First brew of this Kenyan this morning on the Clever at work was impressive, but a bit blunted in the separation of flavors. The intensity of the dry fragrance alone was a hint of how exciting this coffee can be. It might be the sweetest Kenyan I've ever had. The honey flavor is clear, distinguished and clean, not a ferment-y sort of sweetness. There's some dark tea notes and delicate spice that mixes well with the wonderful cinnamon note. Slippery mouthfeel with a very long, satisfying finish that develops over a period of time. Cools wonderfully into sort of a pecan, nutty note.

Once I noticed my setup issues with Artisan and connections, I decided not to run another batch with a different level of development, but I'll have to set aside a day where I can tear everything apart, redo it all, then run a few different profiles for the triangulation/impressions.

Finally got around to roasting the Gatomboya tonight.

Huky
350g
13% WL

Cupping notes to come in 3 or so days

johnny4lsu wrote:Finally got around to roasting the Gatomboya tonight.

Huky
350g
13% WL

Cupping notes to come in 3 or so days

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So, Johnny, what was happening with gas and fan between end of dry and first crack?

So, Johnny, what was happening with gas and fan between end of dry and first crack?

I increased the heat some right after DE and kept the fan around 30% on my variac until around middle of ramp...Then increased to 45% until FC.

Disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm doing

I'm really interested in how mostly everyone can extend drying phase so easy and then their ramp is really fast...Are y'all just mashing on the heat? I have plenty enough power left to do that if that's what most people do.

The main challenge for me is knowing when/why to use the fan vs heat and the combination. I'm getting better control of my huky everyday, but so much more to learn.

A cheap plastic lazy suzan and some stickers on the bottoms of my ceramic cupping bowls helped me do some simple blind cuppings of this coffee, 2 of one, 1 of the other. So far what I'm finding in my notes is that this is a coffee that definitely shines better with a more developed roast. I have graphs of the two profiles, one ending with 12% and the other 12.7% weight loss. The 12% is hollow and underdeveloped and is pretty easy to spot even blindly. The 12.7% is moderately better, tangy, floral , pomegranate and sweet but still slightly hollow in the mid palate and I think this coffee should be capable of more.


Here's an interesting thing to note. Seeing how similar at a glance the overall look of the profiles, except for the first profile is slightly longer and at a slightly lower temp than the second, still shows a significant effect in the cup. My first failed profile also clearly shows a stall towards the end. So, I'll build off #2 and stretch the development time even more on the next approach.

I have way too much grading to get through this month, so I've only had time for two roasts so far. For those who want the short version: I liked a classic city roast of this far more than a slow-start, fast-finish nordic profile (although that may be due to poor execution of the second profile).

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Roast #1: Classic city-roast profile

This was my first roast, and the coffee surprised me by entering FC sooner than I had expected.

Roasting Info:

Bean: Kenya Nyeri Gatomboya AA
Roaster: USRC Sample Roaster
Charge Mass: 400g
Charge Temp: 325F
Dry/Ramp/Development: 5/2:45/2:15
FC-start temp: 368F (!)
Finish Temp: 389F
Overall Roast Time: 10 min.
Moisture Loss: 14%

Profile Plot:


[BT=Red, Exhaust=Green, Gas=Blue, Fan=Yellow]

Cupping Notes:

Rest: 3 days
Brewer: Cupping bowl
Grinder: Lido 2, 1+4
Water: 150g, 200mL
Coffee: 8.25g

Dry Fragrance: Cloves, chocolate, blood orange, grapefruit

Wet Aroma: Rich, pungent, berries & grapefruit

Warm taste: Juicy, strawberry/raspberry/ruby grapefruit, milky body, lingering sweet/tart aftertaste.

Cool cup: Bruit, juicy, sweet fruit & lingering sweet finish.

Overall Impression: Excellent.

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As a comparison, I tried a Nordic, slow-start, fast-finish profile. This involved a stretched drying phase and a faster ramp, and a hotter, but shorter, development window. I have had good results with this approach for some Kenyans in the past, and I was curious to see if it would work well with this one. It didn't work out, but that be because I botched the execution somewhat.

Roast #2: SS/FF Nordic profile

Roasting Info:

Bean: Kenya Nyeri Gatomboya AA
Roaster: USRC Sample Roaster
Charge Mass: 400g
Charge Temp: 300F
Dry/Ramp/Development: 6/2:30/1, fc@367F, 379F
FC-start temp:
Finish Temp:
Overall Roast Time:
Moisture Loss:

Profile Plot:


[BT=Red, Exhaust=Green, Gas=Blue, Fan=Yellow]

Cupping Notes:

Rest: 3 days
Brewer: Cupping bowl
Grinder: Lido 2, 1+4
Water: 150g, 200mL
Coffee: 8.25g

Dry Fragrance: Cloves, oregano, sweet tomato, blood orange

Wet Aroma: Chocolate, faint berries

Warm taste: Clean, clear key-lime & raspberry, black tea, faint jasmine, black tea body, drying finish

Cool cup: Shifting towards gen-mai-cha flavors, some raspberry, still drying in the aftertaste

Overall Impression: I liked this profile significantly less than the classic city roast. It had less sweetness, especially in the aftertaste, and I missed the body that was present in the classic city roast. This may have been a flaw in the execution; perhaps another 15 seconds each during the ramp and development phases would have smoothed out the astringent, tea-like notes, and I think I should have kept the heat even higher during development to get it to a slightly higher finish temperature. Nevertheless, the classic profile tastes so good that I doubt I will want to experiment further with a nordic approach to this coffee.