Ikawa Home Coffee Roaster.

February 6th, 2023, 4:40 pm

Alright im new to roasting so I invested in Ikawa Home Roaster (100g)

I used honduras, Finca Cual Bicocleta directly from Ikawa. I used 75 grams to roast both Filter and Espresso preset profile. But it tastes just bad. Bad to the point i regret purchasing a roaster and even attempting to roast. So i need help. Ive attached the preset roasting profile for this green coffee bean. What am I doing wrong? Thought i was going to get some edible coffee bean when using preset roasting profile but this is extremely bad.

For Filter i did 19grams in 290grams out. About 1:15. When its hot its drinkable but not enjoyable. But when it get lukewarm/cold, it tastes just bitter and extremely unpleasant

For espresso, i did 18g in 36 out. 24 seconds. Standard recipe for espresso. But it just tastes very sour and bitter. No body, sweetness and anything pleasant.

What am I doing wrong. What Can I fix? I really need some input.

My gears are: ECM Synchronika, Niche Grinder/Lucca Atom 75/ Ikawa Home Roaster (NOT PRO).

Please please help. Thank you in advance

#2: Post by **MNate** » February 6th, 2023, 6:04 pm

I think the beginner's approach is to do a batch at varying roast degrees until you find the general range you like. Use their supplied profile but change the roast degree. And I feel like most of us are using the ++ development for espresso.

There are just so many easy options, but you have to find what you like.

Of course some have taken a deeper dive and created their own curves, but for now, totally ignore the curve (it's not a Rate of Rise one you see in the roasting forums anyway) and find the east level you like.

February 6th, 2023, 6:12 pm

Thank you for the reply but honestly i dont even know where to change the roast degree. Are you talking about this?

So my issue is with not having any knowledge about how the heat/time changes the flavor of the beans

I.e i know that if my espresso is sour, i can fine up the grinds or coarse the grind and dose more for better extraction. But for roasting, i dont have any idea of how these development time/ roast degree changes the taste of the beans... what did i get my self into.. lol...

#4: Post by **mgrayson** » February 6th, 2023, 6:17 pm

Yes, those are the options for changing the roast profiles without getting the editor.

I found about 50% of the Ikawa supplied coffees gave results that *I* liked. Part of that is that none of the profiles get darker than Medium, and their coffee choices reflect that. Keep experimenting!

As for the meaning of roast degree vs development time - I found that maddeningly unhelpful. Almost all discussions online of roast profiles are for drum roasters, where these are well understood. After 14 months of Ikawa use, I'm still unsure of what I want from a roast. I suppose I never really took my own advice and I'd call my efforts "flailing". Nevertheless, I have a lot of successful roasts, and find the whole thing worthwhile.

#5: Post by **Milligan** » February 6th, 2023, 6:19 pm

Roasting coffee isn't an easy bake oven. It takes a lot of time and commitment to roast consistently good coffee. Ikawa Home makes it somewhat easy but it is still a matter of picking your origin, process, roast level, and matching your extraction to get what you want. It is a deep hole to fall into but can be rewarding. You have to love the process. If you just want good coffee then the best bet is buying it from a skilled roaster.

February 6th, 2023, 6:40 pm

Thank you all for the reply. I gotta do more research on roasting theory.

#7: Post by **MNate** » February 6th, 2023, 8:24 pm

Roasting theory is going to be tricky to apply here. Do get to it, it's interesting stuff, but for now I still think you just think roast degree (final color) and how it changes the taste. And this is the fun part with the Ikawa as you can very easily experiment with how roast degree changes the flavors. Yeah, just hit those buttons you circled and try some a range of roasts. So yeah, I'd read on roast degrees first. How does that change the flavor? Of course this will challenge your brewing/pulling because you'll have to dial in the roasts a little differently for optimal flavor.

So play around! You'll find things you like.

#8: Post by **Auctor** » February 6th, 2023, 8:37 pm

Some Qs.

1) how long did you wait for it to rest (1 day, 3, 7, longer)?
2) did you try cupping the coffee first, to see if you actually like it?
3) have you experimented with their Kenya or Brazil (they're most "traditional" in terms of flavor and performance)?
4) have you experimented with different brew times?

To what other have noted, roasting can be very complex. I think the IKAWA Home has a lot of promise and value, but IKAWA does a terrible job training it's users to how to extract the best out of green beans. And to what someone else said, comparing to a drum roaster doesn't work (unless you're already a roasting expert).

#9: Post by **GDM528** » February 7th, 2023, 2:54 am

A few things I've learned after getting my Ikawa Home a year ago:

Just like mgrayson, I've found many of Ikawa's curated greens to be 'not-to-my-liking'. Granted, no two sets of taste buds and attached brain are alike, but OMG-what-were-they-thinking. Third-party greens suppliers have to sell solely on the merits of their product - as roasted in a wide range of machines - that gives me more confidence that I too can be successful with those greens.

Many of Ikawa's roasting times are way too short for my tastes. I typically roast for at least eight minutes, and now I'm much happier with the results. I theorize that short roasts don't drive out CO2 as effectively, and as such require longer resting time to reduce the sourness. And speaking of resting, I also rest after grinding the coffee, up to an hour if it's only a day post-roast.

Step one is to max out Ikawa's roast profile modifiers (Dark, +++) Step two is to grab an editable profile from the "Ikawa Home - profiles" thread and play around with it. No extra-fee editor required.

I imagine Ikawa makes heavy use of cupping to evaluate their roasting profiles - but that may not correlate well to what I'll get with my espresso workflow. It took time, but I eventually figured out my own roasting profiles that are more tolerant to the quirks/flaws in my own brewing technique.

I started out with a big bag (10lbs) of highly regarded greens and stuck with them as I experimented with different roasting profiles - a core principle of design of experiment. What I learned translated to most of the new greens I've been trying - but not all. If I had been switching greens while experimenting with roasting profiles I might still be lost in the woods. It could be time for another "Best greens to learn roasting" thread...

I can't afford to "roast to compost", and this is where the Ikawa shines. I deliberately stick with small batches, such that even my worst experiments are over in just a few shots, and I'm encouraged to run lots of cheap experiments. If I had a drum roaster, I would have had to concurrently start a gardening hobby.

Many of the posters on this forum are producing professional-class results. I've learned much by reading and learning from other's experiences, regardless of their roasting equipment.

#10: Post by **ira** » February 7th, 2023, 12:56 pm

I found most of the Ikawa profiles I've tried not so much to my liking. I wonder if that's partly that the Pro was always seen as a cupping roaster and that's the frame of reference they use to create profiles.