Antonee wrote:Wow! Great job. Can you share your strategy and heat and fan settings through the roast?

I already did.

Antonee wrote:Also what Kenyan is it specifically and where did you get it?

It's a Kenya Kirinyaga AA Uteuzi Jimbo that I bought from the GreenCoffeeBuyingClub.

Antonee wrote:I did a few batches the other day and also had my best roasts, by far, to date. I haven't got around to posting about it yet but will be soon.

Feel free to share your experience!

My mistake! I did read your post previous but had forgot that you specified your roast strategy.

So I've roasted quite a few batches since my last post but I'm been waiting for the beans to rest so that I could post some tasting notes along with the roast profile.

Here's one I did almost two weeks back on Jan 14.

The Bean

Rwanda Nyamasheke SWP. 150g charge.

The Profile



The Methodology

Here, I charged around 370f, with initial heat of 8.0a and fan at 0.5. I incrementally increased fan once Maillard began and touched heat only once maybe 30s before FC, dropping heat to 6.5a. I dropped at 424f which I believe to be well past FC (hard to tell from audible cues on this decaf). Here I'm going way paste the typical "DTR" at 29% but the result in the (espresso) cup, as described below, was great for me.

The Result

I didn't start pulling shots on this until it had rested for 10 or 11 days. Took me a bit of experimentation but what I settled on is 19g in a standard non-VST/IMS basket with a slightly coarser grind that you'd use in VST/IMS with a ristretto output ratio (I don't normally weigh output every time as I find it to be to much of a hassle, so I'm approximating here) between 1.5 and 2.0. What I am getting is super smooth, rich, with tons of body and great viscous mouthfeel. No bitterness at all with tons of chocolate and caramelly sweetness. If anything it's lacking a bit of complexity and maybe could do with a touch of acidity. I think this profile would be a great base to mix in 20-30% of something with a bit of character.

Overall I am very happy with this roast. Unforetunately I'm almost out of my 5lb bag of this coffee so hopefully I can apply a similar profile to my next batch of decaf (I have 5lb of Guatemala San Diego Buena Vista SWP Decaf and 22lb (!) of Ethiopia Sidama Natural Water Process, my first Crown Jewel from Royal).

The Learnings

Here is a summary of my learnings and observations from roasting 18 batches over the past month (most of this is well documented throughout this forum and elsewhere but I like to "trust but verify" "common knowledge"):

• The Rao constantly declining RoR profile is definitely a good place to start. Equally important is overall roast time and knowing when to drop.
• On a Quest M3 with my config (M3s style drum and copper tube mod) I am finding it quite easy to drive and "do" a Rao-style roast now that I have figured out the dynamics of the roaster. Initial heat and charge temp are the main control points for controlling length of roast. Amps seem to be directly related to the RoR (reduce amps = reduce RoR). The two fan profiles I have played with thus far (constant and gradually increasing after DE) don't seem to have much impact on the RoR profile. I don't have any real feel yet on how fan impacts the cup.
• "Longer" 11-12 minute profiles seem to work well for espresso with low acidity, more body, more chocolate and caramelly sweetness. "Shorter" 7-9 minute profiles seem to lean to more brightness, more acidity, and more complexity in the cup.

Quick post. I did a roast this morning that I thought turned out particularly nice.

The Bean

Brazil Daterra Catucai Natural.

The Profile



The Methodology

150g charge at 390f. I was aiming for a 9-10 min roast here. Some of my previous roasts were hovering at peak RoR for too long causing me to come in to Maillard too hot. I attempted to fix that problem by dropping heat a bit earlier than previous roasts. My plan was to charge at 9.0a with 0.5f, decrease to 8.5a at 60sec. Start increasing fan once dry starts; approx 0.5 increments every 60sec. 30sec before FCs drop to 6.5a and let the rest ride out for a target drop temp around 420f.

The Result

So this roast turned followed pretty much exactly the curve I was shooting for. 15.7% moisture loss.

I took this roast to a party in the evening and it barely got 8-10 hours rest. First I ground 26g at 3.8 on my Feldgrind, then brewed with 4.5 "cups" for 4m30s on my Hario Siphon. In the cup it was a bit bitter when hot. As it cooled a bit the bitterness mostly disappeared, gaving way to great sweetness and a pleasant acidity and generic fruitiness. My brother described it as nutty. I then attempted a second brew later in the night. Again 26g but this time with a slightly coarser grind setting of 3.10. Same 4.5 "cups" of water and a bit shorter brew time of 4:00. The result ended up super tasty. I shared this with a few other people and everyone loved it. Again super sweet and well balanced but this time no bitterness. Same pleasant fruity acidity. Really nice "buttery" mouthfeel and what I can only describe as "creaminess."

I also pulled about 6 shots of this using the standard double basket on my newly acquired La Pavoni Professional 2nd gen. I served these up as cappuccinos in small 5oz cups. I'm not going to comment on taste as I didn't really taste any of the shots myself but all of my "customers" loved it, despite the fact that the machine needs a new portafilter gasket preventing me from achieving a full ideal pressure profile.

A couple more roasts for posterity..

Roast 029

Bean: Ethiopia Sidama Natural WP Decaf
Charge weight: 150g
Methodology: Here I was just aiming for something close to a 4/3/3 roast ending about 415f.
Profile:

Result: I am tasting this now (4 days post roast) as a cappuccino (19g in, approx 36g out) and topped up with steamed milk in a 6oz cup. Well rounded, tons of body and chocolatey caramelly goodness. I don't detect any ashiness or roasty notes but not much acidity either. This is the last of this particular bean, but I'm happy with my progress in roasting. Still lots to learn though. I would have liked to get a touch more acidity.
Learnings: I seem to prefer these longer roasts of approx 10-12min total duration.

Roast 030

An example of how NOT to roast a Brazil.

Bean: Brazil Daterra Catucai Natural
Charge weight: 150g
Methodology: I tried to copy the profile from roast 028.
Profile: (I've included roast 028 in the background).

Result: As an experienced roast could probably have told me, and as I have learned in retrospect , roasting Brazils in the same fashion as high density beans does not a good roast make. I ended up with a bit of tipping but the result in the cup was ashy and a bit burnt both as espresso and Aeropress.
Learnings: Comparing the roast to the background, which was the Ethiopia Sidama SWP Decaf, you can see that I made the newbie mistake of not dropping enough heat prior to FC (in an effort to "recover") and carrying too much heat through development. I presume this resulted in the tipping and ashiness. Will try not to make this mistake again next time I roast a Brazil

I stopped roasting Brazils because I was never able to roast them properly. I know they can be good but my "standard" high grown washed profile just don't work with Brazils and I don't know how to approach them.

If you end up with a profile that works for you on your Quest please share it!

Ran out of the Catacui above but I did attempt a subsequent roast of another Brazil, Daterra Francisca Honey, a couple days ago. The result in terms of profile came out much better with a nicer decreasing RoR curve.

I wanted to reserve judgement until I'd let it rest a few more days but I did sample it brewed as Aeropress the day after roasting (I'm kind of impatient...). My initial impression was that although it was a generally nice well balanced, non offensive "coffee-flavoured," for lack of a better term, cup, I felt it to be a bit flat and unexciting. It did have a bit of pleasant acidity but I'm wondering if I can extract a bit more acidity.

Based on what I've read this kind of seems to be par for the course for Brazils. I've just been blending with my Ethiopia Sidamo Decaf which isn't bad. I'll post a profile for it later but I do want to try to roast a bit lighter and/or faster to see what happens. I still have about 3lbs of the Daterra Francisca left and 5lbs of Daterra Sweet Blue so lots of experimentation to come.

For what its worth I am so far really enjoying the Ethiopia Sidama Decaf I picked up which is good because it's a 22lb Crowl Jewel box from Royal! Easy to roast with my "standard" profile. I have experimented with a few different ways to roast it already which is fun. The great part is that this bean seems versatile enough to allow for this experimentation as so far I have got decent cups in each of my roasts.

Okay so here's the profile I was talking about in the previous post. This is a Brazil which I think turned out quite nice in the cup.

Roast 032

Bean: Brazil Daterra Francisca Honey
Charge weight: 150g
Methodology: Constant fan, RoR declining curve, 11-12 min total roast time with a drop temp of about 415f (5f lower than a previous roast which was slightly roasty).
Profile:

Result: So I just brewed this up using my Aeropress, 3 days post roast. Ground at 3.8 on Feldgrind (almost french press range). 16g, approx 1:15 ratio, 120s steep and 30s press. Total brew time 2:30. End result was smooth and well balance. Bit of chocolate, great sweetness, and perfect balance of acidity. No roasty notes or bitterness. Not real much going on complexity-wise but just a nice all-round comfort cup.

Here is my latest experiment with "The Soak" method. I read through the "Why do roasters turn heat off at charge?" thread and was intrigued as all my roasting to date has been full heat from charge. I do get tipping and scorching now and then with that method so I was looking for ways to try to avoid those defects without necessarily having to drop at a lighter roast.

Roast 033

Bean: Ethiopia Sidama WP Decaf
Charge weight: 150g
Methodology: Followed a previously successful strategy with this particular bean: constant fan of 1.5, 8.5a max heat, decrease to 7.5a 15sec before FC, decrease to 6.5a 45sec after FCs. Drop around 410f. The difference here is I drop heat to 0 at charge and then back up to 8.5a 90sec in.
Profile:

Result: RoR was flat through ramp but I'm going to reserve any judgement on whether or not that's a bad thing until after I've cupped. Roast seemed reasonable otherwise. I did break open a bean and chew on it a bit (as I normally do) and didn't notice any bitter or roasty character that I normally get. I also got some very distinct floral notes as well, so I have high expectations for this one.
Will update with cupping notes in a few days after beans have rested a bit.

Here is my latest roast using the soak method, which really seems to be working out well for me.

Roast 041

Bean: Ethiopia Agaro Qota Coop
Charge weight: 150g
Methodology: 60s soak, then Rao declining RoR with Full City finish around 10-11min.
Profile:

Result:
This roast didn't go as I had intended. RoR didn't peak as high as I wanted during dry so I bumped heat higher around 3:00. The resulting profile was basically flat through Maillard.

Due to my impatience, I pulled shot on my new 84 Pavoni Pro basically immediately after roast. Warmed group to 85c (per temperature strip). 14.5g in. Couple small pumps until firm then pulled through. Nice flecking and crema. Drank as cortado. Wow! Huge body and chocolate tones. No bitter or sour while drinking though I do get a bit of a sour taste in my mouth a few minutes after finishing the drink. I couldn't detect any acidity but I didn't miss it. Well balanced, round flavour profile and very satisfying. Perhaps the best cortado from my own roasts and perhaps one of the best I've had here in Vancouver, BC. Interested to see how this tastes up as a brew and as it ages.

Next time I roast this bean I'm going to use the same profile but drop a few seconds later to see if I can get rid of the sour aftertaste.