Thank you for the kind words. My one month old niece passed away. I hope I don't sound shallow, but I now have a neat coffee related story to share.

I'm at my brothers home and his wife barely comes out of the bedroom. I prepared a French press red honey, R2 for myself. Coincidentally his wife wanted coffee at that time. 15 minutes later she sends word out seeking more of that "magical cup of wonderfulness". She is a chef and appreciates food and beverage that is done well, and this coffee momentarily became a port in the storm. We finished the R2 batch together and we discovered that if you dress this coffee, that bourbon works best due to it's sweetness. It is a wonderful gift to know something at least reasonably well and to share it. Thank you for leading me to this coffee....

Now off to roast more...

Nothing shallow about that my friend, sorry to hear of your loss.

And what you described is coffee at it's best.

Roast: Behemor, two 8 oz charges and one 12 oz charge. Preheated.

This time I wanted to play with the differences in drying and development, as much as I can on my roaster. Generally speaking, the difference with this bean compared to others I have roasted so far is that the development time is short and not very dramatic.

R3 - 8 oz, 1C start 10:28 end at 11:45 drop, door open during development, City
R4 - 8 oz, 1C start 1400 end at 15:30 drop, City +
R5 - 12 oz, 1C start 16:37 end at 18:20, City

Cupping: I did a SCAA cupping on the 3rd day. Generally I found it difficult to identify any wild differences. The dry aroma is gorgeous, aroma of deep stone fruit. The wet aroma offered leather. Flavour is leathery that morphs to an acidic flavour promising mild spice. R3 offered a clear cardamon the other two remained similar and approaches cardamon. Sweetness emerges after, again, more pronounced on R3. As it cools I will call the after taste Banana's foster. This was most pronounced on R5.

R4 and R5 very similar. R3 the acidic notes emerges in a clearer way and even the sweetness emerged easier. My guess is that there is some baking in R4 and R5 which is subduing some of the acidic notes. Curiousely though, Banana's foster came out most clearly on R5.

Next steps: Bonavita drip brewer at work later today, pull shots at home over the next few days. Decide which I like best and recreate it, and listen to suggestions for something else to try.

Tasting: Brewed R3 and R5. Basically it is cardamon again followed by an enjoyable sweetness. I want to add something on the tobacco/leather range. R3, my quick roast, definitely has the edge on brightness which I will simply call a clearer cardamon. I think this bean comes out better in the french press than the brewer.

Shots R4 so far. Wow! Bright, balanced, beautifully smooth mouthfeel. getting fully pretentiouse here I will call it stone fruit (honey dew), mixed with tobacco. And that is on a fast pour, not even dialed yet but two in a row, low temp (92c). Aftertast goes to a more subdued cardamon.

I am quite enjoying this coffee, but I am curious if there is something even more I could get out of it. if so, what and how?

johnlyn wrote: I think this bean comes out better in the french press than the brewer.

...

I will give the next batch a run in the Espro and see if I can warm up to this coffee.

I will give this bean another try tomorrow. My initial attempts ended up in the trash - very unusual for me!

My roast was OK. The miel, or honey processed coffee, has never been a favorite. Out of town and plenty of roasting to catch up on in February. Have some Yemens in-bound that will need cupping.

Ixnay on the emenyay!