Coffee Roasting

[Caseus]

I love coffee, and I've been working on expanding my knowledge, palate, and brewing skills for years.  But slowly, because when I find something I like, I tend to stick with it for a long time before trying something new. 

I'm fairly new to roasting, and I find I really enjoy it.  I wish I'd have started sooner.   It has opened up new dimensions of coffee appreciation for me.  I have a long way to go before I consider myself knowedgeable.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying the ride.

[anutcanfly]

The ride is the best part.  I've always got my eye out for new interests to explore.  I don't much care about being knowledgeable, these days I can't remember 90% of what I learn by the next day!  ::)  I just love learning.

[DeejayDebi]

The ride is the best part.  I've always got my eye out for new interests to explore.  I don't much care about being knowledgeable, these days I can't remember 90% of what I learn by the next day!  ::)  I just love learning.

I agree completely! New hobbies are always so exciting and the learning is fun. I keep a lot of notes and hope to learn from them. Lord knows if I don't write it down ASAP I will forget.

[anutcanfly]

Yep. I've been learning the hard way to take notes and keep records as I go...   ;D

[anutcanfly]

I finished my comparison of extended roast with the same bean at Vienna and almost French:

Tried the Colombian that was roasted 14 minutes, to Vienna, as a pour over with no steep and I really liked it.  A very pleasant cup of coffee.  I used the whirly blade for a medium to fine grind and water at 203 degrees.  I drank this with a small amount of cream and sugar, but the sugar really wasn't needed.

Tried the Colombian that was roasted 15 minutes to an almost French roast, both as pour over with and without steeping with water at 203 degrees.  Neither was acidic, but both were harsh with burnt flavors that did not do anything good for the overall flavor.  This batch is okay with cream and sugar, but not something I would do again on purpose.

My conclusion to this is that the secret to roasting coffee, that I will love, is in the length of the roast, not how dark it is.  So when I run into coffee that is too acidic for me, I will first try to lengthen the roast before I resort to burning it into submission!

[Caseus]

Interesting results, anut.  I will try an extended slow roast next time I get an excessivly acidic coffee.  I may try it anyway, just for comparison with the coffee I'm using now.

[anutcanfly]

It's fun when you find yet another helpful variable that you can play with!  :)  I think the next step would be to roast several batches of the same coffee to the same roast, but extend the roast longer each time until you find the sweet spot.  This will be different for each type of coffee but the info would still be useful.

I do still love dark roasts, but I think I will avoid them with acidic coffees.  Low acid coffees should do fine roasted darker.  Something to play with in the future.

[DeejayDebi]

I think you get it now! Slower and lower not hoter and darker. It's more the way you get there than just getting there.

[anutcanfly]

I'm surprised I didn't find more info on this.  I only tried it because someone mentioned that extended roast time would help dissipate objectionable flavors in Indo's and Monsooned Malabar.

[DeejayDebi]

I will have to try to find it again but there is a website for proffesional coffee roasters that said basically the same thing but not about a specific roast. Recent years the trend has been dark roasting and they found it reallt kills off some name flavors so by roasting slower and lower you get a haapy median.

[anutcanfly]

I would imagine that it's easier commercially to provide a consistent flavor with a dark roast blend.  If you run across any info on this please do post!  I haven't had much luck at ferreting new info lately.

[DeejayDebi]

Hmmm Thought I saved it but can't find it now. Have you found this one?

http://roastmagazine.com/

[anutcanfly]

Nope, that's new to me.  Thanks, I enjoy that with my coffee tommorrow.  :)

[Brewandwinesupply]

I think you get it now! Slower and lower not hoter and darker. It's more the way you get there than just getting there.

Low and slow is the way to go!

I like the darker roasts, for a while I kept rushing them and not cooking them long enough. Grabed a bag of pre roasted off the shelf the other day and realized I was not cooking long enough... love that dark full flavored taste.

I also knew you had to let them breath but did not do it for more than 2-3 hours before grinding.. will try the 24 hour next time.

Thanks!

[anutcanfly]

Yep!  Wish I had figured that out sooner!  I'm noticing that there are huge differences between beans during the roast.  Some stall easy and need more heat even for a slow roast, and some seem to want to race to the finish and it's a struggle to keep them from going into 2nd crack at a slow pace!

I've been playing around with different things in my search for the perfect cup.  I recently switched to a gold washed filter for pour over coffee and though many people complain about it, the very fine sediments that make it thru give the coffee a thick mouthfeel that I find quite pleasant.  When I add a small amount of cream and sugar, I find suddenly I'm drinking a cup of bittersweet chocolate!  Oh yeah, thick, dark and chocolaty.  ^-^

I'm still finding I like mixed roasts in my blends.  Part Full City/Vienna and part French.  I don't think brazils contribute much to a blend at a light roast, so I am using them for the French Roast portion.

If you're roasting beans dark you might want to let the beans breath 2 to 3 days...