Drop Temperature and Ethiopia Birbissa again

If you have paid any attention to the roast profiles I have been posting with the Hottop, you'll see that the coffee is typically getting to about 300 degrees in 5-6 minutes. This drying phase is important, as I have talked about before, and really sets the stage for what the coffee is going to taste like.

There are some hints out there that drying the coffee a bit faster can have positive qualities in the cup (more sweetness/acidity, less woodiness), so I started thinking about how to do this.

Unfortunately, all electrically powered roasters are very underpowered. You really need a gas-fired tool to have a significant effect on the ramp speed. Since a gas powered roaster isn't in the cards for me any time soon, I decided to play around with the temperature at which the coffee is added to the roaster. Letting the roaster pre-heat more, I surmised, would speed things up. It did indeed, but with less than stellar results, I am afraid.

Here is a graph of Ethiopia Birbissa with the two roasts:

You'll see that the roast that had the coffee added at 400 degrees did recover faster, and the earlier part of the roast was overall somewhat shorter. The total roast time and final temperature were the same. Comparing my notes from the original roast to this new one was like reading about two different coffees. While the first one was a fruit bomb, the higher drop temperature roast was woody, flatter, and much less interesting. I am not sure if there was a bit of scorching going on or something else, but it wasn't a positive improvement. I did a second test with some Red Sea Blend at the higher drop temperature and had a similar result. Rather than increasing sweetness and/or acidity, these coffees were flat, uninteresting, and overly woody.

It looks like it is back to the drawing board a bit. I have had some really excellent coffees lately with a more traditional roast profile which I hope to post about soon. Also, I may play around with smaller roast loads to see if the ramp speeds can be modified in that way instead of with the drop temperature.

Ethiopia Dry-Process Birbissa

As I think I have mentioned, there is very little information on "optimum roast profiles" out there. Searching the internet will find tidbits, but it is still a DYI affair for the most part. If I had to sum up the conventional wisdom such as it is, it would be this:

• Keep roast times below 14 minutes or so
• Slow start/fast finish is better than the reverse
• There are three main segments of the roast:

1. The drying segment, from start to about 300 degrees, should be about 3-5 minutes (longer for light roasts and shorter for dark roasts)
2. The segment from 300 degrees to the start of first crack should be as rapid as possible to avoid woody flavors
3. From the onset of first crack to end of roast should be 3-5 minutes. Shorter for drip and longer for espresso

Got all that?

Let's have a look at this roast of Ethiopia Birbissa:


Under 14 minutes? Check.
5 minutes to dry? Check.
Fast ramp to first? Maybe.

Pretty good against the "standard" if I do say so myself. Too bad I totally spaced out during the roast and forgot to lower the heat when I originally wanted to, but in the end it seems to have worked out. I wished I had pulled it a bit sooner since the roast got a bit darker than I had intended, but so be it.

The aroma in the cup was amazing. Pure, pure blueberies all the way. This is really the first coffee I have had that has been so distinct in one berry note, though I jave had many others with grape, strawberry, etc. Very nice. The taste follows suit, but the acidity was lower than I wanted, either due to the coffee or the roast - I am not sure. The body was syrupy and overall this was a nice dry-process cup, but nothing that exciting, IMO.

Ethiopia Wet Process Bonko

I broke down recently and ordered a few more coffees which I don't need. My stash had run out of wet processed Ethiopian coffees, and there were a few interesting ones around, so....

On any given week my favorite coffees change a lot. One week it will be syrupy dry processed coffees, the next a light Mexican bean, and so on. However, I have a soft spot in my heart for wet processed Ethiopian coffees. I love the clarity of them, the intensely sweet citrus notes, so different from the brooding and fruited notes of their dry-processed brethren.

This coffee, with the delightful appellation of "Bonko" (a coffee mill) was roasted after a less successful roast of another WP coffee whose notes got lost in an unsuccessful attempt to get my roast log into a better electronic format. So much for progress. Here is the roast:

I tried to keep things fast and light, and was rewarded with a really spectacular coffee. In a vacuum pot the next day, it was so clean, so fruity and refreshing that it brought a smile to my face. There is no sourness or grassiness to it, despite the relatively light roast. There are lemons and graham intensely in the aroma, and that carries directly into the cup. As it cools, there is a touch of anise, surrounded with a sweetness that is so appealing. The acidity is bracing, but never jarring, playing so nicely with the citrus notes. I could drink this all day long. Highly recommended.

Ethiopia Korate Wet Process

I have posted on this coffee before. At the time, I wasn't happy with the roast. This time around I decided to keep it very light. As you'll see in the profile this time around, the overall roast time was several minutes shorter than the last time I roasted it. It had a huge effect.



This roast came out awesome. Super flowery aromas, great acidity and sweetness. Extremely clean cup with tons of complexity. I am usually pretty good about identifying individual flavors, but this one is hard to explain. It is a coffee to linger over and explore as the cup cools. Just delicious.

This is definitely a difficult coffee to get right. It needs a very light roast or it comes across as dull-tasting. There is a narrow needle to thread, but if you nail it, it is well worth it.

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Addendum 1/23/09

I roasted this coffee again, and had the best results to date. This time around, I used a slightly different profile, lingering at a lower intermediate temperature. It was perfect - all candy - Lemonheads, Jolly Ranchers, etc. Sweet, acidy, not a trace of graininess/grassiness. Just a great cup.

Ethiopia Korate Wet Process

I was so excited to get this coffee, for a couple of reasons. First of all, I love wet processed coffees from Ethiopia. They are a great change of pace from the rustic dry processed coffees. Coffees from the Yrgacheffe area, etc. have a prickly acidity about them, as well as piercing citrus notes and floral aromas that make them almost tea-like at times. Second, this is the exact same coffee as the dry processed version I spoke about last month. Being able to do a comparison where only the coffee's processing has changes is fascinating.

High off my roasting success of the superstar Panama Esmerelda coffee, I used the same exact profile:


Alas, sometimes such high expectations get dashed. I was somewhat disappointed with the way this came out. Despite the same profile and the exact same time between first crack and end of roast, I think I brought this coffee a few degrees too high. The silverskin/chaff on these beans really holds on, and it made looking at the roast color difficult. The aroma was promising, but I found the taste somewhat muted. There was peaches-in-syrup tastes, some Jolly Rancher candy notes, but the acidity I expected wasn't there to back it up. Some bittersweet roast character crept in to spoil the fun. I'll have to roast more of this to see if I can hit the sweet spot a bit better.

Another Misty Valley in Ethiopia

First of all, a picture of some recent stash additions. I was doing well on stash reduction, but things are out of control lately. Such is life, I guess. There was a shipping special going on, so I had to take advantage. After all, I was saving money, right?

It is no secret that Ethiopia's Idido Misty Valley is one of my all-time favorite coffees. The complexity and fruitiness of it, combined with the exacting preparation of the seeds really provides a clarity of flavor that I think is spectacular.

This year, there was another coffee playing off the "Misty Valley" moniker, namely a coffee from the same region exported by someone else. This one was deemed "Menno's Misty Valley" in honor of a certain Menno Simon who produced the coffee.

Apparently this was quite a small lot, and it disappeared from the Sweet Maria's offering list in a short time, too quickly for me to grab some. In an act of generosity, a fellow internet roaster sent me a pound to try out. My thanks go out to Eddie for his kindness. I have been playing around with slow roasts for a while, and I thought that would perhaps bring out the qualities of this coffee well, especially since I was aiming for quite a light roast. Here it is:


I need to collect my thoughts a bit, but some of these Gene Cafe roasts with what look like long roast times are turning out really well. In this case, the coffee was dynamite. This has a character that I haven't encountered before in Ethiopian dry processed coffees. There is an intense orange note, of all things. Berries are common enough flavors in these coffees, but never have I had such an intense orange note. The coffee is thick and liquory (is that a word?), with intense chocolate and orange notes. As espresso, even at such a light roast, the results are delicious. This is a heady brew, no doubt, and one that I am glad I had a chance to try.

Ethiopia Korate Natural Sidamo

I couldn't resist adding more Ethiopian coffee to the stash. I was doing well on stash reduction for a few months and had whittled things down to 40 pounds or so. My wife was very happy, and the cabinets were relieved of some extra weight. Lately, though, I seem to be acquiring more coffee...

Anyway, this is an interesting coffee. Very clean, both in preparation, and in the cup. I roasted this one with the intention of mimicking some really good roasts of another Ethiopian coffee, but messed up the initial temperature. Still, the coffee was great, and I have another few pounds to play with.

The profile:


I had intended to start at a lower temperature (300 degrees) for a bit, but I was working from a flawed memory. Such is life. The aroma is pure berries, sweet and clean. The flavor follows suit. This was quite a light roast, just out of first crack, and there wasn't much roast/chocolate character going on. It was all sweet fruit.

The interesting thing here is how clean the taste was. Most dry processed coffees have a bit of funk to them. Call it "rustic" if you will, it is that very faint hidey, baggy, leathery flavor that lurks in the background. Not so here. There is a purity in the cup that I haven't encountered before. I think "simple" actually applies here, although overall there are a lot of flavors. However, there is really nothing to interfere with the fruit. I'll be curious to play with this one in subsequent roasts.

Ethiopia Harar Horse, Lot 17406, Roast #2

No horses were harmed during the making of this coffee.... Just kidding - it is just the mark of the importer.

This coffee really annoys me. I love dry processed Ethiopian coffee, and this lot got a lot of praise. However, I find it boring at best. I originally tried it last week, and found it flat. Interestingly, the aroma of the beans themselves was more interesting than the brewed coffee.

Thinking another roast profile might be in order, I used this one:



As expected, this quick ramp robbed the coffee of some body, but accentuated the fruity notes and acidity. Overall it is better than last time, but still uninspiring. The ground coffee aromas are intense - fermented mango, tamarind, some coconut. Very intense. What winds up in the cup, however, is quite light. It kind of reminds me of one of those frou-frou summer fruit soups you might come across at a fancy restaurant. The flavors are mild, and integrated with some syrupy malt notes. Not bad, but not worth purchasing more of this coffee. We'll see if it gets any better during the week, and perhaps some espresso extraction is in order also.

Ethiopia Idido Misty Valley

In the last part of the Ethiopia No Holds Barred Cage Match, I told you that the winner would go up against a perennial favorite, Idido Misty Valley (IMV). Well, let me tell you, it was no contest whatsoever. The Sidamo took a brutal beating by IMV, leaving it bruised and bloody on the mat.

IMV is my favorite coffee, bar none. It has somewhat legendary status among coffee geeks. It comes from an area around Yrgacheffe that has a tradition of wet processed coffee, but the IMV is dry processed. It roasts like a dream - incredibly uniform for a coffee of this type. From the green seeds through the roast, through the cup, it is a powerhouse of fruity goodness. There is an interesting article here as well.

The 2006 crop I found to have strong notes of dried strawberries. The 2007 I am roasting now is blueberries all the way. At the same time, with the wild blueberry and over the top honeysuckle aromas, it is such a balanced cup. I smile whenever I drink it.

The roast profile was very similar to the Cage Match coffees, but I started at a lower temperature to make sure I didn't burn off any of the fruity goodness:



I extended the middle time by a minute since it had just barely reached the temperature set point by the time 10 minutes had passed. This is quite a light roast - just out of first crack and a little more. Even after 12 hours it is phenomenal. Intense floral aromas and berries, berries, berries. It is well integrated with some chocolate notes, and changes as the cup cools. It is a sweet, medium bodied cup. There is really nothing like it.

Just for chuckles, I roasted the last of the Harar from last time with a different profile to compare it to the disappointing performance of last week. I'll try it tomorrow and see what's what.

Sidamo v. Harar - No Holds Barred Cage Match, II

Yesterday, Ethiopia Sidamo attacked first, perhaps leaving Harar slumped against the turnbuckle. What can happen next in this epic battle?

In the other corner we have the rather interestingly named Ethiopia Harar Horse DP -Lot 17406. What about lot 17405? We'll never know....

This coffee was roasted right after the Sidamo, with the same profile. Here are the details:


Smelling the beans, you can easily tell the difference between Harar and Sidamo. The Harar smells like over the top tropical fruits - smashed up mangoes, pineapple, etc. Very heady, almost fermented. The Sidamo is more of a stone fruit melange: apricot, peach, etc.

In the cup, I also found the Harar more muted than I might have expected. I noted something similar with the Sidamo. I think it might have something to do with the initial temperature being too high. I am going to combine some of these trends and observations on roasting profiles into a different post when I have some extra time.

The fruity notes of the dry grounds are there, but are tempered with chocolaty flavors. There is some good acidity as well, but it is not the wild cup I imagined. Certainly it is tasty enough, but at this roast treatment I am not running out to stock up.

If I had to choose a winner, it would be the Sidamo, hands down. The complexity of the cup, how the fruit integrates with the more rustic and funky notes, and the pure intensity make it a winner for me. I wouldn't pass up either, but Sidamo gets the edge this time.

Next round: our current winner goes up against one of the icons of home roasting: Ethiopia Idido Misty Valley. Stay tuned....

Sidamo v. Harar - No Holds Barred Cage Match, I

When it comes to coffee, for me, Ethiopia is where it is at. The incredible variety, origin character, and history make these coffees truly special. I have in my possession a lot of Ethiopian beans, so I thought it would be fun to compare two especially lauded ones.

Both these coffees are dry processed, and hail from Harrar and Sidamo, two of the most famous areas of Ethiopian coffee production. Dry processed coffees leave some of the fruity mucilage layer of the coffee cherry in contact with the seed for some time during processing, leading to fruity flavors in the cup. Both these coffees are for the adventurous, since they can push the envelope of what many people interpret as "traditional coffee flavor"

In today's corner is Ethiopia Sidamo Dry Processed Biloya. This coffee has the distinction of being one of the highest rated coffees at Ken David's coffeereview.com. What weight do I place behind this recommendation? None whatsoever. Still, it is a data point. If you search around the web, you will find lots of accolades about this coffee.

I first roasted this coffee back in August of 2007. My tasting notes were effusive to say the least:

"Very impressive, complex and changeable coffee. Dry grounds are overwhelmingly estery, spicy, fruity, chocolaty. Aroma in cup is intense cinnamon. First third of cup is dry spice, fleeting leather. 2nd third is cinnamon-laced apricot; last third is a deep wininess that reminds me of a Kenya coffee. Very very nice"

Wow, I must have had a lot of free time back then to write this stuff.

Anyway, I roasted a new batch on Friday with the following profile:



And the cup today? Yeah, it's good. I am not sure I have the enthusiasm I previously had for it, though. I can imagine a few reasons why. First, the coffee is a bit older now. Second, I have tried a lot more coffees since I first tried this stuff, and I am less easily impressed, and third, the roast profile was a tad different this time.

Don't get me wrong - this is a tasty cup. "Cinnamon-drenched apricot" is a good description. In a way, this coffee reminds me more of a Yemen than a Ethiopian coffee. The Harrar I'll talk about tomorrow is quite a bit different beast. As for which is better, you'll have to wait and see.

Ethiopia Dry Process Special Selection

This is the second time I have roasted this coffee. This is a naturally fruity coffee with some nice chocolate notes. This time around I wanted to see if I could keep this real sparkly and bright. I tried a lower initial temperature to dry things out a bit without generating any caramelization, and then cranked the heat to max until first crack, hoping to preserve acidity. After that I lowered to my usual temperature until the end.

This came out more or less as I intended. Very bright with pungent tropical fruit aromas. Sticking your nose in the jar was like getting blasted with tamarind. The body was a bit on the thin side, which isn't surprising. In the end, I preferred the original roast (360 degrees for 5 minutes followed by 460 degrees to the end), which actually was the same total roast time, but developed more body and chocolate.

Ethiopia Yrgacheffe Kochere District

Funny, but back in the day I couldn't abide bright coffees like this one, and many Kenyas. The concept of acidity in coffee can be a tough one to appreciate, since if not done carefully it can come across as sourness. If you have ever had a really bad, sour, brutish truck stop coffee you'll know what I mean. Pulling off a City roast that is bright but retains sweetness is one of the hardest things to learn how to do. Of course, once you pull it off you have to convince yourself that you like that style. I happen to like it very much, but not everyone will like coffee that tastes a bit like lemonade, as this one does.

My intent with the profile was to "sneak up" on first and give time for flavors to develop, as well as to ensure that the roast didn't get away from me after first crack. If you apply too much heat, things can go very quickly and you will either have more roast than you targeted for, or you have to end the roast quickly without enough flavor development. This one turned out pretty well.

I actually roasted this as part of an espresso blending experiment, but I set aside a small amount for brewed coffee this morning. This was a City roast, and was very intense. The floral aromas were very strong (hibiscus flowers?), and the taste was reminiscent of lemonade. As the cup cooled, there were milk chocolate notes in the background. Very nice, and more intense than the last time I roasted this.