Peppersass wrote:
It reads like more of a marketing piece for current and prospective roasted coffee customers, with very tempting descriptions of flavors that make the reader want to order immediately.

My first though was that I wanted to order some and try it. My second thought echoed yours. Especially considering the ethos of transparency that pervades this industry.

As someone new to roasting, I look forward to following this topic.

I ended up getting a bag each of the Balsam and Mountain to see if his roasts wow me. I don't expect to learn what that breakthrough* is, but if they are as good as my last order a few years ago, I will look hard again at a 1-2 kg batch forced air roaster.

*of course, I'm all ears if forthcoming.

thanks for closing the loop!
Makes sense what you write, I have nowhere near your experience but did refocus to some (hopefully) important aspects recently, only time will tell...

Marshall it is great to see you back on the forum! I know I for one would be very interested to hear your latest insights on the roasting process, if you were willing to share them publicly.

Marshall has done more to validate the air-roasting methodology than possibly anyone else. I've seen his new roaster and I do believe it is a big factor in being able to do what he is saying. In this case, the actual methodology matters... Even more so that it is proprietary.


All the respect in the world to you Marshall for keeping quiet. It's pretty incredible what you've accomplished.

I miss @endlesscycles immensely

Because I stick with my own roasted coffee mostly and have a habit of splitting any pro roasts I get with a friend, I ended up with 125 grams of Black Balsam, Black Mountain and a Kenya selection each, roasted March 2nd or 3rd. I had 2-3 espresso shots of each, and am finishing up with the Kenya today and tomorrow. Because my partner likes cappuccino but not coffee of Kenya, she did not get any of the Kenya. She really liked all the 5-6 ounces cappas I made with the other two of Marshall's roasts. These coffees require a tight grind to extract, even the Black Mountain, which Mtn Air describes as their dark roast ( I am sure was quite a few degrees C below start of 2C). And finding that grind setting that extracts to a normale ratio yielded quite interesting shots, not underdeveloped, not baked. I should order again sometime and set most of one bag of Black Balsam aside and explore what deliciousness it offers at 8-10 days rest. I think that would be a tasty experience.

My impression is that fluid column roasting works for me, at least as Marshall Hance practices it.

Chert wrote:Because I stick with my own roasted coffee mostly and have a habit of splitting any pro roasts I get with a friend, I ended up with 125 grams of Black Balsam, Black Mountain and a Kenya selection each, roasted March 2nd or 3rd. I had 2-3 espresso shots of each, and am finishing up with the Kenya today and tomorrow. Because my partner likes cappuccino but not coffee of Kenya, she did not get any of the Kenya. She really liked all the 5-6 ounces cappas I made with the other two of Marshall's roasts. These coffees require a tight grind to extract, even the Black Mountain, which Mtn Air describes as their dark roast ( I am sure was quite a few degrees C below start of 2C). And finding that grind setting that extracts to a normale ratio yielded quite interesting shots, not underdeveloped, not baked. I should order again sometime and set most of one bag of Black Balsam aside and explore what deliciousness it offers at 8-10 days rest. I think that would be a tasty experience.

My impression is that fluid column roasting works for me, at least as Marshall Hance practices it.

I had Black Balsam from 3/3 reshipped to Aus and its very impressive. Very crisp, clean and sweet cup with no baked notes that I can detect.
Cupped blind against TW current Colom and MtAir for me blows it away.
Brewed in the Clever dripper, its delicious and the few shots of espresso ive pulled 16g / 1:2 / 30 sec have been very easy drinking light roast espresso.
Extremely well roasted coffee and easy to use.

Its puts every other air roast ive tried into perspective...and most drum roasts as well.

I'd be curious if his epiphany may have came out of a change of philosophy when it comes to roasting based on a BT profile vs an ET profile. I tripped across a post a while back suggesting profiling based only on ET and have been meaning to give it a try as the theory seems fundamentally stable. It's just been hard to give up the BT profile idea as that is what I have focused on for much of my roasting to this.

Timing first crack heat reduction