endlesscycles wrote:Now, I recognize the baked note in every roast, period.... just to a lesser extent in those that are well done.

I surely haven't developed my palate to that point yet. I don't taste any baked note it your coffees, Marshall. They're great examples of what I aspire to roasting myself. Your Yirga Cheffe and Gatomboya AA are amazing.

Terminology was slightly confusing, coming into the discussion with the internet home-roaster's definition of baked, versus their definition of baked: I've always believed "baked" to be a roast that takes 2-3 times as long as one's particular roaster is designed for (e.g. 20-30 minutes, when it should be 9-14), whereas here, their baked roast definition is a "stalled" roast. They were trying to extend out the roast during and post 1C, by letting the bean temps drop. At least, that's what I got out of it...

Baked is a flavor defect from roasts not progressing fast enough. It is something you can taste, not measure.

Luckily I was able to attend Cuptoberfest. It was quite an educational experience, to listen to the Bay Area professional coffee luminaries, Tom, and Mr Schooley.

For me it was helpful to taste what it is meant by "baked". It was actually unlike what I thought of it before. The "baked" taste was more like "ashy". Yes, from what I understood from the event, it was a stalled roast to obtain this kind of "taste".

Each roaster who attended the Cuptoberfest had to submit her/his roast to be evaluated by the group and sometimes critiqued. This part was also extremely helpful for personal feedback.

Ya, i liked that he defined baked. Because that word gets used so much, and all though he said the temp didnt actually drop on the "baked" roast, I bet it did(and the stock thermocouple just didnt pick it up). Because there was a definite flatness and acrid ness to it. I will slow roasts to a crawl on occasions, and its my opinion that if your temp reading is sound you can do that with out ill effect. With thick or poorly placed probes, a drop in bean temp can happen and the probe wont pick it up. So the roast is stalling with out you knowing.

This event was really great, and I felt pretty fortunate to be there. I dont think ive ever been in a room with this many talented roasters before.

*In fact I think im going to start a thread about one of the topics discussed while we were there.