Adjust Your Roasting Profiles for Summer

I'm reiterating a previous post I made on this topic - as the temperatures rise going in to summer, you need to adjust your roasting profiles to account for the higher ambient temperatures. It makes a big difference I have found.

All the profiles I saved during my earlier series of posts are way too long now and I have had to start the cool down manually on my i-Roaster to prevent the beans from burning.

I just opened a bag of Ethiopian Natural Harrar beans. These are one of my all-time favorite beans and I don't want to spoil them by over-roasting. I have them on a profile of 385F for 5 minutes, 430F for 2 minutes, and a final 465F for 2 minutes right now. The temperature in the shade of my patio where I do my roasting is currently 77F.

If you find your beans are getting too dark you can interrupt the profile on your i-Roaster at any time by pressing the Roast/Temp button. This will start the 4 minute cool cycle.

One other thing I read some time ago that helps with the cooling cycle is to loosen the top of the roaster (the piece that has the grille that the air is forced to on the top) so that the air can escape more easily and help with the cooling. Don't do this inside, though, as you will get the chaff all over the place. It ends up on my deck but that is easily taken care of with my leaf blower.

Tanzania KNCU Green Coffee Beans

I was so happy with the 5lb sampler pack of green organic coffee beans the I bought from Seven Bridges Cooperative at Amazon.com which I featured here in my series about roasting green coffee beans at home that I subsequently bought their 9lb sampler pack. Some of the same beans as before were included of course, but some were new. I am just finishing up the 1lb of Tanzania KNCU beans. Described on the label as recommended for medium to French roasting, I have been roasting them using the first preset on my iRoast-2 home roaster. This results in a medium "city roast".

The espresso produced is excellent. Rich in crema and sweet and citrusy with a little acidity. Absolutely no bitterness at all. A friend from whom I brewed a cup on the weekend commented "This is the best coffee you've ever made" so it gets an independent vote as well.

I just searched the Seven Bridges storefront at Amazon but didn't see it listed - perhaps it was only available in a short run or only as part of the sampler pack. I think the sampler packs are variable in their content so it's a bit of a crap shoot, but you get to try some beans that you no doubt would never get to try otherwise.

Anyhow, if you ever see Tanzanian KNCU beans anywhere, grab a pound or two.

Green Bolivian Cenaproc Beans

Latest up for my tests were Bolivian Cenaproc beans. Once again, these are organic green coffee beans, shade grown and certified USDA organic supplied by the Seven Bridges Cooperative in their green bean sampler pack.

The green beans have a very distinctive earthy smell. As far as size goes, they are what you probably consider your normal coffee bean size, unlike the previous beans I have tested which were all small beans. I used the roasting profile that is saved to slot #3 on my iRoaster 2, which is:

• 385F for 7 minutes
• 430F for 2 minutes
• 465 F for 2 minutes

Note: All roasting profiles using the iRoast 2 end with a 4 minute cooling cycle.

The color of the roasted beans was indicative of a medium roast. When ground the color of the ground beans was consistent with the external color of the beans. The roast could be classified as a "Full City Roast".

Crema production is average. I noted that if you didn't use beans that were freshly ground then crema production was poor.

However, flavor is superb! This is my favorite so far in terms of taste, and in taste tests with friends who have not liked many of the roasts I have tried on them from Seattle suppliers, this one gets a thumbs up as not being bitter.

I'm almost at the end of these beans, so keep an eye out for my next update; there are still several varieties left in the sampler pack.

All the equipment you need to going with making superb espresso coffee drinks for a fraction of the price you will pay at a coffee shop can be viewed and purchased online here at my Coffee Store.

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Roasting Green Timor Maubesse Coffee Beans

Roasting the green Timor Maubesse coffee beans that came in the Seven Bridges Cooperative sampler pack was a learning experience.

If you've been reading these posts about roasting green coffee beans at home using an i-Roaster 2, then you will know that I started out with Seattle's Vivace Roasteria's "Dolce" blend beans. The Timor Maubesse beans are a lot smaller than the beans in the Dolce blend. Actually, they are sort of tiny.

In the first roast I actually blended 50/50 Dolce and Timor Maubesse beans and roasted at 385F for 7mins, 430F for 3.5mins, and 465F for 2.5 minutes.

It turned out to be one of my favorite blends ever! So sweet tasting! Good crema production too.

The second roast I used just the Timor Maubesse beans and set out to use the same roast profile. Luckily I kept an eye on things as by time it was at the end of 1.5 minutes for the final step the beans were pretty dark, so I stopped the roaster. (By the way, to interrupt a roasting profile and start the cool cycle, just press the "Roast" button").

The outcome was definitely a "dark roast". The flavor of the beans on their own wasn't as pleasant as when blended with the "Dolce" beans. And crema production was only average to poor. Unfortunately there weren't any more beans for me to test whether this less-than agreeable outcome was due to over-roasting the beans or not.

So on to the next bean variety. These are Brazil Poco Fundo, fair trade certified, and USDA certified organic green beans. Once again the beans are on the smaller size so in the roast I just finished, but haven't yet tried, I used the following profile which I have saved as roasting profile 3 on my i-Roaster:

• 385F for 7 minutes
• 430F for 2 minutes
• 465 F for 2 minutes

The roast turned out at a mid-brown color. The label on the package states the beans are recommended for medium to full city roasts. I'll let you know what the flavor is like and what the crema production is like soon. Oh, and as I put them in my Bean Vac I took a whiff of course, and noticed that the aroma had a distinct tobacco overtone!

Get a sampler pack of organic fair-trade green coffee beans from Seven Bridges Cooperative

Get your own i-Roast 2 from Amazon.com

More on i-Roasting

Ok, I'm getting the hang of this thing now. I added an extra 30-seconds to the roasting profile as mentioned in this post: Follow Up on i-Roast 2 Roasting Profile. The roast is pretty much where I want it. Woohoo! It could perhaps do with another 30seconds thrown in, and I will try that next time.

I'm starting to get confident with this home coffee bean roasting thing and my i-Roast 2 now, so I have just taken the bold step of ordering 5lb of organic fair trade greeen beans from an outfit called Seven Bridges Cooperative at amazon.com. Not sure that they will all be suited to making espresso, but there's only one way to find out.