underdeveloped roasting

I will just jump in and say it, Lemon, Lemon, Lemon. If I wanted to cup lemon in my fresh brew, I'd do what my grandma did, pick a fresh lemon off the lemon tree, then slice and squeeze a bit into my long black.

There is this micro line you tread when roasting lighter coffees, the parameters are within 11 degrees from failure to enlightenment of perfect flavours. A lack of control and comprehension of what on earth you are doing will produce a unpalatable composition of acid dominating the front palette that will destroy any other coffees' delicate profiles you intended to try within the line up of cupping for that morning, that is if you are cupping the coffee you are roasting before releasing it onto the market place..

Every dedicated coffee roaster out there is trying their upmost in finding the best profile for that origin in hand. A deep, complex, dedicated love with a dash of discipline is the true path for outstanding roasting.

Take a El Salvador for instance. The drop temperature and chosen fuel valve must ensure correct bean development so to allow the coffee to open up, releasing the right amount of moisture, puffing the beans out and doubling their size without tipping the faces or ends of each individual coffee bean otherwise you have cooked the coffee too fast, and that will inhibit the end aromatics, flavor, mouth feel, body. The coffee will prbably taste flat, gritty, a little charred, incomplete and missing whole notes of typical attributes associated with the El Salvador.
The opposite of a too hot/fast roast is the physical lack of expansion of the bean from not applying enough heat durning the profile. This I see and taste more often than burnt coffee. I think this style of roasting comes from a lack of experience and fear. Fear from not wanting to 'burn' that $60.00 kg cup of excellence origin so leads to a shyness of bean assessment prior to roasting. This is worse than tipping the ends of your El Salvador, as the coffee beans have not had the chance to open up and at least double in size from a good healthy amount of heat from the burners. The time and temperature when you judge to turn off the burners and then to dropping the beans out of the drum and finishing the roast will determine how fantastic or sour the coffee will be. br />

The Melbourne Coffee Festival and Cafe Biz 2011

An El Salvador COE #9 at three venues over the Café Biz weekend saw my inquisitive tastebuds in a euphoric caffeine, flavour state – repeatedly.

First sample of this magnificent bean was at a new venture in Kensington, The Premises. My long black welcomed gentle waves of syrupy mint and anise. A beautifully balanced extraction of a gorgeous amber liquid with a staunch Crema and unmistakable river Nile down its centre, provided that even stroke of the entire pallet with no unnecessary grabs and bites of the tongue.

This experience (at this soon to revisited Café), was to be matched with the divinity of the tightest textured soy milk to mingle in the glass with a double ristretto El Salvador base from the larger than life Duchess of Spotswood. Excellent barista skills! I was very impressed by the many coffees I inhaled, matching the sensationalism of the simply English masterpiece of a breakfast.  A jab of Stilton with the poke of competitively crunchy Rosti encouraged me to delay the coffee experience in order to keep two perfectly crafted taste experiences separate; lengthening my stay and pleasure…

 Seven Seeds sent me on the long drive home to Robe in enlightened spirits with the same strong soy latte as requested at Duchess, however the extraction at this North Melbourne hub brought sweeter mint from the bean, lending a concentrated front and side pallet poke.

 Aside to the external food and coffee pleasures of Melbourne was the purpose of Mahalia and I’s trip to the Smoke for the annual Café Biz Expo. We were blessed by the company of wonderful individuals, providing equipment and assistance and direction in our set up. The Expobar brothers decked out a beautiful two group, temperature controlled machine for our ease of operation over the three days. Their regular visits to our stall were enjoyable and appreciated ones, as all were aware of how ridiculously busy those fellows are! Present in many places, I’m sure of it.

Greg introduced us to the Mahlkonig grinder. Very steady gramage control that would reliably stay put as the grind was tweaked as required throughout the day. Such a lovely machine to cooperate with. A two hopper machine was a grind on demand grinder with a difference. A find that was sad to part with.

Upon set up on the Friday, Mahalia and I witnessed the intoxicating, runny honey pour s from our beans consistently after much fiddling. This was a sweet start to the Expo, for the mind and taste sensation. Some over indulging of the Blend # 4 Piccolos ensued until late afternoon.

                Blend # 4 – our darkest roast and Golden Bean winner took on new dimensions at the Biz. Always a syrupy, punchy blend of sweet, smoothly dissipating finish, the beans juice danced into the cup from the Nakeds with much vigour. The prominent spice of anise and cinnamon adopted the fine tannins of a young Shiraz. There existed a kick that was mellowed by a sticky palm sugar sweet finish. Molasses, but not quite molasses. Alluding whiffs of Chicken broth.

 A ‘Mystery Bean’ idea that was of a last minute decision calibre saw a regular stream of talented palettes mill to our stall. The Ethiopian Sundried Bench Maji Grd 3 has typical berry aromatics and flavour. Blueberry:  similar to the Harrar. Sophisticated citrus, bordering lemongrass. Wild African bean smells were nurturing drunken states, minus the alcohol.

Such a healthy mix of passionate coffee professionals, mingled in a space dappled with sexy machines, tamping forearms, beautiful packaging and persistent and perusing quality hunters. I was baffled by the knowledge that looped the room and the knowledge I was able to both gain and share. For a first time Coffee Expo goer, I’m confident it was the pick of the crop for a learner like I.  

One of our many experiments....

Rising prices of coffee preserving materials welcomed a trial and error experiment at the Mahalia Coffee House – to evaluate the efficiency of a potential replacement option for our 3 kg sealable foil storage bags! Excitement. With many variables to be analyzed and considered, we set to work with a control batch of Blend # 4 in our ridiculously pricey present method of storage and a trial batch of the same blend in a 7Kg, food grade, air-tight container. Assessing the influence of these differing environments on the coffee beans, their aroma and flavor profiles and consistency in the cup, as a result of their corresponding methods of storage, over a 10 day period was our motivation.

Upon opening of each, the control foil bag hit us with a dominating jand fervent wave of beautiful vanilla, chocolate with the Blend # 4 signature kick of pungent spice. That’s what it’s all about!! Crossed fingers and wishful thinking spurred our confidence on for the aroma results for the experimental tub. A musty trickle of smoky spice and cocoa crept from the pores of the abnormally oily beans; surprising us with a profile for our senses not yet experienced before. Disappointment followed however, as awareness of Blend # 4 needing the sweet to balance its big punch dawned. It just wasn’t there damn it! The turpeny aspect to the bucketed beans became truly apparent as the beans were ground for double shot blacks and ¾ latte pours. Keeping the doses 16 gm each for extraction of 56 ml, the oil licked bucketed beans required a grind far courser than its bagged component. Crema of both cups held well, but our oily beans lacked the sweet complexity that is the true appeal of this roast!

The girls, Mahalia, and I concluded that the integral buttery mouth feel of the coffee was substituted for assimilation to liquefied cling wrap with a splash of chemical, submerged in an undesirable muddy water. Ewww.

The initial concern of the exhaling CO2 from the beans being trapped in the food grade bucket, without means of escape became trampled by the problematic nature of the beans to adopt the plastic taste from the container material…

Oh dear! Another experiment shall be necessary to test the valve theory again? Or can the superman strong containers be lined to prevent the tainting of the bean flavor? (If the absence of a valve proves to have no detrimental effect on the coffee.)

Clear results and lessons learned today – how it TASTES is absolutely paramount.

Lauren.