Hi Andrew,

If you can, it's well and truly worthwhile saving some of it for a week.

Cheers,

Luca

not much to say about this is there!

Just

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

richy_4000 wrote on Jul 4^th, 2007, 7:08pm:

Just think Richy,,,they will all run out before we do!

ergo cup half full, not half empty!

Ha Dennis I have 1 full kg so I am.............

Bugger......


half empty!

827352, 827343, 827335, 827316,....

(seconds till the beanbay pickup)

Lizzi wrote on Jul 4^th, 2007, 7:28pm:


my roast went really well. used 2 cups (don't know grams) heat gun, and ss bowl inside a cardboard box due to it being bloody freezing (saw that tip on here somewhere - thanks; also the box didn't catch on fire which was good) took about 14 minutes to first crack. from what i recall that was exactly how long andy thought it might take. slowed it down then and took about another 5 minutes through to second crack and then one or two minutes into that.

i got a very even roast. was slightly oily but at this stage the oil has gone back inside the beans.

hard to stir though since it's so dense.

Thundergod wrote on Jul 4^th, 2007, 11:05pm:


yes from the very first cracks of second that is. i waited until i was sure it was second crack, then stopped! the beans are a good full city (don't have the CS card yet, forgot to add to my cart).

matblack wrote on Jul 5^th, 2007, 3:31am:


thanks matblack for posting that, this confirms my experience: "Ismaili, regardless of whether the name describes cultivar or region, is also likely to be excellent but a bit gentler and less powerful than Mattari."

the yemen mattari sounds good doesn't it: "likely to be the most acidy, most complex, most fragrantly powerful of Yemen origins" Andy I wonder if we can get our hands on some of this one..? i'm absolutely loving the yemens!

Yeah I was thinking about the coffeehit one.. unfortunately i dunno about it cuz of the price, I'd hate to stuff it up if I payed top dollar.  If anyone tries any let me know!

don't have a gene - just a heat gun - but i got a perfect, and very even roast..

andrew wrote on Jul 9^th, 2007, 3:11pm:

Was that because you roasted one bean at a time? (only jokin'  )

careful of the rocks in this one. I found a small piece of shale in my roast. 1/2 the size of a bean but enough to do unwanted damage to a grinder.

poddy66 wrote on Jul 13^th, 2007, 6:48pm:


Hope not, Poddy --- the novel would make one very difficult read without a single comma, full stop, capital letter, sentence or  paragraph.  

--Robusto

The long sentance conveys his excitement, and love of the Yemen. Too great a bean to pause for a full stop

This message comes from mrs poddy66.
Yes I did come down the hallway, but I dragged myself out of my sick bed and shuffled down the hall to find out what the smell was. A good novel! Yeah, probably a Mills and Boon novel. But now that I have gotten over the flu I do agree that the Yemen makes a magnificent drop.
Cheers, Mrs poddy66

muppet_man67 wrote on Jul 13^th, 2007, 10:17pm:

Freudian slip?

Finessing the financial fiance?


Java "What the ef?!" phile

Dennis wrote on Jul 14^th, 2007, 5:57pm:


Have you cooked any in the GC yet Dennis? What time and temp did you do yours with?

Just a little feedback on how others go with it.

-Linda

Thanks for the heads up on the "little surprises" Dennis!

About 232*...awesome, will give that a go.

-Linda

Hi

A month or so ago I got a nice pyroclastic fragment from a Costa Rican Tarazu. It is probably from the Arenal volcano which is very near Tarazu. Coffee roasting is a nice way to collect rocks from exotic locations

Mike

Sparky gave me a sample of some Brown-Beanbay Yemens to take home yesterday.

Well, what can I say, this bean is a completely new coffee experience. It's like fricking E=mc^2 in your mouth. HUGE, DEEP chocolate and nutty flavours, a multitude of different spices, boldness and body like you've never tasted before, and a whole lot more complexity of flavour sizzling in the background. This bean is one crazy, psychedelic, mother of a beast!!!!! Even Mum was left bedazzled by the coffee, and she aint much of a coffee snobs usually.

As Andy said, it's one little runt of a bean, but packs a punch like no other. Hope my roast turns out as well as Andy's (it won't, lol).

Cheers Mal

The problem is that I'm still using poppers. It's pretty impossible to get any kind of real control of your roast profile, but I still get pretty awesome results - better than any commercial beans I've tasted.

I reken 'll get a coretto setup going after I've moved to Switzerland next month  

Hmmm, I made a couple of brews today. First sip gave me a hint of leather, then the dark dried fruit and spices. I didn't detect much chocolate though, but the complexity was unique. This bean is a definite standout.... It also likes a much coarser grind than the usualy beans I put through and even then most shots were ristretto's.

Andy's roast was spot on... now I know what to aim for.

Cheers,

Mark.

Sparky wrote on Jul 29^th, 2007, 9:51am:

Wouldn't want you to feel left out Mark ,

Mal.

I will cherish my rock. If I visit Yemen one day, I'll return it to it's birthplace.

When I first tasted this I wondered what all the fuss was about. Yes, it had a very dark red/brown crema and tasted "buttery" (I'm learning).  What I found surprising was that the flavour lingers on and on.  I had a cup this morning and drove to work - 45 minutes later I could still taste the coffee and couldn't wait to get home this evening to have another cup.

Bee you tee full !!!

Yemen Bani Ismail

one word, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Craig.

Got my Yemen Bani Ismail coffee yesterday at 6pm one day late  after the driver broke down but was well worth the wait the flavour just hung around forever  

G'day Sullo,

I can only speak from the perspective of my own personal preference, but I have found that these beans benefit from a slightly slower roast because of the increased density of these tough little buggers, you need to make sure that they roast evenly all the way through. This then results in a brew that retains plenty of complexity in the cup by way of spiciness.... Cardamom, Nutmeg and a bit of Cinnamon.... plus dried fruit notes, mainly dried peaches and dates to my palate.... mild acidity, maybe 6 out of 10.... medium body and a lovely lingering bitter-sweet dark chocolate finish.

For example, in my Corretto, I adjust the heatgun so that 1st-Crack starts after about 11 minutes and finishes by 12:30 to 13:00 minutes. Once 1st-Crack is really rolling along I reduce the heat by raising the heatgun by about 30-40mm to prevent rushing into 2nd-Crack.

After 1st-Crack is finished and with the temperature reduced as above, 2nd-Crack starts at about the 20:00 to 21:00 minute mark and I allow it to progress to about 20-30 seconds into the rolling stage before pulling the roast and cooling by about the 23:00-24:00 minute mark. This results in a roast that is very nice in the cup after only a couple of days rest but continues to improve right up to about the 7-8 day mark and is still very nice after 10-12 days. Wouldn't know how it is after this long though, mine's all gone by then .

Anyway mate, hope that helps a bit ,

Cheers,
Mal.

mmmm thank you for the yemen loved it to the last bean

I just read your roasting notes Mal....too late....but I only roasted a  relatively small batch of 400 grams and it does taste good, but I guess that I have lost some of the complexities in the speed and extent of the roast.  I will do it as per your guide next time.  I will start by slowing the heatgun at start up...I thought you have to get things to the first crack as fast as possible, so I cranked mine so that I got them there in 6 mins!  I will put the thermocouple to good use next time.

Cheeers

ozscott wrote on Nov 30^th, 2007, 8:29am:

G'day Oz ,

The notes I posted about roasting this bean (and any others I may comment about) should be viewed as just a guide mate, as it's purely based on my own personal experience. As has oft been repeated here on CS, it's what's in the cup that counts .

The main reason I slow the roast down with really hard beans like the Yemenis, some Ethiopians and the odd Central American, is that it seems to take a bit longer to get the heat through to the centre of the bean than other types and when you push the roast through to 1st-Crack quickly, the centre doesn't seem to roast at the same rate as the rest of the bean. I suppose what I end up doing in fact, is a very simple ramp up of temperature all the way through to 1st-Crack and then ramp it down as per normal for gentle transition into to 2nd-Crack.

Something else I do with these that I don't do with others, is to allow the roast to progress into Rolling 2nd-Crack for 30-40 seconds as this seems to achieve a more "rounded" and balanced cup (for my palate) and so long as the progression into 2nd-Crack is well controlled and "gentle" per se, the risk of destroying the intrinsic varietal complexities is minimised considerably.

Regarding my Heatgun, it's just a simple little Black & Decker unit with a High and Low switch that I normally leave on High and adjust the heat input by raising or lowering the Heatgun with respect to the height of the bean-mass surface. I belong to the other camp who bought the cheap but very useful Drill Pedestal from Bunnings . Hmmm, sounds like a nice home-brew of another description on the horizon there Oz, quite partial to the Wheat brews myself...... All the best mate ,

Mal.

ozscott wrote on Nov 30^th, 2007, 10:53pm:

Just did a quick calc. and it would seem to be around the 45Kg mark to the end of November (give a lot away to friends and relos). Not bad for a home-roasting effort I guess. On to my second heatgun though, the original Aldi one I had died after the 31st roast which is also not too bad given it only cost me $15.

ozscott wrote on Nov 30^th, 2007, 10:53pm:

Whispering Wheat, eh? I'll have to tell my lovely lady about that one, she's from the land of the Long White Cloud originally but not really a beer drinker. Have thought about giving the amber home-brewing a go from time to time so this is just more 'food' for thought....

Cheers mate,
Mal.

marco 6 minutes to second crack is good even if 3 minutes to first crack is typically poper fast.

What was your batch size and have you modified your Crazy Popper at all?

Picked my beans up from Epic yesterday and met with other WA CS'ers and had a good chat.
Arrived home and out to Corretto to roast some Yemenis--got first crack at 10.20 then went on to start of 2nd at 15.20 and pulled roast and cooled. Ugly little beans but the roast looked fairly even, I ate one and it tasted sensational so I don't think I will wait long before a test shot of these little suckers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just finished roasting 300gm, ugly, bitty and broken.  NO rocks found

Roasted with moderate ramp up over 18 minutes first crack @ 213c ........second crack @ 238c ead Mal's post and took them 20 sec into second crack.

Hope they are worth the cost premium!!    Time will tell............ they look  and taste ok.

Cheers Gazz

two tiny rocks in 500g so far...hopefully i find any others before my grinder does  

Andy you're right !!

Just a few small bits of concrete and sandstone (?) pebbles........... disappointing really, I was looking forward to a few diamonds, emeralds and rubies, ah well perhaps in the next bag'o'beans

Gazz

Picked my beans up a couple of hours ago at Gilkatho and did a Popper roast as soon as I got home.  I did a 50 g roast initially but it didn't work too well.  I only heard a couple of cracks around the 2m 50 s to 3m 30s mark.  No further cracks or pops heard and it never reached a rolling state.  I stopped the roast at 12 mins.  

I then tried a 106 g roast and it went rolling 1C at 3 m to 4m 15s and rolling 2C at 8m 10s to about 9m 10 s.  The beans are dark have a bit of a sheen to them which concerns me a bit as previous ones that looked like that at the end of the roast have become quite oily after a couple of days.

I have one of those conical kitchen graters (that you grate cheese with) turned upside down for a chimney - with this setup it seems 50g is too small and not enough heat builds up to roast this particular bean properly.  

Cheers,
Chris

o long as you're storing them properly they should taste very nice as an espresso or, my favourite, as a Doppio Piccolo Wink

Thanks Mal,

I'm storing them in a valve bag. I think these are are a great addition to beanbay.

I have some of those small stainless steel cups that came with my Sunbeam machine.  Does a double shot in one of these = a Doppio Piccolo ?

Cheers,
Chris

marco wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2007, 10:23pm:


G'day. As Mal says, this bean is best at a slow roast. So try: a smaller batch, roasting at night/early morning (cooler ambient temp), extension cords, and (if you're game) having 2 poppers roasting at once on the same outlet. But 9 mins 2nd crack is pretty good for a popper - especially in an ozy summer. I find anything around under 6 mins 2nd crack gives average results (a bit of a course/brash flavour) and the best results are anything over about 12 minds 2nd crack. Easy here in a European winter to make slow roasts  . After about 11 mins I put a brick ontop of the popper, slowly putting more pressure on the chimney to ramp up the temp to 2nd crack.

I've ordered some Yemen delivered to my parents house in oz, so another thing to look forward to for coming home! There's nothing like Yemen eh!  

Thanks again Mal,

Have had three attempts now at a Doppio Piccolo and the last one was really nice.  Might take a bit of practice before I can get the crema to layer above the foam.

Cheers,
Chris

richy_4000 wrote on Dec 15^th, 2007, 8:39am:

Not too slow though.... It's more a matter of trying to make sure that the beans get to roast evenly all the way through. I know this can be a bit difficult sometimes in our Ozzy Summers when using a popper but even if it means reducing your batch sizes down a little bit to extend the time to the start of 1st-Crack to around the 6 minute mark, then this makes a huge difference to the overall quality of the roast with any of the SHB and N.E. African hard beans.

With a Corretto/Gene-Café, etc it's a LOT simpler of course since you have so much control over the progress of the roast and the amount of heat being driven into the roast batch, significantly more difficult when this facility is not available. It can be done with a popper though, just need to be a bit cunning.....

All the best,
Mal.

I did a roast this morning and just tried it after 6 hours, the aroma when I ground the beans was amazing and the espresso was full bodied and filled the mouth with an explosion of flavours, not too acidic and should improve each day as it degasses. I'll have to hide this one at the back of the cupboard!!!

ozscott wrote on Jan 7^th, 2008, 10:46am:

I guess I've been at this for a few years now and being of a somewhat 'anal' bent seems to be an advantage in helping one to develop one's palate. I don't believe I'm anywhere near as good at this as 'nunu' or some of our other working Chef CSers. These guys have trained their palates to a much greater degree throughout the course of working at their chosen profession.

Quote:

Yes mate, you've got the intent of my meaning pretty well nailed. Using the Thermal Datalogger coupled with Andy's software, you should be able to tailor your roast profiles very accurately, mostly from the perspective of the Temperature Gradient Profile. The amount of heat you drive into the bean mass isn't really important in and of itself, so long as you're able to generate the Profile needed to get the best from your beans. I guess all I'm trying to say is, don't focus too much on what setting your heatgun is at or how high above the bean bed it is, you should be focusing on that Temperature Gradient.

Basically, you can calculate the gradient(s) you need to generate by identifying the point at which you want first crack to occur.... for argument sake, 205C at 8 minutes. With the ambient say at 25C, this means you must apply sufficient heat to generate a gradient of "(Target Temperature - Ambient) divided by the Target Time. In the example given, this equates to a gradient of 22.5C/minute to get you there. Once first crack is rolling along vigorously, you need to reduce this gradient in order to attain second crack or the roast colour you desire at a specific Time Target, say 6 minutes from the time Rolling first crack is well and truly under way. Using the same simple formula and allowing second crack to occur at 225C and Rolling first crack occurring at 210C, this equates to a new Gradient of 2.5C/minute.

As you can see, all of this really does require you to have kept good records of past roasts so that you don't go into a new roast, 'blind' as it were. A well documented Roast Log is pretty well essential once you start to 'Roast by Numbers'. The benefit of course is obvious though, once you find the 'ideal' roast profile for a particular bean variety, you can readily repeat this profile when ever you roast this particular bean. I s'pose if all of this is just too much mucking around, you could just nominate an arbitrary gradient towards first crack and another one towards second crack and more or less just stick with this for every bean type. You'll still achieve awesome roasts but you may not be getting the absolute best out of the various bean varietals you have. Naturally, the temperatures and Roast Gradients used above have just been plucked out of the air and don't represent any actual Roast Profile.

Quote:

I'd try 2 or 3 small batches Oz, with different profiles to see which kind of profile is going to work for you best. Try a faster gradient to first crack so that vigorous roll is struck at about 8 minutes then reduced so that Rolling second crack starts about 6 minutes after that. Another profile that gets to vigorous Rolling first crack at 10 minutes and start of Rolling second crack at 16 minutes. Change the 2nd gradient so that you get to the first snaps of second crack about 6-7 minutes after vigorous Rolling first crack, etc etc.

Just keep good records of what you do and how the coffee tastes after resting. I have found, for me, that cupping is much easier to do by using a small plunger or direct-in-cup brewing. Just seems easier to differentiate the intrinsic nuances of the flavour profile. That's just me though, you and other CSers may prefer to go direct to espresso pours.

I guess the most important thing to remember is, you are roasting 'your' beans to a profile that 'you' have discovered brings out the best in the beans for 'you'. Don't use any of the roast profile data from me or other CSers, as the roast methods won't be exactly the same, our palates will definitely be different, and we may not even be using beans that came from the same crop/season that your beans originated from. These differences are particularly pronounced with Yemen varietals and quite noticeable with beans from other regions.

Happy roasting Oz ,
Mal.

Always a pleasure Oz.....

Mal.

Nice looking profile Ozscott, I'm sure that will taste great in the cup.

The next one you might want to try an even slower ramp to 1st, say 10-11 minutes with a finish point about the same as above.  You can get that by slowing the initial heat just a little during the first couple of minutes.

I'll be interested to hear which tastes better.

Lookin' good there Oz,

I'm with Andy, that should be an awesome roast and superb in the cup after a few days rest. Don't forget to experiment a bit though.....

Mal.

Nice graph there Oz  

Greg.P

Nice work, that is about the profile I was suggesting, it makes a big difference if the Yemen takes the long road to 1st.  

Will be interesting to hear how these two compare side-by-side, my money is on the second one

Using the $41 meter is a great way to make fine adjustments to your roast (however you roast).  I cannot roast without it now.

50!!!
You don't even need a roaster.


Its tough if the ambient is vastly different to what you profile on, as long as you keep a note of the variables it becomes easier to replicate the same roast.

greenman wrote on Jan 16^th, 2008, 9:20pm:


Probably similar temps to what Yemeni farmers of their grand crop have had to contend with for aeons ... just under the sun picking, sorting, & harvesting the 'choice' red cherries, let alone roasting the buggers!

Hi again Oz,

Glad to hear you enjoy the roast mate, it's a beautiful bean alright.

This sort of necessity (stretching to Rolling first crack) is really only warranted with really hard, dense beans and there are some Central Americans that fall into this category too, usually quite high grown and identified as SHB (Strictly Hard Bean). So, when ever you see this suffix after a bean variety, it will pay to experiment with an extended temperature gradient.

Regarding the 'softer' beans, I do prefer a profile that achieves Rolling first crack closer to the 8 minute mark than 10, but that's just me as I really do enjoy the resulting 'brightness' that seems to be a factor associated with this. In general though, after Rolling first crack has started I usually aim to achieve the roast colour/depth I'm aiming for after another 6 or so minutes. For my palate at least, roasts that take much longer than this tend to taste a bit flat for my liking, probably a sign that my palate isn't very sensitive and needs to be roughed up a little . That's why it's important to experiment with roast profiles until you find one that really works for you with a particular bean variety.

Anyway Oz, certainly sounds like you're well on the way to sorting all this out for yourself, so happy roasting (and cupping). All the best mate ,

Mal.

Tried roasting the yemin 2 days ago in my gene cafe.Her goes 16 minutes @228 till first crack then 232 for 3minutes finished.
My dad is 66 years old and said to me that this roast is the best he has had.He also said the best latte in 30 years he has had leaves the coffee shops  for dead. The yemen was a dark roast,  roasted slowly but roasted dark at the end .Lots of crema on day 2 what will day 4 bring more chochlate?????

CHEERS PODDY66

Andy Freeman wrote on Feb 5^th, 2008, 12:23am:


So here I am, throwing the remains of my last Yemen roast into the Rocky.........so that's why they call it a 'Rocky'!
Grind, grind, crunch, crunch.    Lazy sucker me!   The last three roasts, I've sat patiently scouring for rocks, but this roast....nahhhh.   Haven't been game to take it apart and have a gander, but it still works without extra noises.

So, Andy, if I send back a 2.5kg bag of gravel from my driveway, will you replace it with Yemen??  


b4b.

Yeah- I have had quite a few rocks go through as well without damage. I wouldn't be too worried

I roasted the remainder of my Yemen Bani Ismail,  I missed some small stones while grinding for a shot and had that agonising sound coming from my burrs, hopefully no damage was done. I cleaned the grinder out and inspected burrs, looked ok so hopefully no harm was done.
Beware: check for stones in Yemen beans!!!! All beans for that matter!!!

Shall await your cupping notes with high interest grimsby

Mal.

grimsby wrote on Apr 3^rd, 2008, 10:19pm:

I found less than a dozen in my 2.5 kg of greens.
Sounds like you might have a few more or just got a lot in that batch.

I suggest checking the greens before roasting and if you want you could still check again before grinding as an extra margin of safety.

Hi all

Didn't get a nice cuppa from this bean. Using a Gene Cafe & a 200gm load,  I set the temp to 230C. Times are below. Aroma is OK, as an espresso though I can taste a woodyness/grassy taste. Roast was 10 days ago.

Gene setpoint 235 C but turned down to 232 at first crack.
Turned on and reached 210C after 5.0 mins.
first crack at 11.5 mins and temp = 235.
    at 12.0 turned down to 230 to extend time to second crack.
second crack at 16.2
rolling second crack at 16.5, start cool down.
Beans are a CS card 10 so I don't think they are under roasted yet I would associate a grassy/woody taste with underroasting. Roast is not that even, some beans are an 11 some are 10.

PS. Did a small test 100g batch on 1st April with setpoint of 230 for entire run for 19 mins and got same woody taste.
Mike

I have now roasted a second batch of the latest BB Yemen and I managed to lengthen the roast time even further than the first roast.
first crack @14-15min. (really hard to pick too) second crack @ 21min. where I pulled it. Was going into rolling second crack as I dumped them into the cooling collander.
Colour CS 9-10 and more even than first roast.
This is a superb tasting bean. It was even great at less than one day post roast.
All family members and friends have commented that it is a beautiful coffee and the best I have given them so far.
I have been having it as an espresso and as a long black and I haven't noticed the taste that I commented on in the plunger brew, again.
No.1 son reckoned it was the best Cappuccino I had ever made him.
This one is top of the tree as far as I'm concerned.
My biggest problem is that I didn't buy enough of this bean.
It is certainly worth the higher than normal cost!

hi Mike...

i run my Gene generally at 150 for about 5 min, then ramp to 235 on the dial until the first snaps of first crack (which sometimes, in lightweight beans,  can happen before the Gene hits 235; the denser the bean, the longer it takes)
after that i dial it down to 230-228,depending on how long i want between first crack and second crack:  for instance, Brazils get  230 and i pull  them at first snaps of second crack for a CS8-9, and most of the  African beans generally get 228 to slow the roast down a bit more and i pull them a bit later to get to a CS9-10

with the last batch of Yemen i waited until rolling first crack  before i dialled it down to 228 and pulled the roast just into rolling second crack.
Yemen is an uneven roast, and i generally pick out the darkest beans.
it needs at least 10 days rest, for my palate it comes into its own around day 17...

hope this helps

cheers,
L