Decaf roasting questions

Discuss roast levels and profiles for espresso, equipment for roasting coffee.
dogjamboree
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#1: Post by dogjamboree »

I did a search in this forum to find some general pointers on roasting decaf but couldn't find much. I'm wondering if anyone here can give me some tips? My big questions are:

For two identical beans, except one being decaf and one regular, if I've established a solid profile and finish temperature on the regular bean, are there some generally accepted things one would do to adjust a profile? I know the decaf beans will look darker at the same roast degree, but would I need to be gentler with the heat? Finish the beans at a lower temperature?

I'm cursed with a very low caffeine tolerance, and lately coffee has been playing havoc with my sleep, even though I only have 2 doubles / day. Normally I'm pretty dismissive of decaf, but I was at Heart the other afternoon and had an espresso there that blew away regular roasts from a lot of shops. Also, it didn't hurt that they had several hundred pounds of coffee out in front of the shop from Coffee Shrub, which got me to thinking that my recently purchased SO decaf beans are likely the same quality as theirs.

Thanks,

frank

Aaron
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#2: Post by Aaron »

I roast decaf with less heat and a slightly lower charge temp. Due to the decaffeination process the cell structure is not as strong so less heat is required. I also keep the roast light and finish temp similar to other light roasts. I've never roasted the same bean decaf and caffeinated so I don't have an exact comparison. Gentle and light and you should be ok.
“The powers of a man's mind are proportionate to the quantity of coffee he drinks” - James McKintosh

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kire612002
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#3: Post by kire612002 »

+1

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another_jim
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#4: Post by another_jim »

+ 2
Jim Schulman

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cimarronEric
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#5: Post by cimarronEric »

Cimarron Coffee Roasters
www.cimarronroasters.com

dogjamboree (original poster)
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#6: Post by dogjamboree (original poster) »

Thanks all!

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yakster
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#7: Post by yakster »

I've found that when roasting Decaf with the Behmor, that I can use a larger batch size of decaf coffee to get a good roast then I normally use with my regular coffee seeds. With your roaster, you have more real-time control so you can adjust your profile for decaf, but if you're looking to roast larger batch sizes you might give this a try. I typically roast eight to ten ounce batches of regular coffee and full pound batches of decaf.
-Chris

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Bodka Coffee
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#8: Post by Bodka Coffee »

+3