I posted my first roast report in March, right after I got my new roaster. Since then I’ve been so busy with roasting, entertaining, traveling, and life that I’ve not reported back. Well here it is. 
Sometime in July I convinced Vick to let me take over a portion of the laundry room for my roast shop (gotta love the smell of burnt cardboard in your clothes). I moved a bunch of stuff around and finally got the roaster semi-permanently set up next to the microwave. With the scale and barrel stand on top of the microwave everything fits nicely and I don’t have to move a bunch of part in and out of the cupboards every time I want to make a batch. This dance was occurring every 4 or 5 days so it seemed like a worthwhile compromise to our anti-clutter rule. Now the only thing I have to do when its time to roast is pull the ducting up to the hanger and crack the window a bit.
So on to the actual roasting. My general practice has been to sample several single origin beans each month, purchasing a pound or so from Sweet Maria’s. The next month I’ll purchase my previous month’s favorite in a 2 lb bag. So far I’ve found that I practically never prefer the lighter roasts that Sweet Maria’s recommends. Many of the beans that I’ve tried and rejected probably deserve a do-over at a darker roast. With that in mind here are my picks so far.
| Bean | Roasted | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guatemala San Jose Pinula La Trinidad | Full City + | March 30th | Delicious, Fully Body, Chocolaty |
| Java Kajumas Organic Tama Dador | Vienna | April 8th | |
| Rwanda Cup of Excellence Suvu-Maraba | Full City + | A tasty cup and well balanced. A bit pricey | |
| Brazil Cerrado DP Fazenda Aurea | Full City + | May 20th | This is the best coffee I’ve had in a long time. Very intense chocolate flavor even in a latte. |
| Yemen Mokha Ismaili | Full City + | July 25th | This fantastic chocolate and earth flavored coffee tasted so good that I ordered 5 lbs of it in the next batch. There is some unevenness in bean size and quality (I even found a small stone), but it can make a fantastic shot if roasted darker (Vienna) |
1/2 lb of Yemen Mokha Ismaili
I won’t dwell on the lesser beans I’ve roasted, mostly because I fear that my under roasting may have contributed to their lesser qualities. I will say that with the exception of the Brazil Cerrado that I mentioned above, all of the Dry Process beans I’ve tried have been seriously chaffy, and some have even caused fires.
Today I’m roasting off perhaps the end of the Yemen Mokha Ismaili (~2lbs) for a camping trip this weekend. I’ll grind it on Thursday night and seal it up in my vac-cans. I’ll be making cuptop drip for my friends this weekend and I hope it lives up to expectations!
1 comment
Comment by David Drazen
David Drazen September 22, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Nice! What kind of roaster do you have? I remember the first time I roasted beans thanks to your help in a popcorn popper. Those people at work thought I was nuts. I liked the iRoast2 I used in Norway and the Zach and Dani’s I have here, but 4 oz (wet) really isn’t enough coffee for me. Hopefully I’ll get to try your roast some day.
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