hankua wrote:OK Dave!

Would it be possible to get Nov. and Dec. coffee shipped in the same SM order?

That would offer the benefit of decreased costs for participants. Let me touch base with TomC and Farm for their thoughts as well as they would be next in the batting order.

B|Java

OK ... I'm in (as previously declared) ... will wait for formal "announcement" before I order from SM ... need to get some valve bags also.
Will see what happens with the Revolution 500 and it's arrival which may be late for the November Roast ... but will roast on the Gene and at we can compare apples to apples roasting. Looking forward to it ...

Dave ... thanks for leading the charge!

Steve

JavaMD wrote:... but will roast on the Gene and at we can compare apples to apples roasting. Looking forward to it ...

Dave ... thanks for leading the charge!

Steve

Ah, another Gene boy. Looking forward to comparing our limited profiling.

I will work up an announcement this morning with November and December's coffees. Tamarian, ready?

Lots of approaches out there for cupping and evaluating. I have cupped at several commercial roasters and all modify the SCAA forms to one that best works for them. I evaluate (not cup) coffees at days 3-5 (depends on my schedule and origin), prepping them as KONE pourovers or vacpots. Yemens and Geshas, I like to give them 6-7 days post roast for evaluating.

Thought I would put up my template for a beginning point for folks new to evaluating coffees more formally. Don't be bound by it. Use it for a starting point if you need ideas, but by no means be bound to it. Example only.

---

Natural Yirgacheffe Konga
Gopher cuppers. Curly (HGR), Michael, B|Java

Heirlooms, grown at 1900-2200 meters
Roasted to City on Gene, pulled 2:05 after initial first crack. (Stay well away from 2nd crack if you want the fullest flavors of the coffee)
Prepped on KONE/Hario, 60 grams coffee/1 liter finished coffee
24 hours rest
----
▪ Dry Fragrance - Pineapple, cherry
▪ Wet Aroma - Cherry tea, rose floral tea
▪ Acidity - Medium
▪ Flavor/nuances - Tart cherry/berry at front and moves to cocoa at the tail/back of palate. Completely balanced. Flavors are true, top to bottom.
▪ Body/mouthfeel - Soft cup, buttery (wonderful oils). Medium weight.
▪ Finish/aftertaste - Finishes beautifully, clean conclusion, resonant.

Score: 88.5 (I was tempted to bump this an additional 1/2 point but will stay with table consensus).

Thoughts? Not a fruit bomb but the fruit flavor is so pronounced and clean which lets the cup shine rather than just "fruit bomb." Cherry is a brilliant vein within the coffee. No fermentation tastes.

"Cherry chocolate" torte.
Big cocoa accent with cream.

----Grading system
88 and above: Superb coffee
87: Outstanding coffee
86.5: Buy range, distribution worthy
86.0: If I needed the origin, I would buy it
85.0: Missing an element
84.0: Specialty coffee but not recommended
80-83: Coffee
79 and lower: Thrown off the table

Boldjava wrote:I will work up an announcement this morning with November and December's coffees. Tamarian, ready?

Looks like my stealth monitoring of this thread has been discovered! Yes I'm ready, looking forward to it. Will be traveling a great deal in November, but will try to catch up.

I was thinking 2 months may be a better time frame than one month, but maybe we can revisit the time frame after testing Nov and Dec.?

tamarian wrote:Looks like my stealth monitoring of this thread has been discovered! Yes I'm ready, looking forward to it. Will be traveling a great deal in November, but will try to catch up.

Heavens, man, you are to easy to read <winks>.

I was thinking 2 months may be a better time frame than one month, but maybe we can revisit the time frame after testing Nov and Dec.?

Yes, we can reevaluate. Everything is up for grabs. I just felt it best to get some general guidelines up there and we can all contribute ideas for improvement.

Howdy,

I read and reviewed the 2012 roasting competition notes/videos and thought "this sounds like fun." However, I missed the 2013 deadline. Given the circumstances (and my lack of roasting skills) this will certainly be a better alternative.

I've been roasting on my HotTop for about a year, and on a recent 4 month road trip, I hauled around the roaster, and 20 odd lbs of beans so, what I lack in skills I hope to make up with dedication.

I typically order 10-12 different 2 lb bags from SM, and in some cases a 5'er. I've got the selected Guat, Tono Sanchez bean sitting...waiting...hoping to be next...just say go.

Go!

Great idea everyone. I'll be able to participate providing this is still going next spring.

Has anyone formed a preference between the different reporting styles of Nov and Dec?

I liked that Dec had a more organized/condensed reporting style. Yet I found myself going threw the whole (condensed) topic a lot looking for new info. IMO, Nov had a looser feel, so info flowed a little more freely. This might have been due to more participation though. I liked the "roll call" in the Nov thread too.

I'd like to bring up another suggestion, which is if you feel confident enough to report you best used profile please do! I'm sure reading between the lines/cupping notes a reader can deduce your favorite profile, but something along the lines of saying, "profile X worked best" would be helpful.