So i've scoured the internet and youtube for info on what a baked defect in coffee actually is, what causes it and what it tastes like.
Im quite disappointed in what I found.
The main thing is that a baked defect is not objective like scorching, tipping, burning or other obvious defects. It is also not entirely subjective like over development or under development which is more of a preference. Its somewhere in the disgusting grey middle area. The best I could find is that "People won't like the coffee" but also, we highly suspect it is caused by a stall in the temperature, sometimes....
'Baked' is also a spectrum, meaning most coffee might be a little baked, some are not baked at all, some are seriously baked.
What causes a Coffee profile to 'bake' the bean:
I am toying with the idea of explicitly baking some beans so that I can cup them against the same bean without the baked defect using the KL Nano.
What has your experience been with regards to the 'Bake' defect?
How bad is it, how do you avoid it, what are your tasting hints?
How do you differentiate between 'baked' and other dimensions/defects easily?
Some resources for those interested:
Im quite disappointed in what I found.
The main thing is that a baked defect is not objective like scorching, tipping, burning or other obvious defects. It is also not entirely subjective like over development or under development which is more of a preference. Its somewhere in the disgusting grey middle area. The best I could find is that "People won't like the coffee" but also, we highly suspect it is caused by a stall in the temperature, sometimes....
'Baked' is also a spectrum, meaning most coffee might be a little baked, some are not baked at all, some are seriously baked.
What causes a Coffee profile to 'bake' the bean:
- Baking occurs when temperature stays stable for too long
- A way to detect this is if the rate of rise rapidly crashes (according to Scotty)
- Ideally, you want a consistently declining ROR until you end the roast
- A decline in ROR can occur for many reasons
- Some related to the beans response and thermodynamics
- Some related to the roast equipment i.e. over reacting to change, not reacting fast enough to change and the like
- The outside and inside of the bean is cooked too evenly (I imagine a 2 steaks, one nice and caramelised outside with a pink juicy inside and the other baked in an oven to be the same color entirely throughout)
- Bad
- Bread
- Oats
- Boring
- Bland
- It is surprisingly more common than many think (apparently)
I am toying with the idea of explicitly baking some beans so that I can cup them against the same bean without the baked defect using the KL Nano.
What has your experience been with regards to the 'Bake' defect?
How bad is it, how do you avoid it, what are your tasting hints?
How do you differentiate between 'baked' and other dimensions/defects easily?
Some resources for those interested:




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