Roasted on 4/21:

-Guatemala Finca La Soledad
-Brazil Yellow Bourbon, Santo Antonio Estate
-Ethiopian Amaro Gayo
-Bali Kintamani
-Aged Sumatra Lingtong PB, 07' Crop

Roasted on 4/23
-Espresso Monkey x2

All 200gram batches. Some recent discussion on the GCBC forum prompted me to try a slightly larger batch size to optimize bean mass agitation, but still have good response/control over the ramps. I normally run 170gr, so I jumped to 200gram. The small difference seems to be for the better.. Still plenty of control to get where you're going in a hurry, if need be, but agitation on the whole seems better. Of course, YMMV.

As an aside, when trying to roast more then one batch of a coffee, to the same degree(like I did with my the Espresso Monkey, 2 batches back to back), having a BT probe is a godsend. You can easily make sure your ramps are the same, and stop the roast at the exact moment you stopped the first one. Gone are the days of "yeah, that looks about the same", only to find out, its barely even close.

Just before I went on a holiday cruise I roasted on my KKTO Kit Roaster
As one roast 800 of Indian Monsoon Malabar as it requires 10+ days degas for the best flavour to come out

Today I roasted 2 batches of 600 gr

1200 gr of Sumatra Mandheling Takengon Organic (2 roasts)
I had 1400 gr of this bean but had to sort out 200gr of the inferior beans to discard
Size grading was also all over the place from large to smaller than pea-berry
This bean is definitely worth the extra effort as its one of my top 3 favourites

I was saving this bean for a special occasion and roasted it today for interstate visitors

KK

Blend, separate roasts
10 oz SM Ethiopia Organic Shakiso Sidamo "Maduro"
8 oz SM Brazil Joao de Campos Yellow Catuai

at 2 days.

These are my first current-crop roasts in close to 2 years. I've done some very occasional roasting but only leftover beans - - up to 2.5 yrs old. Some OK, some nasty.

This blend reminds me why I home roast. The Ethiopia stopped at 2nd (11 minutes.) First c. very drawn out b/ 6 and 9+ minutes. Intended to stop the Brazil at a few pops into 2nd, but extended that because it was putting out so little smoke/heat. Wound up going close to 30 seconds into a weak 2nd. (have to try this again!)

Result has been what I'd call "cheap-thrill espresso." Flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce. But wait. . .after the syrup lightens up, Tom's notes of "flame grape, plum skins, melon" start poking through. Still nothing close to subtle, but certainly complex.

My new roasting station. Very nice, but won't work in rain, snow, wind . . .

From Jim's recommendation I roasted a first batch of Rwanda Gkongoro Nyarusiza today. This is a washed mostly Bourbon coffee. Went with a just into city+ and will mostly likely use it brewed but will also try a couple shots of it after a decent rest period. This roasted very smoothly and the finished batch was very clean. With a 600gram batch I culled 2 beans before and none post roast! As Jim mentioned it does appear a little darker for it's roast level. But by the split skin color I think I nailed the roast.

Nice view, Martin -- just remember to pay attention to the roast

My brew coffee this week is El Salvador Finca Kilimanjaro, Aida Battle's farm and a COE coffee from SM. An awesome cup where it's hard to tell if it's Kenyan or Central. Unfortunately, no longer available, and I only bought two pounds.

Monday I roasted:

Burundi Kayanza Bwayi- City+
Ecuador Zumba Microlot-City+
Costa Rica COE #3 Calley de Cope- City+

All 200gram roasts. The Ecaudor might technically be a Full City.. I always called it full city when it was only a crack, maybe two into 2C, but apparently thats FC+.... It never entered second, so lets call it City++.

Im VERY excited to try the Costa Rica... The First COE I EVER roasted... I was a bit nervous when weighing out the beans..

farmroast wrote:From Jim's recommendation I roasted a first batch of Rwanda Gkongoro Nyarusiza today. This is a washed mostly Bourbon coffee. Went with a just into city+ and will mostly likely use it brewed but will also try a couple shots of it after a decent rest period. This roasted very smoothly and the finished batch was very clean. With a 600gram batch I culled 2 beans before and none post roast! As Jim mentioned it does appear a little darker for it's roast level. But by the split skin color I think I nailed the roast.

I tried this roast today and decided to roast another batch slightly lighter at a city level. Tom at SM had recommended " I think the Rwanda benefits from a little more roast, City+ to Full City, because my lightest City roast samples had a slight grainy note and astringency in the finish". Will see in a few days how the 2 roasts compare.

I prefer mine fairly light, maybe 30 seconds and 5 degrees more than a cupping roast.

Brazil Poco De Caldas - just to beginning of 2C, before it really gets going, but after the outliers start, ~435F.
Yirgacheffe Gr. 3 - I'm trying lighter here, just before the outliers of 2C, ~425F
Salvador Santa Rita - My cupping roast was pooched, so I tried FC at the beginning of 2C (~430F) to see how it pulls as a normale.

I'm stunned at how many different coffees you all go through in such a short time. I tend to buy a couple of 10-15 lb. lots because I burn through 2 or 3 roasts for learning purposes/major roast adjustments - this takes about 600-700g, and leaves a substantial amount for me to tweak, perfect and enjoy. Well, there's also the economy of scale - most of my buying is either through GCC or GCBC, where 15 lb. increments are the best value.

I can't help but read through some of your descriptions and ponder at just how much I have to learn before I can confidently nail roasts of such varied coffees the way they're being described here. I'm seriously impressed - it's really nice to have such a high bar set.

-s.

another_jim wrote:I prefer mine fairly light, maybe 30 seconds and 5 degrees more than a cupping roast.

That's about where my 2nd roast came out. Brewed a dripper of it today with only 12hrs rest. It stripped off the layer of roast flavor that the first batch had with no negative effects. Even with a modest MET I was surprised at how much roast flavor was present in the city+ of this Rwanda.