Guatemala Antigua Finca Retana Yellow Bourbon (and an experiment)

There is much to say about this coffee, and the roast. First of all, for all you alcoholics out there, "bourbon" is the particular coffee cultivar that is grown on this estate. It traces back to the island of Reunion (also known as Bourbon at various parts of its history), and is pronounced "bore-BONE". For an interesting discussion of the geography and history of this place, you can check out this Wikipedia article. See? A history lesson together with your coffee.

Getting progressively more interesting, there is the color of the coffee cherry. Most of the coffee grown around the world has red fruit, such as:
You won't be surprised that Yellow Bourbon coffee has..... you guessed it - yellow fruit!


Anyway, on to the roasting. I admit that I am not normally a huge fan of the bourbon variety of coffee (reasons for that another time), but I was intrigued by this particular lot and the usual flowery descriptions of ripe, juicy fruit, peaches, etc.

I roasted half of this lot back on April 4, and the rest of it last Friday. Here is Friday's roast profile:


Comparing this roast to the one I did in April, you will see that this one had a higher initial temperature - 350 degrees versus 300 degrees:


First roast was shorter, both first crack and final roast time were faster. In general with these profiles, I try to "sneak up" on first crack when I am targeting a light roast, such that there is ample time for flavor development.

Let's compare my tasting notes from the two roasts:

4/4/08: "Sweet white grape juice & fruit in aroma. Taste is classic bourbon varietal. Acidy but not sour."

6/2/08: "GREAT. Better than last roast, despite being a shorter roast. Fruity notes are more muted, but sweetness and acidity are merged beautifully. Very juicy coffee"

This coffee is for people who like bright and sweet brews. Intense stuff that of course you will drink black (is there another way?).

This experiment also highlights how important the temperature is during the first part of the roast. Early in my roasting career, I had fairly low temperatures there just to get moisture out of the bean. Now I know that if you want to avoid grassy notes and overpowering acidity, it is better to have the temperature a bit higher. Depending on what I am trying to get out of the coffee, I will play around with this.

Oh, one other note about this coffee. It roasts up just beautifully. The bourbon stock, along with the serious altitude this coffee is grown at, makes for some incredibly dense seeds. The prep is beautiful as well. Take a look at how even the roast is:

(Click to Enlarge)

For an upcoming post, I took some pictures of some Yemen coffee, and you'll see the difference in roast evenness.

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Addendum 6/4/08
I brought this coffee into work today, and was even happier with it. I got the strong white grape juice aromas this time, and boy was this stuff smooth. Great coffee, and sure would be a crowd pleaser.