QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

[Sparky]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...


Sorry to hear you wont be making the trip Oz.

Jason, good to hear the flu is going. I think I have a reasonable entrant. I just made a shot and got some sweetness and a a little complexity, but a touch of cocoa as well. In milk it was sensational, smooth but not one dimensional.

Ill see everyone on Sunday.

Cheers,

Mark.

[ozscott]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

Gday Jason

My entry will be sent mate by overnight post to your street address – sorry I cant make it (family commitments) – hoping to get up there for the next day though.

I have not tried the beans as entered as the blend; its an SO blend of three separate 400 gram roasts in the BM. 2 are quick to the FC (8.5 mind) and then unloaded before the SC – they are quite acidic and cut through milk as individual shots. The third is a 12.5 mins to the FC and taken to the first couple of snaps of the second and then unloaded – it should provide the chocolate overtones based on another roast I did the same way when I first got the beans (in fact by itself that roast is too smooth even for a small flat white, but made a nice neat espresso) (however I only roasted this roast today (15 May) and as it makes up 300 out of the 500 grams enclosed it may still not be at its best by the weekend (and as such if you could try it again say Tues I would appreciate it). The lighter roasts were roasted last Sunday so they should be peaking on the weekend nicely – but they only account for 200 grams of the overall roast.

Keen to hear how it all goes.

Cheers mate

[ozscott]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

Good luck all and have a good day - hopefully some feedback on the roasts and how the day went generally can be posted later.


Cheers

[Gazz]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

Ho Ho Ho its off to Yandina we go !!!


Water bags are filled . vitals and grits stowed, a change of clothes and let the trek begin !


Yandina here we come.


Cheers Gazz

[ramking]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

Due to an unexpected change of plans I can now make this get together.
Looking forward to catching up with the regulars and meeting some new (to me) faces.

See you all soon,
Ken.

[ozscott]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

Just got back home....how did it all go...all quiet...

[Dennis]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

Yeah folks - Im keen to hear how it went too, not only in QLD but SA.

Whats the goss???

[Fulcrum]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...


I know that the whole roast-off started as an argument about home vs commercial roasting but I got much more out of the day.
I learnt about how to cup coffee, what to look for and compare between the roasts. Jason showed us how to evaluate the appearance of the beans far more than just looking at their colour. There was awide range of roast depths that gave an insight into the different flavours available from a single bean. Interestingly a lot of us preferred someone elses roasts and I will be adjusting my roasts accordingly to try and achieve what others have in their roasts.
It was good to share info on roasters and heat guns (8 of the 9 entries were correto roasts, not a gene or a hottop to be seen)
Thanks to everyone for a great get together and especially Jason for being a great host.

Gavin

[ramking]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

I have to agree with Gavin.
Im a complete novice when it comes to cupping too so listening and learning from Jason was great.
I found the bean evaluation a great help for future roasting reference.
Like Gavin I was amazed by the differences between the roasts of the same bean.
Oh boy theres so much to try with this roasting Ill never get bored.
Many thanks to Jason for hosting a terrific day and to everyone else for their roasts and company.

Cheers,
Ken.

PS I wont embarrass the winner mainly because Ive forgotten who it was....But I know theres a photo
that will surely be revealed here.

PPS Of course the standout roast was Jasons.

[Ray_C]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

The company was awesome, Jason you are a legend, thanks heaps for giving up your day off for us, it wasnt only educational it was inspiring to say the least, mind you the ride down and back was a thrill as well, had some bloke in a blue XR6 take me on, he obviously has no idea what a sport bike can do, we parted company at about 220 and rolled off the throttle at about 270 because of a very bumpy goodwood road, poddy 66 could vouch for that road.
All in all a fantastic day it was also good to put some faces to some names......

Ray.

[Sparky]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

Big thanks to Jason for getting this thing going.

The winner of the day was ..... coffee.

Well we decided there was no real winner. Roast 3 got the greatest number of votes (by one) due mainly to the fact that it was the lightest and cupped the sweetest. However we put it through the vac pot and there wasnt too much flavour there. The real dark horse was Jasons roast, whach was the darkest of the lot, even though it was pulled just after the beginning of second crack. It had pronounced oil on the beans and was dominated by the more roasty flavours. We ran that through the machine and again were a bit underwhelmed by the flavours. It was also a bit too young. We also ran another roast (no. 8) through the machine, but again were not too impressed. In contrast, some Kenyan AA that Jason had in the grinder was stellar in milk.

Probably appropriately for a Cuban, a few of the roasts (including mine) were dominated by a tobacco flavour, which Im not that fond of. The sad thing is that Ill be drinking this bean over the next week. Luckily I stocked up of the african red drinking chocolate to augment the flavour a bit....

Ultimately we found that there was a wide variety in roast styles and results. Jason noted some astingency in some of the home roasts, but we came away thinking there were no winners or losers.

I picked up some tips on post roast bean diagnosis from Jason. I was surprised to find that my roast was darker inside than out, giving a false impression of the real roast level.

Other observations were that some of the beans had a pronounced internal separation, while others didnt, and some of the corretto roasts did manage a uniform roast degree throughout. So there are things that can be adjusted beyond the usual colour indicator. I, for one, want to try faster roasts with these or similar beans to try for a more uniform roast degree. I was using a profile probably more suited to a small hard bean. For example, Jason hit second crack at 15 min, where as I got there around 18 min.

Overall I think this was a very useful experience that will ultimately help me improve my home roasts. The consensus was that the Cuban bean wasnt the best one to use... well thats the consensus I came away with at least. We are looking at another roast off later in the year where we take a bean that is known to Jason and one that can perform as a single origin espresso and trying it all again. This time Jasons roast will provide a decent benchmark for us aspiring amateurs.

I really enjoyed myself. Great to meet everyone.

Cheers,

Mark.

[JavaB]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

I picked up some tips on post roast bean diagnosis from Jason. I was surprised to find that my roast was darker inside than out, giving a false impression of the real roast level.


Mark.

Mark,

Ok, spill the beans ;D ;D

How do you determine this - just visually?? And what causes the inside to be apparently roasted to a greater degree???

Sounds like a very interesting get-together!

[Coffee_Kid]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

Hey.
Mark are you saying that a faster roast makes a more uniform roast?
Can someone give some detail about evaluating the roast other then just from the colour as gavin said for those people that couldnt make it to listen in? :P

Edit: JavaB beat me to it, Would like to know that answer too

Thanks,
CK

[Sparky]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...


This is all new to me and something Ill be looking at in the future. I dont know what the best way to achieve an even roast is, but my roasts looked very even on the outside only to exhibit a very pronounced variation in profile. All we did was crack a bean open along the interior bean crevise (for want of a better word). All the different roasts had different appearences. Some had strongly separated inside, forming two layers (most had separated to some extent, including Jasons). In my roast and some of the others, the interior of this split was darker than the exterior of the bean, indicating a roast level greater than what was indicated by the bean colour alone. Im only guessing that my roast time was too long. The fact that other corretto roasts exhibited a very uniform colour indicates that you can adjust this property. It also seemed that the more uniform roasts had separated less. All very interesting stuff indeed and making the day well worth the time IMO.

After the event we stayed a bit and chatted to Jason and he took us for a guided tour of his Diedrich roaster. This was a bit of icing on the cake for me. For HVMANs 1kg roaster project, I can report that the Diedrich has only one fan that sucks the air through the roaster, rather than blowing it.

Cheers,

Mark.

[JavaB]

Re: QLD CoffeeSnobs "Roast-Off"...

Mark,

Just did a post mortem on a couple of Ethiopian Sidamo beans I roasted today.....

There is definitely signs of an inner "kernel" but although you could see a split.... it had to be pulled apart.... (Is this what you mean?)

And the inside on mine (FC 12 minutes, SC 19 minutes) seems to be the same colour as the outside.....

I can see a lot more research into this!!