Another Bloody Under Developed Ethiopian - Page 5

#41: Post by **culturesub** » October 7th, 2021, 10:25 pm

baldheadracing wrote:It has been my experience that really expensive coffee is invariably roasted the same way; a light roast for filter coffee. There's relatively little of the coffee so a professional can't do a battery of test roasts to figure out how to best roast the green; they may roast the coffee once a week, for a few weeks. As such, it is unfortunately not rare to experience the title of this thread - under-development. I've been disappointed a few times, but I do try to buy extremely expensive roasted coffee at least once a year.

On the other hand, my smallest roaster (machine) can work with 75g of green coffee at a time. If I buy a $60 pound of green coffee (Abu Geisha), that's six roasts to learn and improve on. Do I feel comfortable buying 10kg(22lb, $1320) of that coffee and roasting it ten times in my "pro" 1kg roaster? No freakin' way ...

However, this is my daily morning cup at the moment: https://aidabatlleselection.com Twenty-five pounds was $300. The exact same coffee roasted by Panther, a well-known roaster, is $35 for a 12oz bag - of Nordic-light filter roast. Let's say I wanted a light-roast for espresso instead of that light filter roast. Pretty much the only way to get that is to roast it myself. I'm not roasting to save money.

(Some roasters will sell you the same green coffee that they roast. Some will do it after you build up a personal relationship with them; there are not-a-few roasters that started out roasting at home. Some roasters make it part of their business, like klatchroasting.com It is a great way to benchmark one's progress as a home roaster - or, in my case, lack thereof )

Greens at those levels have been picked, sorted, prepped, groomed, whatever, to shine on the cupping table. In competition, they're all getting roasted in sample roasters in the same way. It is not that difficult to replicate such a roast. Yes, such a roast is probably best experienced with a simple immersion brewing method like cupping or Clever Dripper, and cupped/drunk in comparison/contrasted with other coffees, and definitely blinded to avoid confirmation bias. However, I'm not buying such coffee for my daily morning cup; I'm buying it to experience some of the best coffee of each year.

Panther Coffee is closer to Starbucks then it is to a Nordic light roast.

#42: Post by **Chert** » October 7th, 2021, 11:07 pm

Cringeworthy this thread

October 7th, 2021, 11:10 pm

culturesub wrote: Panther Coffee is closer to Starbucks then it is to a Nordic light roast.

Their roast of Aida Batlle's Cascara process last year tested lighter than the subscription filter roasts that I've had from Tim Wendelboe.

#44: Post by **pcofftenyo** » October 8th, 2021, 12:59 pm

Brewzologist wrote:Tom; agree with your comments about supply chain disruptions wreaking havoc right now. Pardon if I'm missing the point you are making, but to me excessive quakers, tipping and scorching are quality control problems during roasting of a medium espresso blend, not supply chain issues. And IMO that is a consistency issue that's in the roaster's control to address.

Tipping and scorching are in the roasters domain but I think that Quakers are largely attributed to up-stream issues (picking, sorting/processing, mill or farm lot blending, or just outright grade 3 or 4).

My high end "estate lot/pedigree" Ethiopians don't have quakers when grade 1 and very few if grade 2.

When I buy a grades 3 or 4 I expect quakers particularly if they're mill lots (which are a blend from the local small farmholders) but I only buy those grades for specific reasons: usually its quality/flavors/value.

October 10th, 2021, 1:06 pm

Chert wrote:Cringeworthy this thread

To those that see in absolutes with respect to roasting and great greens:

I live in AZ and have access to the best rattlesnakes. There are snakes outside of AZ though. When trying to compare the difference between a Mojave and a Western Diamondback be aware that things aren't always as they seem.

To the old timers here, some things are just best left to rattle.

#46: Post by **culturesub** » October 10th, 2021, 6:19 pm

I've read that like 6 times and still have no idea what it means lol

#47: Post by **mkane** » October 10th, 2021, 8:34 pm

^^^you'll get it with time.

#48: Post by **culturesub** » October 10th, 2021, 9:00 pm

I truly hope I never do.

#49: Post by **mathof** » October 11th, 2021, 9:19 am

cafeIKE wrote:...customers love all that acid for some reason even though you can't possibly choke down more than a cup.

It seems to me that acid in espresso is described as bright by those who like it and sour by those who don't. Am I missing something?

#50: Post by **ojt** » October 11th, 2021, 9:42 am

mathof wrote:It seems to me that acid in espresso is described as bright by those who like it and sour by those who don't. Am I missing something?

I would agree, as someone who prefers bright coffees

I describe it sour it really is under developed or I messed up the brew.