Since I missed out on the group Geisha buy, I thought I'd post this:

I've been avoiding the Geisha thing for years now, but in a moment of weakness, I bought 10# of Panama Esmeralda Private Collection Geisha Natural from Roastmasters. It's hard to believe that this bag of coffee in front of me cost as much as a new 50" TV, but I'm consoling myself with the notion that a recent auction of a small lot from the same estate called "Aguacatillo Geisha Natural ASD sold for --- wait for it --- $4,100 per pound!"




My roaster does 8# nicely and I hesitate doing off-size batches and guessing about settings. So the plan is to do (4) 1/2# roasts on the Cormorant and then an 8# batch when things get dialed in.

I'm actually thinking of selling a few bags at my coffee bar. "Tis the season after all. We'll see if New Hope is ready for an $85 12oz bag of coffee!

So this is the first roast:



I didn't make more than 3 heat changes and it coasted out fairly nicely. Next time I'll mark the settings, but I kind of have the 226g batch thing down on this roaster.

62 whole bean on the Agtron scale. Looks very light in the portafilter.

Made a few Americanos this morning. I was really hoping to not like it. That did not happen. I don't usually gravitate toward light-bodied coffees, but maybe my palate is ready for a coffee like this.

Not a big fruit bomb for a natural. Dry fragrance is sweet, spicy and very subdued. Medium bodied. Nice crema for a coffee roasted light.

Although there is a big lemon/lime note, the acidity is mild. It's more like lemon/lime oil or zest than a full blown citrus pucker. But it's the Jasmine that almost overwhelms the cup. I've never experienced this in a coffee, tea yes, coffee no.

I just pulled a shot to try some as espresso. Oomph! It's a really kick in the face. Keep in mind I do not normally drink light-roasted coffee as straight espresso. It's not at all underdeveloped or unpleasant. Just a lot in a little, if that makes sense. Still no pucker; it is not lemon juice. More like a flower pedal concentrate with a healthy dose of cranberry and a touch of clove. I wish I was better at describing coffee, but this is much different than anything I have had before so I do not have any frame of reference. If I wasn't already over-caffeinated, I'd have another.

Not bad for a conical burr grinder, simple lever espresso machine with no PID, pressure, flow, preinfusion or temperature control,

2nd roast this morning. I tried for a bit hotter to dry and lighter to drop.



Not sure what that big dip is. It's too late in the roast to be a crash. And the first roast didn't crash a bit. Probably the BT TC rotated out of position for a second. My BT probe floats and is really a best guess. I still haven't found a good way to measure small batches. You can see that the thermometrics between the ET and BT probe are quite different.

So far I like this roast a bit better, even though my first cup is only 2 hours off roast.

That coffee sounds amazing! It was really interesting to see your roast profile; I have been doing a modified heat soak and have never tried roasting a Gesha. Knowing that your approach worked well gives me a nice reference point. Thank you.

It really is super nice. Can't say that I'm happy about it. Last think I want is to get into a $45/lb coffee habit.

The Cormorant doesn't retain a lot of heat. I'd rather charge it lower and hit it will full heat from the onset of the roast, especially on the first roast. On the 5kg I will charge at 385*F and soak for a minute.

I rarely do back to back roasts on the Cormorant so I just use the initial gas setting to get me up the ramp. If I let it get too hot then TP will be too soon and it will look like I'm going to hit DE in 2:30. It's more a function of the "too fast" 2mm probes than anything else. So my SOP is more to manage the profile than the roast. As long as I get to DE and 1C when I want, I'm happy and the roasts are consistent.

Almico wrote:2nd roast this morning. I tried for a bit hotter to dry and lighter to drop.
...So far I like this roast a bit better, even though my first cup is only 2 hours off roast.

Man, I don't touch a Gesha until 6-7 days off roast. $45/lb? You are paying about $1.50/cup. How many cups we have all had at shops for $3.50/cup?

I don't typically rest coffees at all. But this one is clearly even better the second day. It will be fun to see how it progresses for a week.

Some people think nothing of dropping $45 on a bottle of wine that is gone in a few hours. A pound of this will last me two weeks and I'll enjoy it a lot more.