much. It had a great balance between the bright and the deep tones; focusing on the acidity you might think you were drinking a good East African coffee, but this one had just as much to offer in its body and distillate flavors. I liked it even more than the sample roast I did, which had already made me a fan of this coffee.

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I also pulled a shot with this roast when I got home, even though it was really too late to be drinking more coffee. (I guess I'll be up late tonight!) Pulled as a single on the Caravel, with approximately 201F brew temp, it offered a very similar experience as the brewed cup, just in a more intense form. Sweet raspberries, dark chocolate and tobacco were the dominant notes, and the Caravel gave it the mouth-feel of heavy cream.

Tomorrow I'll try a lighter roast I did, which was more focused on brewing and less on performance as espresso. I'm frankly curious to see if the lighter finish adds or detracts from what this coffee has to offer. More notes to come!

Tuesday Afternoon Roast.
I roasted my first batch today. I hit first crack at 386F. Dropped at 420F. I wish I had waited a bit longer before ending the roast. After inspecting the beans visually they mostly are very mottled, which I am taking as a sign that I only took them to City; maybe City+. I thought I heard 2Cs starting but I think I got fooled. There were no snaps in the cooling tray as the beans came out. I did have a 16.6% weight loss, but I also dried the beans longer that I wanted; 7:26.

Wednesday Morning Cupping
This is the first time I really could say I tasted a tea flavor in a coffee. There was a strong oolong tea flavor ; 乌龙茶 along with a nice sweetness at all temperatures. It finished with a floral after-taste. Absolutely no weird flavors or harshness. Very drinkable but not very multi-dimensional.

I think I roasted the fruit flavors out of the beans. There was no chocolate note either. I used less beans and a lower start temp than usual to see if I could hit 6 minutes. I didn't succeed. I'll try again and tweak my roast. Shorter drying time, i.e. 6 minutes.


P.S.
Dear R & L Participants,
Could roasters list 1Cs temperatures too when describing your profile?

Very interesting results, SAS! I'm surprised that you tasted a dominant tea note, which is so far from any of my experiences with this coffee. I think you are probably right that the very long drying interval has something to do with it, if only because it is the most unusual looking aspect of your profile.

By the way, someone had mentioned before that they were interested in doing a roast exchange this month, so that people can taste the results of other member's roasts and compare notes. I'm happy to facilitate a swap, so PM me if you'd like to be included in the plans.

Have been getting to know my roaster for a week now and am enjoying it immensely - I wish I had a few more hours in the day and could drink coffee later than 3pm and still sleep at night I worked with another Sumatran coffee to practice and did my first roast for R&L late last night so I haven't had a chance to taste yet but had some questions so I thought I would post the roast details and add tasting notes later.



Roast 1 Info:

Bean: Sumatra Lintong Aek Nauli
Roaster: TJ-067 gas
Charge Mass: 250g
Charge Temp: 300 F
Dry/Ramp/Development: 4:05/4:25/2:55
Finish Temp: 402F
Overall Roast Time: 11:26
Moisture Loss: 16.4%

TP at 1:30
1Cs at 8:35 376F
1Ce at 9:50 387F

My tasting notes (added 9/16):

Disclaimer - just getting started trying to add discipline to my tasting/cupping, hoping the R&L will help me as I compare to what others are tasting.

9/10 roast to C+: 10 oz capp on 9/16 was very enjoyable, rich chocolates, nice finish, not getting tropical fruits. The smell of the ground beans is interesting and I can see where the "pepper" references are coming from. I can't quite identify exactly what I am smelling but I like it. I have enjoyed this Sumatra more than the previous one I roasted, but haven't been able to analyze very closely yet due to busy schedule over the past week.








I saw the same mottled appearance reported by SAS, and my roast looks pretty uneven to me actually. I would call it City+ probably based on finish temp and time 15 degrees higher and 1:36 beyond 1Ce. Would appreciate your opinions on that.

*edit* Grinding this roast was super easy on the HG1 and was similar to what I usually see with much darker roasts. My second roast hit 2C at 412F on my BT, so I think City+ is correct for this roast.

I also think I have a pretty low BT reading for the 250g charges as my 1Cs temps have generally been ranging between 375F and 384F. So I guess I will need to either calculate my drying phase based on a BT reading of 290F rather than 300F or add an offset value to my BT probe to compensate.

How much should I be worrying about TP time? I preheated the drum to 375F, lowered the gas and let the temp get closer to my desired charge temp of 300F then turned fan to 100% and gas off, charged at 300f and didn't adjust gas or fan until I hit TP, all to try and stretch TP beyond a minute which is what I was getting on my previous roasts. Is that a reasonable approach and is it a milestone I should focus on that much?

Thanks for the chance to learn!

tburres wrote: I saw the same mottled appearance reported by SAS, and my roast looks pretty uneven to me actually.

Thanks for confirming my results Todd. Nice photo too, my beans look the same.

tburres wrote: Thanks for the chance to learn!

Learning isn't over yet unless you used up all your greens, we're just starting with this coffee!

First roast of Sept. R&L 9/8
Roaster: Huky 500 Perforated drum
Charge: 1 pound
EOD: 6:00 - 301F
1cs: 9:33 - 382F (I almost surely misrepresent duration of first crack on this chart. I'm pretty sure I didn't have a 3 minute and 8 second 1st crack)
EOR: 428F
Dry/Ramp/Development: 6:00/3:30/3:30

9/12 tasting - 60 grams in 1 liter French Press, I did smell the green pepper slightly in the unground beans,
grinds smell: not noticeable
wet smell: barbecue sauce and white sugar (sweet) - this carried over to the coffee taste - especially hot.
So, barbecue sauce: worcestershire, brown sugar, slight ketchup. Also, leather. Hmm!

Here's my chart:

9/14/14 - tasting, 6 days post roast. 30 grams in Kalita Wave, 200f water. A very tasty cup, well balanced sweet and bitter. The grounds smell mostly of pine or cedar. I do notice an odd aroma in the wet grounds - a slight smell of soap. What is that from? A roasting error? Otherwise, I just get a clean well balanced cup?

9/15 - another surprise. I brewed 25 Grams, French press grind in Impress, 200 degree water, 4 minutes. This turned out to be such a fruity taste, I had to check to be sure I hadn't brewed up the Yemen Red Haraaz by mistake. I either learned something about grinding for the Impress, or resting this coffee, or maybe I just got lucky.

I just did 2 500 gram roasts with a charge temp of about 350F. Just for grins, I tried to hold one at a flat ROR and the other at declining ROR. I ramped up the declining ROR a bit at the end to get into a solid FC.





I'll cup these Sunday and see what happens.

My Roast 2 Info:

Bean: Sumatra Lintong Aek Nauli
Roaster: TJ-067 gas
Charge Mass: 250g
Charge Temp: 300 F
Dry/Ramp/Development: 3:40/4:30/4:00
Finish Temp: 413F
Overall Roast Time: 12:10
Moisture Loss: 16.4%

TP at 1:20
1Cs at 8:10 377F
1Ce at 9:20 389F
2Cs at 12:05 412F


Beans are much more even looking than the first time around.

Did I mention I am loving this roaster?

My tasting notes (added 9/16):
Did what I would call a pourover with my second roast from 9/12 - using a simple Melita Ready Set Joe and paper filter, 25g coffee ground fairly fine on my HG1, 400g water at 200F. I am getting some baking spice, cinnamon maybe and there is a faint fruit in the background, but I can't distinguish it clearly. Very enjoyable to me though.