I gained my coffee chops in the "2nd wave" i guess, where the focus was on dark, caramel, chocolatey dark roasts. having been focusing on lighter roasts since getting an electric roaster that connects to Artisan, this is one of the few times i decided to go dark again (well, relatively dark, this is still pre-2C) and i love it.

Espresso was creamy, thick, syrupy, caramel and chocolate, just like how i remembered it haha. Tasted super nice in an iced latte as well, sweet, chocolatey almost like a mocha.

anybody else like dark roasted indonesians? What temp to do you drop at? How do you control the flick at the end? I usually crash first (i avoided it this time by cranking the heat for a short time) and then spike half way into 1c. Either way, seems like Indonesians are pretty forgiving of "un-Rao" curves.

There are a few beans that I also like in a darker roast. On my machine FC is usually around 200C, SC about 224C. So "dark" these days means about 220C. It sounds a little counter-intuitive, but I've been charging a little lower for dark roasts, aiming for a more shallow RoR the whole way to drop. Here's an example from Guatemalan bean dropped at 219C that came out really nice, smooth and chocolatey:

neat i need to experiment with lower charge temps to see how that affects my roasts. i have some guatamala on hand, so let me try to approximate your curve

dhdhk wrote:I Either way, seems like Indonesians are pretty forgiving of "un-Rao" curves.

Not from my experience. Quite the opposite. I have a Sumatra coffee that I have been roasting for a few years. It has a very hard natural crash; and if you want it darker, you have no choice but to let it flick...like the roast you posted.

It took me a while to figure out the roast plan for this coffee, but when I did, it just exploded. Sweet as can be with big fig, chocolate and peppery spice notes. If I let it "natural" roast it tastes hollow, vacant and ashen.

So yes, I like darker roasted Indonesian coffee from time to time, but if that roast is "old fashioned", then I'm out. I'm not in the camp that believes "roastiness" is a flavor note; it's a roast defect. But to each his own.

I've had a lot of challenges roasting Sumatrans well, but finally found success. I was reading Rao's latest CRBP book and used the gas dip process as described there. (Previous attempts at gas dip weren't successful for me).

This unlocked the best Sumatrans I've ever had with no crash/flick. I'm now dropping it at a light-medium roast level and the taste as a SO pourover is wonderful and not what you'd classically expect from a Sumatran.

Almico wrote:Not from my experience. Quite the opposite. I have a Sumatra coffee that I have been roasting for a few years. It has a very hard natural crash; and if you want it darker, you have no choice but to let it flick...like the roast you posted.

It took me a while to figure out the roast plan for this coffee, but when I did, it just exploded. Sweet as can be with big fig, chocolate and peppery spice notes. If I let it "natural" roast it tastes hollow, vacant and ashen.

So yes, I like darker roasted Indonesian coffee from time to time, but if that roast is "old fashioned", then I'm out. I'm not in the camp that believes "roastiness" is a flavor note; it's a roast defect. But to each his own.

I recall your posts about struggling with that coffee, but hard to find a specific segment about your final preference. What roast level would you describe your preferred explosion of flavor for your Sumatran?

My neighbor buys store bought dark Sumatran and I bought some green to try to compete. I find I like the earlier drops and the FC, but for the 3 varieties of Indonesian coffees I have, I can only get to Full City without roast errors, like too long or dip and flick. But with that gradual decline to full city, we both like the roasts.

Let me guess.. your indonesian coffee must be washed process.. in my experience with custom made 600gr roaster, i do shut off a little bit the air flow when FC start to avoid the curve crash too far.. and i fully open the air flow at the end FC to avoid the curve flick with 50-40% power and slowly down step by step the power until the end of roast..

I love what you are describing. Is there a way I can order something along these lines to refresh my memory?