Coffee with a kick

[snakeoil]

whats your choices for a good strong coffee and i am not talking about adding more coffee to the brew.
also i would appreciate it if someone would explain to me where to stop in the roasting cycle to get (city to full cit city+)
will stopping between 1st crack and second crack give me a good robust cut of coffee? do most of you guys go into second crack?

[nathan-7]

forsyth's house blend is my fav, hands down.

[Thundergod]

These days I stop roasting just before second.

[Caffeineholic]

Hi Snakeoil,

I agree with Thundergod. I've been playing with a Brazil Natural and Colombian Vulcan as a 60% base to blends looking to get a strong coffee. As a control I've been roasting these together and just stretching their roast out and keeping the other beans roasted the same. Now I love a good strong cuppa but I've found heading with these into SC is a step too far. I'm enjoying this as a base when roasted a little past the end of RFC and then add in whatever else takes your fancy to pop some fruit and crema in the cup. Seems to be spot on around the 14 day mark for my taste.

just my 2 cents

Cheers,
CH

[NakiChap]

Hi snakeoil,

Generally 2nd C happens 20deg past the start of 1st C ,I aim to finish the roast about 4 min and about 15-17deg past the start of 1st C . So if I hit first at 200deg I will dump the roast at approx 4 min later at 215deg,

whats your choices for a good strong coffee and i am not talking about adding more coffee to the brew.
also i would appreciate it if someone would explain to me where to stop in the roasting cycle to get (city to full cit city+)
will stopping between 1st crack and second crack give me a good robust cut of coffee? do most of you guys go into second crack?

[Dimal]

G'day "snakeoil"...

If you happen to have a functioning but unused Popcorn Popper stashed away somewhere, you could try including about 10-12% of a high quality Robusta in a blend. The reason I suggest using a Popper, is that Robusta needs to be roasted well into 2nd-Crack to get the most out of it and because of the small fraction of the overall blend; a Popper is ideal for this. You will also need to let it develop in a 1-Way Valved bag for about 10 days prior to blending with the rest of the beans; a slow (flavour) developer unfortunately.

I do love one of three different types of CS Robusta I have on hand for this purpose, to get that typical Italian espresso 'kick' - Love it...

Mal.

[muppet_man67]

Indonesian and PNG coffees in my experience tend to be fairly intense. Had some great Guatemalans and Cuban coffees that I would also describe as being strong.

[joe]

G'day "snakeoil"...

If you happen to have a functioning but unused Popcorn Popper stashed away somewhere, you could try including about 10-12% of a high quality Robusta in a blend.

I do love one of three different types of CS Robusta I have on hand for this purpose, to get that typical Italian espresso 'kick' - Love it...

Mal.

I agree.

I sometimes use up to 20% robusta to emulate Italian espresso blends.

Kick to spare!

[robusto]

Many years ago, probably before the cafe culture began in Melbourne, I decided my work made me too uptight. So I eliminated caffeine. No such thing as decaf then.
I drank this ersatz brew called Caro. Then gradually decaf came into being, but not in cafes, so only at home was I able to have a decaf expresso.
I even drank the calming camomile tea. I was so relaxed I was walking backwards!

When the cafe culture took off, and decafs were available, I switched to decaf cappuccinos -- latte's then not quite as fashionable as they are now.

Would you believe, that the chocolate sprinkled on the decaf cappuccino gave me a kick like a mule?
It took about 10 minutes, and then it would hit. Unmistakably so.

I went back to normal coffees years later, and I must saw nothing like that chocolate hit happens now. In fact, nothing happens now, and I am puzzled to people's references to needing a caffeine hit.

[Dimal]

G'day Robusto...

For me it's not so much the caffeine that I'm after, more to do with the WOW effect on the palate. Used to really enjoy Denis' (Cuppacoffee) Defibrillator blend; really hit the spot for me...

Mal.