Roast and Learn Together - February 2014 - Page 5

#41: Post by **TomC** » February 23rd, 2014, 8:33 pm

Anyone interested in electing a green and taking the reins for March, please PM me, or post your interest here. All I want is an interested person to raise their hands. We can hear bean suggestions offline.(please keep your post short- I'll likely just go back and clean up the replies so this thread stays on topic).

Dave, Ed and I will chose who'll do it and let folks know.

Thanks

#42: Post by **Andy** » February 23rd, 2014, 8:47 pm

Boldjava wrote:This is an excellent Kenyan. Loved it and I am not into Kenyans.

Wish I could say the same. I really want to like it, but am not satisfied with any of my attempts. I have a little bit left so I'll give it one more try.

February 24th, 2014, 1:19 am

IF you can tolerate (and enjoy) a slightly darker roast, I wouldn't give up on this coffee at all. Its a great Kenyan. I love Kenyan's, but I keep my intake on the lower side, because the can be overwhelming.

My thoughts are that your modified Poppery isn't allowing the complexity of the Kenyan (that most Kenyan's display) to be brought forward in a pleasing way.

Keep your charge weight on the ever so slightly higher side, and be willing to run the roast slightly longer, at a very slightly lower power level than what you've done on your best roast so far, and see how that cups out.

Kenyan's are like little brass balls bouncing around in a roaster. On one hand, you can't be too gentle lest you risk dulling out all that makes them interesting, on the other, if you hit the surface of the bean hard, you're going to end up with a coffee that is underdeveloped in the center and over roasted on the surface, leading to uninteresting, underdeveloped coffee that also tastes harsh and roasty. Not a good combination, especially when you already have all the other crazy cornucopia of flavors within a typical Kenyan bean.

#44: Post by **Andy** » February 24th, 2014, 10:26 pm

TomC wrote:IF you can tolerate (and enjoy) a slightly darker roast, I wouldn't give up on this coffee at all. Its a great Kenyan. I love Kenyan's, but I keep my intake on the lower side, because the can be overwhelming.

My thoughts are that your modified Poppery isn't allowing the complexity of the Kenyan (that most Kenyan's display) to be brought forward in a pleasing way.

You're probably right about the popper, Kenyas are always tough for me to dial in. I will follow you advice when I roast the bit I have left. Then I may have to get more....

February 25th, 2014, 8:11 pm

Best Results:

Is it the 25th already? I've gone through about 5-6 batches of this coffee on the Quest, and I believe I settled on the following profile 3 roasts into the bag.

Batch Size: 175g
Charge Temp: 400F
Drying End: 6 min, 305F
1stCs: 9:15 min, 377F
1stCe: ~11:15 min, 400F
Drop: 12:30 min, 414F

Tasting notes
Aroma: blackberry jam, muscovado grapes, grape skins, complex floral character. Taste: blackberry, deep grape, with brighter citrus and citrus zest as cools. A hint of astringency on a couple cups of this profile last go round, but not a problem on this latest batch. Found sweetness to be especially high, and it paired well of course with the bright acidity. I actually played around with longer mid-phases in early batches to up the sweetness; however, the results were never as pleasant as this profile.

I love Kenyans, and while I usually do prefer a bit more citrus to round out the cup than I got here, this is a beautiful coffee. Great choice.

Cheers,

#46: Post by **TomC** » February 25th, 2014, 10:59 pm

Andy wrote:You're probably right about the popper, Kenyas are always tough for me to dial in. I will follow you advice when I roast the bit I have left. Then I may have to get more....

Kenyan's will never be easy to roast, ever. The ones that don't present much of a challenge are probably not worth the money invested in the green.

For an air popper, I'd learn to explore the amazing varieties of very forgiving Guatemalan coffees. They tend to taste well at many roast levels and are more forgiving to tricky equipment that doesn't always do what you want it to.

#47: Post by **johnlyn** » February 26th, 2014, 1:30 am

On the Behemor I have settled on the following:

12 oz batch, p1 setting full bore (or as full as a behemor will go).

1Cs will be around 13 + mins
1Ce will be 1.5 minutes later
Drop will be one minute after 1Ce

It is working out in the espresso machine, however, it really comes to life brewed in the Bonavita. Fresh, lively, floral and sweet. Stays wonderful even to the bit that has gone cold in the cup...

March 6th, 2014, 5:26 pm

Roaster - Hottop B-2K with variac

ROAST #2
I targeted a drop at 2:15 after start of first crack

Charge weight 182g
Charge temp ET 300 F  
Turn point     1:03 - 167 F
First crack    8:18 - 354 F
Drop          10:32 - 382 F
Yield         157g
Weight loss   13.7%
Quakers - none

NOTE - my thermocouples read 30 degrees lower than most others. As noted in this post at Sweet Maria's, I have virtually identical readings as Barrie. We both have identical Omega probes installed in the same location on our Hottops.

Evaluation
Brewed this in the Yama vac pot today, 3 days post roast. This bean definitely tastes better than other Kenyans I have roasted / tasted. This has a nice balance between acidity, fruit and deeper flavor notes - glad I got 6 pounds!