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.

Don't Overdo Colombia Popayan Beans

Hello Friends,

I have been making my way through a 1lb bag of Green Colombia Popayan Beans lately and have found that it's very important not to over-roast them. These beans are characterized by bitterness whichever why you roast them, but the longer the roast, the more bitter they become. Definitely not a bean for straight espresso shots in my opinion, but great for espresso drinks with milk. Roast them "city style" and avoid ending up with a dark roast and you should find something you can enjoy.

Adjust Your Roasting Profile for Ambient Temperature

My recent series on roasting green coffee beans at home took place during the winter months here in Southern California. I take my iRoast-2 home roaster outside onto the patio since if I use it inside it sets off the smoke detectors! You can buy a venting attachment but I don't have a range hood that vents to the outside, so that's a no-go for me.

Anyhow, with the arrival of warmer spring weather I noticed a big difference in the darkness of the beans using the same profile I have favored throughout the winter. The roasts have resulted in very dark beans, akin to French roast. The beans are also sweating oil which also is indicative of a dark roast.

So if you're like me and roasting outside, take into acount the ambient temperature when you're roasting. Small differences in the temperature makes a big difference to the outcome of the roast using the very same profile.

Happy roasting at home and saving money!

Ethiopia Natural Harrar Green Coffee Beans Roasting Test

May I start out with "Yum!" These are really delicious beans, great for roasting as a "city roast" and making delicious espresso-based coffee drinks.

The beans are organic green coffee beans supplied by Seven Bridges Cooperative. The label recommends the beans for Vienna to Espresso roasting. I roasted the beans in two separate batches using the following customized profiles saved on my iRoast-2 home roaster:

Custom Roasting Profile #3
385F for 7 minutes
430F for 2 minutes
465 F for 2 minutes

Custom Roasting Profile #4
385F at 6 minutes
430F for 3.5 minutes
465F for 2 minutes

Obviously the second profile will result in a darker roast. I preferred the light roast, however (#3), although both were very satisfactory.

The coffee was superb on all counts: excellent crema and fantastic well-balanced flavor. The espresso was slightly bitter and acidic and very pleasant to drink. The flavor combined well with milk in a flat-white making for one of my favorites supplied in the sampler pack.

I have only one bag left in the sampler pack so I am getting ready to order larger bags of my favorite beans that I have identified over the course of this roasting coffee beans at home series. In taking a sneak peak for these beans at Seven Bridges storefront at Amazon.com, however, I found that they weren't currently offering these beans. Boo hoo! I also noticed that the sampler pack I have been working with noted only 2 left in stock!

Anyhow, keep a look out for these magnificent beans. Let's hope they show up again.

Roasting Peru Norte Organic Green Coffee Beans

The Peru Norte beans supplied as part of the sampler pack from Seven Bridges Cooperative are recommended on the label as being suited to medium to dark French roast. I roasted the beans using profile 4 in my iRoast-2.

The beans produced less than good crema which broke up quickly. The flavor of the espresso was strongly acidic, and when used as the base for an espresso drink with milk the flavor had no highlights to recommend it.

I'll leave this one to those who use filter-drip coffee-makers.

Seven Bridges Cooperative has the following comments on its website about the Peru Norte beans:

Certified organic, shade grown, and Fair Trade. This coffee is very high grown in northern Peru, where many of the the organic coffee growers have been certified organic for over 2 decades. Grown from heirloom arabica typica cultivars which require a heavy shade cover to thrive. This area is also home to many rare birds such as the critically endangered White-winged Guan and the Peruvian Plantcutter. Bird guano is used in the coffee plantation as organic fertilizer. A wonderful South American coffee: a soft acidity, a very smooth medium body, a pleasing sweetness, and finishing with a subtle smokey flavor. Well suited to medium and dark roasts.

El Salvador San Mauricio Pipil Review

I bought these El Salvador San Mauricio Pipil organic green coffee beans from the Seven Bridges Cooperative at Amazon.com as part of the Seven Bridges Cooperative 5 Lb. Organic Fair Trade Green Coffee Sampler. The label on the package recommends the beans for medium to French roasts.

The beans are fairly large and also because of the roasting recommendations made on the label I used a slightly longer roasting profile, saved profile #4 in my iRoast-2:

• 385F at 6 minutes
• 430F for 3.5 minutes
• 465F for 2 minutes

The roasted beans generate an average to good amount of crema, but the crema breaks up farily quickly. The taste of the espresso is distinctively bitter.

When used as the basis for an espresso-based coffee drink with milk, the taste is quite pleasant, with strong flavors of chocolate and caramel.

I recommend these beans for milk-based espresso drinks. They would also blend well with beans that produce better crema output, such as the Nicaragua 5 Junio, or the Colombian Popayan.

If your palate is adapted to bitter espresso shots, then this is a good one for you but allow for the fact that the crema will not persist on the shot for long.

Shop for all the equipment you need to roast green coffee beans and make perfect espresso at home

Sumatra Takengon Green Bean Roasting and Taste Test

These beans come from the highland slopes of the Gayo Mountains near Laut Tawar in the Takengon region of Northern Sumatra. The beans are quite large; in fact, one of them got jammed in my grinder. (See my review of the Solis Maestro conical burr grinder).

Because of the size of the beans I roasted them on a longer profile (stored roasting profile #4 in my iRoast-2:

• 385F at 6 minutes


• 430F for 3.5 minutes


• 465F for 2 minutes

The resulting roast was a dark City roast.

The beans produce good crema. The flavor of the espresso is characterized by strong but pleasing acidity and a total lack of bitterness. This is the kind of espresso I love to drink after a big dinner that has been accompanied by an ample supply of wine! When used to make an espresso-based drink with milk such as a latte or a flat-white the result is an excellent flavor with the sweetness of the milk complimenting the acidity of the beans perfectly.

My overall recommendation for these beans is "excellent" and I highly-recommend them.

I bought these beans as part of a sampler pack of green fair-trade organic sold by Seven Bridges Cooperative at Amazon.com. Buy the Sumatra Takengon Green Beans or the 5 Lb. Organic Fair Trade Green Coffee Sampler from Seven Bridges Cooperative.

Seven Bridges Cooperative says of these beans:

There are over 200 small coffee producers who contribute to this very important OCIA certified organic coffee production. The farmers and communities of this remote region face a number of environmental and socio-economic challenges, including soil erosion, deforestation, low and unstable incomes. The organization, production, technical assistance and higher prices for certified organic coffee help these remote farmers by being able to generate a better income for themselves and improve the economic basis in the commmunities. The organic Sumatra Takengon semi-washed coffee is full bodied, slightly fruity, and clean with a sweet finish. This coffee is great as a varietal, blender and perfect for espresso.

Nicaragua 5 de Junio Green Coffee Beans Test

I'm sitting here sipping a flat-white made with the organic green Nicaragua 5 de Junio beans that came in the Seven Bridges Cooperative green bean sampler pack.

The label on the bag recommends these beans for Medium to Full City.

I roasted the beans using my iRoast-2 home coffee bean roaster using the following profile:

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

The roasted beans are mid-to dark brown, and the color is consistent through the bean, meaning a Full City roast.

The beans produce above average crema. The espresso liquor has distinctive bitter overtones.

These beans are quite comparable to the Colombian Popayan beans I previously tested in that they produce excellent crema and exhibit bitterness as the overriding taste, though these beans are not as distinctive in flavor in the way the Popayan beans are.

Roasting Green Colombia Popayan Beans

Latest up for my iRoast-2 tests of the green coffee beans I purchased at Amazon.com in the Seven Bridges Cooperative green coffee bean sampler pack were the Colombian Popayan beans.

I’ve settled for using the one roasting profile now:

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

This profile seems to work perfectly in achieving a “Full City” roast. Not too light, not too dark, and evenly consistent in color to the center of the bean.

You’ve got to prefer your coffee bitter to like these beans. I have actually bought roasted Colombia Popayan beans in the past, from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters I think. For my taste, they are a little on the bitter side. However, they sure do generate good crema; definitely above average. So they probably make a good target as a blend with something that is not as bitter but not as good at producing crema. For example, the delicious Bolivian Cenaproc beans which I wrote up in a previous post: Roasting Green Bolivian Cenaproc beans.

So to sum up:

• The above roasting profile seems to work very well for achieving a “full city roast” using the iRoast-2.
• If you prefer bitter highlights in your espresso coffee , then the Colombian Popayan beans are for you.
• These beans produce above-average crema
• These beans might be a great bean to blend with sweeter-tasting beans that don’t produce crema as well, such as Bolivian Cenaproc beans.

Happy home roasting! I’m having a lot of fun, learning to master my iRoast-2 and getting to try such a wide range of coffee flavors from around the world.

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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Brazil Poco Fundo Green Coffee Beans

As reported in my previous post, I was about to roast some Brazilian Poco Fundo green coffee beans. I used the following profile, which is saved as #3 in my i-Roast 2:

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

The roasting profile seemed to work out very well for these beans, which are on the small size. The color was medium to dark-medium. The beans when ground were the same color as the exterior color of the beans, meaning I had pulled off the perfect "Full City" roast.

The beans produced acceptable crema, though less than was produced by the previous beans I was testing, Timor Maubesse beans. The flavor was on the sweet side, and they made a very pleasant espresso-based drink. (Try my favorite, a flat white). If I had to choose between this, the Poco Fundo from Brazil and the Timor Maubesse from Timor, I would prefer the Maubesse.

Next up are Bolivian Cenaproc beans. Once again, organic green coffe beans, shad grown and certified USDA organic.

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

Home Roasting Profile - Latest

I'm going to have to start numbering these posts as I search for the perfect roasting profile for my green beans and iRoast 2.

The last roast actually turned out too light. The color of the ground beans was slightly lighter than the exterior color, and we're aiming at getting the same color inside and out for a start. Also, not so much crema was produced. But the taste is pretty good though. The profile, using green "Dolce" blend from Vivace in Seattle was:

• 6 minutes at 385F
• 3.5 minutes at 450F
• 2.5 minutes at 465F

My latest roast is actually something quite different altogether. For a start, it's a blend of half a cup of the Dolce beans and half a cup of green Timor Maubesse beans from Seven Bridges Cooperative. The Timorese beans are a lot smaller than the beans in the Dolce blend. They have quite a musty smell. They are shade grown fair trade certified beans, and the label recommends them for light to espresso roast. Obviously since I've blended them with the Dolce beans, it will be a few days before I try a pure roast of the Timor Maubesse beans by themselves. The roasting profile for this blend that I just completed was:

• 7 minutes at 385F
• 3.5 minutes at 450F
• 2.5 minutes at 465

The color of the roasted beans is fairly dark, perhaps somewhere between the medium-brown color of a "full city" roast and the dark brown of a French/espresso roast.

Sometime soon I will do a post on recording and storing a roasting profile with the i-Roast 2. I have to say it has taken a while for me to master it. It's not hard once you know how, but it's not easy when you don't since there are just two buttons on the front of the machine that are used for all the functions delivered with the roaster!

Get your own i-Roast 2 and start having fun and saving money!

Get organic fair-trade green coffee beans from Seven Bridges Cooperative

Latest Roasting Profile for iRoast 2

My latest roasting profile using Vivace "Dolce" blend green beans and my iRoast 2 home roaster was as follows:

• 385F at 6 minutes
• 430F for 3.5 minutes
• 465F for 2.5 minutes

I think I got to the point where the beans were starting to burn. This profile was different from the previous one with the addition of 30 seconds for the last phase. I do believe the beans need a tad more roasting than that in the 385F for 6 minutes / 430F for 3.5 minutes / 465F for 2 minutes profile. So my next test profile will actually be to extend stage 1 by a minute and go back to 3 minutes for stage 2, and 2 minutes for stage 3.

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.

Follow Up on i-Roast 2 Roasting Profile

This is a follow up to yesterday's post about customizing your roasting profile with the i-Roast 2 home coffee roaster. I'm happy to report that the beans turned out way better than using either of the two preset roasting profiles delivered with the i-Roast. I have been using green beans bought online from Vivace coffee roasters in Seattle. They supply their Dolce roast as green beans for half the price of the roasted beans, so once we get this nailed, we can all save a lot of money roasting our own beans!

The issue I have had with the two preset profiles on the i-Roast is that the bean is not roasted inside to the extent that the outside of the bean is. In other words, when the bean is ground, the color of the grinds is much lighter than the beans appeared before being ground. Following on from the reading that I mentioned in yesterday's post, I customized the profile to the following profile:

• 385F at 6 minutes


• 430F for 3 minutes


• 465F for 2 minutes

When I ground the beans for my breakfast coffee this morning, presto! The color was the same. The crema was also much better - richer and foamier. I think that the beans could be a tad darker yet, so next time I'm going to add 30 seconds to the second phase and see how that turns out. So the new profile will be:

• 385F at 6 minutes


• 430F for 3.5 minutes


• 465F for 2 minutes

Using the i-Roast 2 Home Coffee Bean Roaster

It was some time ago that I posted this article in anticipation of getting my own "Heathware i-Roast 2" home coffee roaster - Roasting Coffee Beans at Home. I have taken to ordering a couple of pounds of green beans with my orders for the Vita roast from Vivace Coffee in Seattle.

Not being all that experienced with home roasting, I have up till now used one or other of the two delivered presets. The roast is "OK" but an interesting observation is that while the beans are a mid-dark color on the outside, when I grind them, they are a much lighter brown.

So I did some research on the web and found a couple of very useful posts about using your i-Roast 2. This one from Coffee Geeks gives a very positive review of the i-Roaster, but also has some interesting information about roasting, and they mention the observation I made above about the color of the bean on the outside being different from the color inside. A consistent darkish color inside and out is referred to as a "City Roast" and that's what I'm after. The Coffee Geeks post mentions that the i-Roast 2 is difficult to program the customized settings, but gave no specifics. I couldn't lay my hands on my user manual, so I did some further searching, and came across this post at Coffee Bean Corral which has very easy to follow instructions on setting a custom profile.

I just tried using the temperatures and times mentioned in the Coffee Geeks post for a "city roast". The beans are still cooling, but I'll let you know how it goes. The details of the profile are:

• An even ramp up to 385F, held there for a minute (no timing info is given for "the even ramp up", so for this first try I went for the first 6 minutes at 385


• Ramp up to 430, hold for 3 minutes (again, I just set the second cycle to temp 430 and time of 3 minutes)


• Then finished off at 465F for 2 minutes

The green beans came out of the fridge, which is where I have been keeping them once I open the vacuum bag. I'm presuming that while they are green, it is not necessary to store them in the same manner and roasted beans. (Here's my post of how to store roasted coffee beans). I do my roasting outside since the roaster sets off my smoke alarms, which is too bad, as what better smell could you ask for in your home other than the smell of roasting coffee beans or baking bread! Being late afternoon this winter's day in Southern California, the ambient air temperature was 52 degrees.

Get your own i-Roast 2 at Amazon.com