I just got a pound of Kauai 100% Estate Reserve Peaberry and was wondering how to best roast it. I am aware of characteristics of peaberry beans in general but was wondering if anyone had any specific thoughts on this particular coffee. I see the producer (Kauai Coffee Company) also offers a medium and a dark roast, indicating to me that those would give acceptable results in the cup. I personally lean more towards medium than to dark, but I am open to hearing any suggestions.

Many thanks in advance.

nixda wrote:I just got a pound of Kauai 100% Estate Reserve Peaberry and was wondering how to best roast it...

I have roasted all the island beans. I roasted and evaluated them for about four years running. I was looking to locate and support island/US farmers for distribution of greens. I totally gave up on the Kauai and Oahu beans. Just nothing there to go after.

Not sure of your heat application within your roaster. Stay at about a city plus, measuring out 415-425, depending on your BMT probe placement.

Gentle is the key.

I just got a 1# sample of Kona and found it to be startlingly unremarkable. No bitter, no sour, no taste. Just nothing. I had to wash mouth out with a nice washed CR.

Unimpressive results aside, I tend to find most Hawaiian coffees less dense than any other given counterpart in places like Central and South America. Even for peaberries. That being said then, I'd reduce my ET slightly, and hope for the best. Vague descriptions I know, but most of it depends on how your roaster performs.

There's two somewhat opposite sides of perceiving how best to roast a Hawaiian coffee in my opinion. One side of the argument could state, there's very little acidity and sparkle in the crop, so keeping the roast short, low on development in aims to preserve as much of this as possible would seem logical. However, there's a counter argument that could say, since the beans are relatively dull to begin with, maybe most of what will make them intresting to drink will come not from the cultivar characteristics themselves, but rather from the roast notes applied via a longer maillard and post first crack development phase.

Good luck, and I'll be interested in hearing your results!

Thanks all for the useful information. I'll probably then go for faster roast a few seconds into SC.

I also got a small sample of roasted beans. I don't know yet what that was, because my friends just came back from their trip and aren't quite approachable yet... In any case, that one didn't taste half bad; almost like an Ethiopian but subdued.

Anyway, I'll let you know how it turns out. But first I'll have to go through the El Salvador Santa Isabel that I just roasted.

Thanks again!