BarryR wrote:...

PS: I wasn't sure if I was supposed to add my tasting notes to my original post (in which case, no one would even know it was there) or do it this way. Any hints?

This is fine. We can reference your roast against the cupping notes.

This roast, from the 21st, missed my planned profile considerably. Partly because I relied on memory rather than looking the profile up, and partly because I somehow lost track of the Drying interval, which I thought would end considerably quicker than it did.

Nevertheless, the profile was a minute faster and Dropped more than 5F cooler than my first roast -- which I thought might have been slightly baked.

Brewed today: Bunnzilla; 60g coffee; Espro; 1L water @200F; 3:30 steep with agitation during the first 30sec; 30sec press.

Cupping Impressions:

• Body/Mouthfeel - Typical Bunnzilla Espro. Good/medium body, but without a lot of weight. Silky mouthfeel. Less "juiciness," than expected, presumably because this roast was very low acid.
• Florals - Almond flower, but muted;
• Fruits: Muted and indistinct;
• Acids/Acidity: Muted and indistinct;
• Chocolates: Powerful, in between milk and dark;
• Nuts: Very strong hazelnuts with milder but distinct pecans and almonds;
• Sweetness: Pleasant, "brown sugar," no identifiable honey (previous roast). Very little in the way caramel;
• Overall: A very pleasant cup of "coffee" tasting coffee with strong chocolate and nut flavors and aftertastes. Not fake or overwhelming like a flavored coffee, but the chocolate and nuts were no doubt about it. It was sweet and rich with the "Central American" roast character I consistently got from my much slower Amazon. Baked? Maybe. I expect more varietal and terroir notes from a "specialty coffee", than this delivers.

Score: Not yet. I want to try this roast as espresso and a brighter roast for brew.

This was an all purpose profile, and I'm hoping it will work better as espresso than it did as brew. Another few days of rest (and going through what's currently in the hopper) and the tail will be tolled. My next roast will be "brew only;" faster through Drying, with a lower, 415F Drop, 13min total from Charge to Drop.

Rich

I'll be announcing the June Roast and Learn Together selection by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.

This coffee was good and fine but I never got anything amazing out of it. It will make a perfect espresso blend component however.

To TomC on viewing your picture here I saw the long neck pouring vessel that would be perfect for taking hot water from my espresso hot water tap to use for pour over. Can you tell me the name of it, and maybe who carries these. Thanks GG

Same AP Profile,

but as espresso this time.

Days 7 and 8 post roast: Exhibited the harsh bitterness of an incompletely rested bean. Not worth making comment beyond that, other than to say that I was disturbed and looking for possible causes other than lack of aging. But...

Day 9: The roast has stabilized.

• (La Cimbali M21 Casa). 18g in, 27g out. 4sec pre-infusion, 25sec pull;
• The "ideal" brew temp range is wide. Call it "coolish." No, really. Call it that. It insists;
• Just like the earlier brew tastings, the espresso character is pleasantly but not overwhelmingly sweet.
• No noticeable acidity;
• Mild carob-chocolate/hazelnut-almond without any definable acid or fruit notes.
• Mouthfeel (spouted pf) is excellent; and
• The carob-chocolate is especially noticeable during the lingering finish.

More: The "carob" character was in the brew cups as well, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it because it got lost in an unsuccessful attempt to distinguish between milk and dark chocolate.

This roast is an extremely pleasant coffee whether prepared as brew or -- after a long rest -- as espresso. Pleasant but simple.

I'm not ready to score it until roasting with a faster Drying interval so as not crush whatever acid notes might be there.

Rich

boar_d_laze wrote:...
[*]Mild carob-chocolate/hazelnut-almond without any definable acid or fruit notes.
...
[*]The carob-chocolate is especially noticeable during the lingering finish....

Carob - another "yeah, now I see that..."

Carob to me is just another word for flattened chocolate or cocoa.

Inspired by my back and forth with Rich, I've spent some time exploring deeper roasts of this coffee for espresso. My first few attempts, which involved a similar profile as my earlier "City-roast Espresso" success, resulted in lackluster shots, with insufficient sweetness and some unpleasant, distillate harshness. So after reading around the forum looking for dark-roast tips, I finally decided to try a "fast and dark" profile, using a significantly smaller charge to get to first cracks as soon as possible without applying excessive heat.

Charge mass: 200g
Dry/Ramp/Dev: 4/4/3
FCs: 393F
FCe: 409F
Finish temp: 429F. I stopped the roast at the first pops of SC.

Here's a visual of the profile curve:



I tasted it today after three days rest. Aside from a slight hint of baking soda, which I expect to fade with more rest, this made for a great shot. I pulled a Caravel "single" using 12g of coffee at about 197F brew temp, pulled long and slow, producing 16.5g in the cup. The shot was full of rich, creamy chocolates and cherry-cola flavors, with a pleasant, lingering finish. I haven't tasted the two side-by-side, but I suspect I would enjoy this more than the light-roast, "apricot bomb" shots I made before (although those were also tasty)!

I know that May is over, but I'll probably keep playing around with what little of this coffee I have left, possibly trying a melange to see if I can bring these two extremes together.

Excellent efforts and notes, CN.