skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I picked up a new toy for myself last night, as mentioned earlier. Eager to give it a try I pulled out the only coffee I have in the house right now that isn't green. My stand by West Coast Dark Roast from superstore. I ground it as fine as I could with my grinder and packed this puppy as full as I could.
This was my first time ever trying espresso from a machine like this. I've heard nothing but good things so I had pretty high expectations. Let me tell you, they were met or surpassed. Even with regular coffee. What a strong espresso. Full of flavor, not too bitter. No crema though but that could be because of the beans. Eager to try some choco in here or even some President's Choice espresso. This is a neat gadget to add to your collection and for 10 bucks you can't go wrong. Even if you use it 5 or 6 times it pays for itself.
It has been a couple of days since I last updated the blog. Not much to report right now.
The Sumatra that I roasted on Saturday afternoon (7:15) turned out to be really great. I think it was the best roast I've done on Sumatra. It was strong and tasted like a nice dark roast coffee. It didn't have strong after taste or bitterness. It had good flavor. I will be restocking this bean and I think it will be a regular roast for me.
Last night I found a stove top espresso machine, finally. I wanted a small one that only made a little bit. Sarah does not like it and rarely is there anyone around who would want to partake in some either. On top of the size requirement I didn't want to spend much money. Luckily I was able to find the perfect one at Kitchen Stuff Plus. It says '3 cup' which I am assuming is 3 x 2oz. Cost was $10. I hope that I can give it a try later today. Need some espresso first.
Saturday afternoon the baby had a nap so I did some roasting. Quite a bit actually. 6 in a row. I did 2 batches of Sumatra(7:15ish), a batch of Ethiopian Harrar (6:35), some Choco (8:45), Costa Rican Tarrazu (forgot to put the timer on but roughly 6:30-7:00). When all was said and done I had little bits of the Ethiopian, Choco, and Costa Rican left over. I topped it up to half a cup with Sumatra and roasted it for 7:30 to try to get a nice dark roast. I figured I would call it something demented like Harrazu Chocatra. What the hell right? Chances are it would be a weird mix with that many different beans in there... Turns out I was wrong. Dead wrong. It made a really excellent cup of coffee. Strong/dark tasting but not bitter. It was smooth and not acidic whatsoever. It had tones of chocolate in there as well. Even my wife who isn't much for coffee enjoyed it. She thought it was actually flavored with chocolate. This is a good mix. Something I may mess with again in the future.
I've yet to try any of the other roasts but I've bagged it all up and brought it to work, except for the Sumatra. Updates to come later today.
I got a chance yesterday to do a few more roasts. 4 actually. Here is the breakdown:
1/4 cup Guatemala 1/4 cup Sumatra code name Gumatra
Roasted for app 7:30. I lost my notes because I didn't save the file. Argh!
1/2 cup Choco espressoRoasted for 8 - 9 minutes
1/2 cup Sumatra
Roasted for 7:30
1/2 cup Sumatra
Roasted for 8:30
I was paying less attention to actual time and really listening for the cracks and paying attention to the smell. I have a feeling most of my earlier roasts have been medium - city roasts. I was getting distinct 2nd cracks on these 4 roasts so I know they are roasted darker.
I only had a 1/4 cup of the Guataemalan coffee left so I had to do something with it. I threw it together with a 1/4 cup of Sumatra and roasted it. When I brewed the Gumatra and it turned out to be a really awesome cup of coffee. It was strong and had really nice flavor. It was a little tangy, a little earthy. It had tones of darkness but also some of the characteristics of a lighter flavorful coffee such as Costa Rican Tarrazu. Overall I am very impressed with it. I will be trying more 'blends' in the future. Thank God for leftovers huh?
When I got to work I ground some of the Choco. Last time it wasn't dark enough but I saw the potential in it. Today it was much darker. It smelled much stronger when I ground it. It looked much darker. I am not 100% sure if its dark enough yet but it produced a good espresso. Even got the thumbs up from Mumin, my expert guinea pig. It kept the good flavor but it was enriched by the darker roast. I am a little pissed that I lost my notes because I am not sure exactly how long I roasted it last time. I think another 30-45 seconds may produce the roast I need for this to be at its peak quality. I'll try this again on the weekend and see how it goes. I'm somewhat disappointed in my espresso machine though. Again no crema. I read the faq on the DeLonghi website and they say that this can happen when the beans are not fresh... how about 18 hour old beans fellas? Are those fresh enough? I think I will buy the stove top espreso machine this weekend and give it a shot. I saw a nice one the other day but it was just too big. I need a small one for making enough just for myself.
Anyways, all in all I am pleased. I think its safe to call this batch a :
Last night I did some more roasting.
First I did 2 back to back roasts of Costa Rican Tarrazu. Each for around 5:30. I Brewed some this afternoon and it tasted pretty good but I am not sure if its as good as what I made on the weekend. Strange right? The only difference is that on the weekend I roasted in my kitchen and last night I roasted in the basement and it is colder down there. Not sure if its cold enough to make a difference or not but that is the only difference. I'd say I am pretty pleased with this roast but not as much so as my last post.
Next I did a half cup of the Choco espresso. I was not sure how long to roast for so I did not want to overroast it. I let it go for 6:15. I heard a first crack. I thought I heard a 2nd crack but I am not 100% sure. It could be an extended first crack. there was no constant popping like I've heard before. I did smell a faint charring type smell just before I finished. I ground it and it did smell good. I brewed it in my DeLonghi espresso machine. I'm not sure about my espresso machine at this point. It seems like it is taking a longer time to brew espresso and I am not getting much crema. Regardless, I brewed it and was eager to taste the results. I first noticed that the color was very different than the President's Choice Espresso I've been drinking lately. That stuff brews almost black. This stuff came out looking kind of like hot chocolate. It smelled pretty good. It actually did taste pretty good though nowhere near strong enough. It was OK at best. I posted on the Green Beanery facebook group to see if anyone could give me some advice but so far nothing.
Roasting notes:
1st crack 2:30
2nd crack 5:00
end 6:30
Looks like a nice full city roast. Smells a tiny bit burned , approaching dark roast.
Let this one sit about 18 hours as well. Grinding brought on a really great smell. Sweet/candy like coffee smell.
The brew came out great. The coffee has a certain earthy/spicey flavor to it. Not too strong but its there. Makes for a really nice after taste. Each sip gets progressively better. My first sip I thought, this came out OK. By the end of the cup I was left thinking that this was awesome.
I've got a good baseline down for this bean. Next time around I may roast 15-20 seconds longer just to test the results. I may also do one roast a little lighter just out of curiousity.
After pretty decent success with my first attempt with the Costa Rican Tarrazu I was eager to give it another shot. As mentioned in my last post I thought I would roast for a shorter time. Here are the roasting stats:
1st crack 4:05
2nd crack 4:45
end: 5:20
The beans showed a nice chocolate brown color. The smell was nice / sweet.
I let the beans sit for about 18 hours before brewing.
Upon grind the coffee smelled excellent. I made half a pot so I had 2 nice mugs of this coffee. In all honesty both these cups were the best coffee I've had in recent memory. I would have to call this roast a great success, my best results so far. I will for sure be using this timeline as a guideline for how long to roast the remainder of my Tarrazu beans.
I gotta say it's been a good day so far. Sure the baby was up at 7am and wouldn't go back to sleep but what better reason to brew a good pot of coffee? First up: Ethiopian Harrar. The batch of 1/3 a cup. I filled the water line in the coffee machine to 4 since this is less coffee than I normally use. The beans were a nice shade of brown when I ground them and they smelled very good. The coffee was very smooth. No acidity whatsoever. Somewhat of an earthy flavor. Good coffee. I am pleased with the results.
Next up: Costa Rican Tarrazu. This is a coffee that I am familiar with so I had high expectations. The bean color was really nice both before and after grinding. The smell was very good. The flavor was excellent. Not too strong but very good. This is pretty much exactly what I was expecting. If anything I think I will actually roast a little shorter next time around. 5.5 - 6.0 minutes or somewhere in that area.
My doubts about my popper are still there but I'm getting good results regardless. Mainly I think I want something to compare to so I get a better idea if my popper is doing a good job, average job, or bad job.
