Aroma, Aroma, Aroma... Where art thou..?

[youngchul76]

Greetings all,
super noobie here, just joined yesterday..

I have been a bit (quite a bit actually) perplexed over the last few weeks since I got into drinking quality coffee, buying home machines etc etc..

I have a little cafe in my hospital complex, called Zouki (its a franchise) which uses coffico beans. You most likely wouldnt have heard of them. But these are the guys who got me into drinking coffee, as the coffee they produce have that strong aroma (you know, that mesmerizing smell of coffee roasting) and I can ACTUALLY SMELL it out of the plastic pout of the take away cup. It was sort of the smell that comforted me in the morning, got me hooked etc etc. These guys by no means do in-house roasting.

Given that this cafe is unknown and the baristas there are probably juniors, after I read a few posts here, I paid a visit to a few cafes recommended (one in homebush, and the other one that wasnt on this site was the one in prospect inside flower powers, who pride in in-house roasting and quality coffee). To my surprise, there was NO SMELL at all, and there was none of that magic I had experienced from the HOSPITAL CAFE!! What is going on?

This makes me wonder - I was seriously thinking about at least getting a quality home grinder machine, buying roasted beans from shops mentioned here and trying at home. But if these cafes cant do it, how could I?

Would someone please enlighten me - is it the freshness (i.e. roasting on the spot, grinding on the spot, then extracting espresso straight away) that guarantees the smell? If I bought quality beans online, which most likely had been roasted a few days ago at least, and grind them at home and make espresso with my cheap delongi ec250 machine, would I definitely get the aroma?

Isnt aroma the most important thing why people want the quality coffee?

and lastly, if I go to Campos (I still havent been there) or Single origin or one of those famous places, would I DEFINITELY GET THE AROMA?

I live in Meadowbank so its a bit far but I would do anything to drink that coffee smell.

:-[ :-[

[Javaphile]

Re: Aroma, Aroma, Aroma... Where art thou..?

Isnt aroma the most important thing why people want the quality coffee?

For most people the number one reason they want quality coffee is because of the taste.

I know nothing of the vendor youre talking about but the aroma that many of the general public associate with coffee has little to do with whether the beans are high quality. More often it is achieved with cheap to mediocre beans taken to a dark roast.

High end coffees can often times have very subtle aromas when compared to the mediocre beans out there with a huge coffee aroma. If you must have that aroma take a look at Central American beans. Especially ones from Nicaragua. Lots of big bold coffee flavors there along with a huge aroma.


Java "Love the Nics!" phile

[greenman]

Re: Aroma, Aroma, Aroma... Where art thou..?

Taste in the cup is number one to me but aroma is very alluring, I just ran some Ethiopian Harrar through my grinder and the blueberry aroma filled the room, one of the joys of roasting, grinding and brewing ones own quality coffees!!

[ddthiel]

Re: Aroma, Aroma, Aroma... Where art thou..?

Im not sure what I want to add or get from this thread, only I have been cultivating a constructive criticizer for my home roasts - all my friends say things like: your coffee is nice or I like that other one you gave me better, the latter being the closest thing to constructive input I get from them.

Anyhow, I am making friends with someone who has been in the coffee business longer than I have been alive and I dropped off a bag as a Christmas prezzy. When I passed by again an hour or so later on business, I was surprised to find that my gift had already been cupped.

The verdict: good crema. Much better than expected considering the description of my roasting process. However, lacking in aroma.

Thats what landed me on this post. How do I increase the aroma - rather how much can I affect the aroma in the earlier part of the roasting cycle, or is it just a matter of pushing a few more moments into second crack? Or do I just need to get a different bean (go Central or Ethiopean, as Javaphile and greenman suggest, respectively)?

Merry Christmas, by the way. One more sleep (as far as I can tell, no gifts related to coffee).

David

[Vinitasse]

Re: Aroma, Aroma, Aroma... Where art thou..?

Hi there... after listening to Mark (from Coffee Roasters Australia) and Joseph Rivera (Coffee Chemistry) speak at the Coffee Snobs seminars at Cafe Biz 2011 I learned that coffee aromatics have a lot to do with the Maillard reactions that occur from 154 C and onwards. Stretching out the period from 154 C (when Maillard reactions start to take place) to First Crack yields aromas to die for. And.... IMHO... going too far into Second Crack is something to be avoided at all costs because all those wonderful sugars developed earlier on in the roast will end up being burnt into carbon and carbon smells pretty much like carbon. Drop it sooner and those elusive caramel, honey and chocolate aromas should come through in spades.

[Vinitasse]

Re: Aroma, Aroma, Aroma... Where art thou..?

And... I should have added... dont hit the beans with too much heat from the get go... ease your way up to 154 C

[ddthiel]

Re: Aroma, Aroma, Aroma... Where art thou..?

S, I was looking at a roast curve spreadsheet I downloaded. For a roast profile that hits 2nd crack around the 18 minute mark, it looks as though it will probably pass the 154 mark at around 6 minutes.

Coffee_wino, are you suggesting easing it through to first crack from that point?

In my case, I would probably drop the gas down half a notch and then half a notch again when I get into first crack (hrm.... shall I try tonight?).

Because I cant measure temperature with my barbaric setup, I have to bank on the fact that constant heat yields a predictable increase in temp up to first crack, so I will experiment to see if this idea is right.

Thanks and happy new year!

[DavidWFox]

Re: Aroma, Aroma, Aroma... Where art thou..?

Having spent half the day agonizing over roasting profiles, discovering this thread and the recommendations in it could not be better timed.

Perhaps wrongly, Ive been warming/drying every batch at 150C for 5 min, then ramping up gradually to first crack. Well, that in itself was probably another mistake, it was a blast up rather than a gradual ramp-up, but thats been fixed. But the need to "ease your way up to 154 C" is new to me and is the complete reverse of my current practice. I usually run a series of batches so from batch 2 onwards I dump, cool to around 150 and start the next load around 130. Its up to 150 in seconds. With (currently) less than ideal temperature control it can easily hit 154 during the 5 min drying period.

So, whats considered to be the ideal ramp-up to 154 C? Is there a drying phase at a lower temp or is the ramp-up to 154 the drying phase? How long from load to 154? I presume were talking bean mass temperature here.

It usually takes me 9 - 10 min to get from 150 to first crack; is that sufficient "stretching out"?

My one positive is that I generally pull at, or a touch before, second crack, other than for those who "need something stronger" and require a roast thats gone into second crack for a minute or so.

And yes, before somebody posts it, I understand that my personal taste is the ultimate criteria but Ive always considered that there are some basics that should apply to roasting and it seems that maybe this is one of those criteria.

[shapeshifter]

Re: Aroma, Aroma, Aroma... Where art thou..?

I have to admit that when I roast I get very little aroma when I actually roast but it comes in spades after leaving it a day or so.

I dont understand why yet but I do know its definitely the way I roast. Ill often get a sweet smell at first crack come through and then nothing more until the following day, other times Ill get a faint chocolate smell at the end of the roast, depending on the bean of course, other times Ill get nothing.

I have a lot to learn about the profile of my roasting, Ive only been roasting for 12 months and until this/last month havent had anyone really critique my roasting, but I have the best people to learn off, with years of wine, coffee and roasting under their belts

[GregWormald]

Re: Aroma, Aroma, Aroma... Where art thou..?

Remember that the wonderful aroma is the taste disappearing (same molecules)!

So just let your coffee age enough to start going stale--say over two or three weeks, and Im sure the aroma will improve. Once the initial outgassing of CO₂ is finished, then the real staling can commence.

Greg