Back from the Dead

Yeah, yeah, so it's been a year...

I think the blog served its purpose to demonstrate that a novice really could roast exceptional coffee beans at home. I drank my own coffee for well over a year until the chamber in my iRoast broke. It didn't break during use, it mysteriously broke on the shelf, of course no one wanted to accept responsibility.

I am back because I am in the market for a new roaster. There were a few things I did not like about the iRoast, primarily it was loud and I could only roast 1/4 - 1/3 of a pound at a time. I will let you know what I purchase and how I like it.

Coffee Divots

Here is an interesting sign of coffee as it advances in the roasting proccess. At first, I thought these were tell tale signs of burned beans, but after doing a little more reading, I think that it has to do with the beans actually blowing apart during second crack.

My taste preference is that a few of these are ok, but, when most beans in a roast have divots, I think they have advanced too far.

The Slump Buster Roast

It's funny how sometimes it is so easy to lose site of the details. In my quest to find the perfect cup, at some point, I became subject to a self fulfilling prophecy. My coffee started sliding in quality--I think because I was burning it. As a means to correct the problem I kept roasting the beans longer, making my coffee worse, causing me to roast the beans longer...

I took my problem to my new friends at the Green Coffee Coop. After discussion specific to the iRoast, I decided to really slow things down a little and I last night I roasted some more of the Kenya beans with this profile:

320 degrees for 3 minutes
350 degrees for 2 minutes
375 degrees for 2 minutes
400 degrees for 2 minutes
435 degrees for 3 minutes


Here is a graphic profile of the on board temperature as read with my thermometer between the Kenya (in pink) and my last batch of Guatemala (in blue).

Interestingly enough, first crack (as indicated by the vertical red line) happened pretty close to one another.

The time to cool down was 5:20 for the Guatemala and a remarkable (I think it may be a personal best) 7:03 for the Kenya. Final weight for the Guatemala was 119g and 123g for Kenya--both batches started at 150g.

The Guatemala beans were bland, bitter and unattractive, while the Kenya is light, fruity and complex. I hope I can get back on track producing WOW! coffee instead of the Folgers substitute that I was producing last week.

The Slump

Boy, I really feel like I am in a slump. The coffee that I have roasted seems to have taken on a change for the worse, and I'm not sure why that is. I have roasted a couple of batches this week that I have not posted logs for, but have received outside objective feedback from.

Feedback #1
Word has spread around the office that I began roasting coffee and the consensus was--bring some in, we want to try. I roasted a couple of batches of the Kenya Muranga - Kiander Peaberry for the office. What little feedback that I received seemed forced and not extremely positive. "It was good. I like peaberry, they have a unique flavor. I would not have guessed that it was homeroast. They taste like something you would buy."

We all know that tasting like something you would buy at the store is not what you look for in a home roast.

Feedback #2
I went to a party tonight and my assignment was to bring the coffee. After a few glasses of wine, talks of coffee began and it was stated that I brought the coffee and that I roasted the beans (I carefully timed and roasted a couple of batches of Guatemala Antigua so they would be the perfect age of 12 hours right around the time we would want coffee). There was a sense of excitement and anticipation for the "home roasted coffee". After the coffee was done, there were a couple of yeah, its pretty good, but nothing overwhelming.

Feedback #3
I spoke with my brother today about the beans that I had given him a couple of weeks back. By the way, I'm starting to recognize a pattern, when you have to ask for feedback, you probably already have your answer. I asked him how the beans were. He said, yeah they were pretty good, but not as good as the ones you brought on Christmas.

I also have noticed a distinct downturn in the quality of the coffee that I have been producing. I think right around the time of the "Baked Roast", which now I wonder if I contributed its off flavor to something other than the true problem. I am going to solve this problem! Here is what I know:

1. When I first started roasting, the beans tasted extremely fresh, even if the batch was over done or under done.
2. This problem is not related to the beans, I have experienced this with Kenya, Guatemala, Hondorus, and Cameroon beans.
3. I don't believe the problem to be related to the cupping process, because I have made coffee with my machine, the machine at the office, my friend's machine and my brother's machine.
4. Other than the baked roast, the roasting profiles have not really changed.
5. I still love coffee!

These things make me wonder if something has changed with the I-Roast. I have noticed an increase of the oil build up in the chamber, but the instructions say not to worry about it until it becomes a fire hazard (I'm not sure if I will know this until it's too late!). I wonder if my exhaust hose is contributing to the off taste, but doesn't seem likely. The actual temperature readings seem consistent with earlier roasts, so I don't think it has anything to do with the actual opperation of the I-Roast itself.

I am going to do research and will report back.

Turning Up the Heat on Smaller Batches

I'm impatient. I'm not scientific. These are two facts that I have deduced from today's experiment. I know I stated that I would continue to use the same beans so that I only change one variable from roast to roast, but I've been drinking the guatamela beans for several days now and decided I would mix it up a little. I had a half pound bag of Cameroon Caplami Java beans from Sweet Maria's and thought I would roast up the whole bag in two seperate roasts. This lead me two smaller batches then the normal 150g that I normally roast; I guess enjoying the process is more important than being scientific...and I have heard that the worst cup of home roast beats the best store bought coffee.

Weight
Batch 1: 110g/90g 18.18% weight loss
Batch 2: 112g/90g 21.4% weight loss

Roasting Profile
350 degrees 2:30 minutes
400 degrees 1:30 minutes
475 degrees 5:00 minutes

Roasting Notes
The first batch I stopped the batch at 5:12. The beans did not show any signs of external oil, but were probably close. Once the cool down stopped, the beans looked like they could have used a little more time. Because of my lack of patience, I started the second batch about 10 minutes after the first batch ended. The internal chamber temp was already at about 110 degrees, instead of the 80-90 degrees that it normally would be if I waited 20+ minutes. Waiting is probably important to consistency in the future. Because of the higher starting temp, I stopped the second batch at 5:18. The beans were showing signs of oil.

Tasting Notes

Baked Coffee

I have worked/roasted/drank my way through most of my first order of green beans from Sweet Marias and ordered 2 of my favorites in 5 lb quantities (Guatemala and Kenya pictured). My hope in doing this is to take away one variable (variety in beans) and start to fine tune the roast and cupping experience by using the same beans each time.

I've mentioned several times about wanting to extend the roast profile and have the beans spend a longer amount of time in the roaster. This was my goal for Sunday's batch. I roasted three seperate batches of one of my favorites from the first order from Sweet Maria's: the Guatemala Antigua - Finca Retana Yellow Bourbon.

Weight
Batch 1: 150g/122g 18.6% weight loss
Batch 2: 150g/118g 21.3% weight loss
Batch 3: 150g/118g 21.3% weight loss

Roasting Profile
325 degrees 3 minutes
350 degrees 1 minute
375 degrees 2 minutes
460 degrees 5 minutes

Roasting Notes
I used the same profile on the first 2 batches. The first batch I noticed first crack at 4:20 and entered the cool cycle at 6:52 and completely finished at 10:52. Based on appearance, I felt the beans could actually roast a little longer. The second batch started cool down at 7:10 and finished at 11:10. These beans looked so good I decided I would mimick this profile for the third roast, but automatically stop the roast at 7:10, so my third profile looked like this:

325 degrees 3 minutes
350 degrees 2 minutes
375 degrees 2 Minutes
460 degrees 1:10 minutes

Not surprising, the beans looked and finished just like the second batch, which is a very good sign that once I nail the roast profile I like, I will not have to monitor each roast so closely.

Tasting Notes
These beans were definitely baked and not roasted. The cup has a dull, muted tasted to it. The unfortunate part is that I gave 1/2 of the bounty to a friend for a house warming gift. Two lessons learned today: this is coffee roasting, not coffee baking and always sample your cooking before you share.

Updated ROI and Honduras Roast

We had a birthday party for my sister on Friday. At some point we started discussing the coffee that I brought on Christmas Day. Everyone reiterated how much they like it and they all said they wanted some of my fresh beans. I guess this is a very important aspect of the ROI that I did not take into consideration. Currently I have a sister, brother, co-worker, friend and neighbor who all want more of my beans. I guess a 44 week ROI was optimistic. In fact, I may never break even!

Yesterday--the day after the party--my brother came to pillage a guitar (a past hobby) and mp3s from me. I took the opportunity to show him the roasting process and provide him with a fresh bag of beans. Based on my current green bean selection, we decided to roast Honduras FTO San Marcos - Cocosam Coop. After looking up the characteristics of Honduras beans, I was not overly optimistic : "Not a celebrated origin", but hey coffee is coffee. I roasted a full pound in 3 separate roasts.

Weight
Batch 1: 150g/119g - 20.6% weight loss
Batch 2: 150g/120g - 20% weight loss
Batch 3: 146g/117g - 19.8% weight loss

Roasting Profile - All 3 batches used the same profile, a current favorite
325 degrees for 2 minutes
400 degrees for 3 minutes
460 degrees for 5 minutes

Roasting Notes
My goal for these beans was to minimize acidity and stop the roast at the first signs of external oil. I stopped batch 1 at 6:25, batch 2 at 6:15 and batch 3 at 6:05.

An interesting note: I stopped the first batch 31 seconds later than I stopped the first batch of the Kenya beans from my last post, with the same roast profile and still had a lower weight loss on the Kenyan beans. It goes to show that the visual cues are probably the most reliable way to end up with the roast you want.

Because all 3 batches were so similar, I just blended them all. I weighed out 90 grams for my brother and sent him on his way. I will post his critique when I hear his thoughts.

Tasting Notes
I'm sitting here drinking the first cup right now. The first thing I'm reminded of is the freshness from an 18 hour roast. The coffee itself is not really impressive except for the fact it is extremely fresh. It is a thin-medium body--which now actually means something because I am brewing each pot at a ratio of 7.5g of coffee to cup of water, so I don't have to wonder if that is a characteristic of the bean or a difference in the amount of coffee grounds. I do detect the wood and subtle sour apple tones mentioned by Sweet Maria's, but I have to try hard. All in all a decent but very mellow cup. Maybe I'll pawn some of this roast on some of the people I listed above.