when learning to roast coffee online; let's keep these things in mind
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- čas přidán 6. 10. 2023
- In this video...I'm walking us through the latest sensory cues blog from Mill City Roasters. The makers of my roaster. What's your take? lmk in the comments.
New and Updated blog! **: millcityroasters.com/blogs/co...
Links to everything you asked for:
blkcitycoffee.com/blogs/blog/...
You can send me coffee to cup for the vlog!
12403 Central Avenue
Suite 819
Chino, CA 91710
My current setup:
Roaster: Mill City Roasters 1KG
Software: RoastPath by MCR
*Friendly reminder*
I only have my own experience to draw from and share. I genuinely hope it inspires you to get your own gears working and find the best solutions for you and your situation. No matter what, I think we can all agree we're here to honor the cup
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Hi Meg. Thanks for the feedback. I understand why some of this isn't as clear as I'd hoped. I'll do a couple of edits and update the graphics for clarity. Thanks for the assist.
Steve
You are the goat.
This article really made me think, I love the science behind roasting. Now, just to apply what I've learned...lol.
Hehe I’m right there with you
Thanks for sharing this!
I have an Ethiopian, Washed Yirga Cheffe that is graded highly, but I find to be really dull. It might be me. My wife really enjoys it and senses subtle aromas, while it tastes like dust to me.
Based on the article, tonight I roasted a small batch of my nominal roast, followed by four roasts with different finishes: fast, slow, high, and low. I followed the recommendations, going 15 seconds faster and slower to the same end temp, as well as 1C higher and lower.
In a few days, we will cup them, I own nine cups, so I’ll do one cup of my nominal roast, and it will not be blind. I’ll do two cups of each of the others, blind.
I’m curious if we will be able to tell the difference with only 15 seconds or 1C pushed or pulled from my nominal recipe.
When smelling the freshly roasted beans, I get a strong scent from the first that I smell, and all that follow are duller. I had to take breaks and change the order to avoid nose fatigue.
Unsurprisingly, the hotter, faster roasts offer more fragrance, but I’m not sure if that will bring more flavor, or if I’m smelling compounds that will be lost in the cup.
Anyway, it’s a great article and I’m putting it to the test.
FWIW, I’m using the Kaffelogic Nano 7 and I was able to create profiles that came very close to my goals. With 80g batches in an air roaster, the temps are higher and the durations shorter than a larger drum roaster, but the principles translate.
I’ll let you know how it turns out in a few days…
Ya, I've already recommended the article to some friends too. Wow, very interesting about the Ethio. Given that I we can't synch completely about your experience, I want to vlog about my own experience with aroma and just see where we can meet in the middle on this. keep me updated!
I started with a profile that I’ve dialed in for a dry process Ethiopian. In a small, flat white, it tastes like chocolate covered cherry cordials - with the cherries soaked in rum. Crazy good.
For that roast, we cupped five profiles from fast to slow, then three profiles from smooth to front loaded, then different development times. The winner had a lot of heat up front, then a gentle middle and finish, and a medium light drop. On that bean, we were dialing out a negative flavor. It’s super intense, so we didn’t need to coax anything out.
The cool thing is that the “high heat up front” lines up with the article.
The washed coffee has the opposite challenge. It’s super subtle, so I need to get more out of it. I’m sticking with my aggressive start, and we will see if the method from the article helps us find the magic.
Total success.
Recap: I have an expensive washed, Ethiopian Yirga Cheffe that is said to have clean sweetness and floral aromas, but I find it to be dull. I need to bring more out of it.
We cupped our nominal roast, plus four pairs: Fast, Slow, High, and Low. Fast and Slow hit the same temps as the nominal. High and Low hit the standard duration. +/- 20s and +/- 1C. We kept the pairs matched, but mixed them up for the blind cupping. The nominal roast was not blind. It was our reference. (I own 9 cups, so this made sense.)
The coffee pairs were 100% consistent. The matched pairs all aligned. No surprises.
Our first question was whether we could taste the subtle adjustments. Yes. 100%. We can’t identify “six day old honeysuckle, jasmine custard”, but we could totally differentiate these roasts, and our experiences aligned.
Fast was simple and acidic. It makes sense. There was less time to get flavors out of it. It was like pulling a fast shot of espresso.
Low was also acidic, but it was more interesting than fast. This makes sense. It was also underdeveloped, but had more time to extract flavors.
High had a tannin flavor and was more acrid. The higher development temperature pulled out some bitterness, but it didn’t have enough time to extract flavors.
Finally, Slow was the best. It maintained the balance of our reference roast, given the same end temperature, but it also had enough time to pull more interesting flavors out of the beans.
The experience gives me a roadmap. If the acid/bitter balance is wrong, increase or decrease the end temperature. If you are pulling negative flavors from the beans, try shortening the time. If you want to pull more out of the beans, extend the time.
The experience was perfect. We confirmed that we can taste such small adjustments. We confirmed that the beans and roasts were consistent, given that each paired cup was a perfect sibling. Finally, our taste experiences were exactly in line with what we should expect from varying development time and temperature.
Best of all, I have a roadmap. If I taste that something is lacking from my starter profile, I will know exactly where I should push the needles - without an additional round of cupping.
For this particular coffee, I’ve learned that my drop temperature is on the money, and I need to stretch out the development. Our next cupping round will compare slower and slower development times - up to the limit of my ability to create a rationally slow end profile.
The Mill City article was awesome for leading me to this test. The cupping was clear as day. With this experience, I have become a much more skilled roaster.
Cheers!