Kenya - Oakland Estates

I'm a little behind on my notes...I roasted Kenya Ruiru - Oakland Estate Peaberry on 12/30. Unfortunately I can't find the beans on Sweet Maria's website any longer, so they must be sold out, which is a shame because these beans made a terrific cup of coffee. I roasted two batches of these beans.

Weight
Batch 1: Start weight 150g/finish weight 118g - total weight loss of 21.4%
Batch 2: Start weight 150g/finish weight 125g - total weight loss of 16.6%

Roasting Profile - same for both batches
325 degrees for 2 minutes
400 degrees for 3 minutes
460 degrees for 5 minutes

Roasting Notes
I stopped the first batch at 5:54. The beans had entered the second crack but had not completed second crack. Beans are dark and show early signs of oil.

I'm still struggling with really finding the balance of acid that I like and recognizing the visual signs of the roasting process to stop the beans at the right time. So, I decided to stop the beans earlier this time. I did not want to take them to the second crack stage. I entered the cool down stage at 5:00.

Tasting Notes
Overall I found this to be a very enjoyable cup. Hints of sweet smokiness with a full body.

I am starting to realize that I do like my beans roasted a little darker. I have started to add the total weight loss to my weight notes and am going to use this as a target for future batches. Right now, I think that somewhere in the neighborhood of a 20% weight loss is a perfect roast. It will be interesting to see if that number changes based on the beans or if that is a consistent number across all varietals.