Roasting cheap grade coffee

[sae]

Hello,

I've always looked for higher quality coffee beans to roast but I've been presented with an opportunity now to roast lower grade commodity type coffee. I tasted the coffee today that I sample roasted yesterday (24 hour rest). It had very harsh and bitter taste which over whelmed the nice smooth underlying taste. How can I smooth out the taste? Should I try a slower roast, essentially baking it a bit to get rid of some of the acidity but not go too dark?

Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[topher]

Burn the crap out of it. I toll roasted for a roaster once because his roof feel in. Pretty funny what the guy asked me. He asked why it was going to take so long to roast his coffee. I explained that the time was justified for the amount he wanted done. He said I was wrong. He explained that he had a 4 bagger roaster and that he heated it up "real hot" and dumped one bag in. He said it took 3 minutes to roast....sigh...anyway I had to roast what turned out to be floor sweepings dark to mask all the nastiness. That night when I went home my wife threw away the clothes I was wearing because they smelled like liver and mold. Wont do that again.

 

[sae]

Great story! The stuff I have isn't nearly that bad!! I roasted it to rolling first crack to sample it. I didn't want to gag when I drank it but I want to make it a smoother tasting.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

The cheaper the bean, it needs to be dark roasted and also blend with better beans. I purchased some Robusta beans (mid-quality) and i ended up using them for Espresso only. When I dark roasted, it turned out ok and when I blended with Ethiopian, it was fine...

Good luck...

 

[sae]

So how do the Maxwell House and Folger type companies roast their beans. They are not dark roasted. Their coffee is not good but I don't detect crazy bitterness in it. My guess would be the aging process (preground and sitting on a super market shelf for a long time) does a lot to remove the harshness that I perceive with my cup which was only roasted 24 hours ago.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

They normally very dark roasted. Just see their color of the roast.... Almost black.... Also, they add salt, msg, and other things to make you want to drink more.....

 

[JessicaMaryBeans]

When beans are being roasted by Folgers or Maxwell House they also throw in the odd shelling (I don't know the term for it) but it falls off while roasting the beans&collected in a drawer type catcher. From my recent research I found out that large companies add it as a filler. Less product, more money, and lower quality. I opened a bag of Folgers at my night job at a pizza join and it was ugly. Does that sound familiar to any of you guys? :coffee-bean:

 

[PinkRose]

Hi JessicaMaryBeans,


The roasted beans shed their outer skin during the roasting process, and the light weight skin is called chaff.

Where did you read that Folgers and Maxwell House add it as a filler?

Rose

 

[sae]

I have heard before that the commodity coffee companies add the chaff. I also know people that drink folgers, etc that add a touch of salt to the grinds before brewing to cut the bitterness.
Either way, after letting the coffee rest for 4 days the bitterness is all gone and its turned into quite a nice cup actually.

 

[topher]

Chaff is very light weight. I can't see anyone adding that as filler. The "shelling" you are talking about is probably just broken up beans. The problem with a broken bean is it doesn't roast evenly..it chars at the edges.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Also, there are many people putting salt these days into their coffee. I don't think salt cuts taste of bitterness but add more flavor that we all think its its better. I know few people actually put salt on their espresso base drinks and they get huge positive responds from their customers. I think most of the bigger coffee roasters do add salt to their coffee .....

 

[PinkRose]

Hi CoffeeJunky,

I'm curious.....What makes you think that most of the bigger coffee roasters add salt to their coffee???

Rose

 

[topher]

They would have to list it on their ingredients.

 

[Sidram]

The large coffee companies burn their coffee so you cant taste the low quality beans. As Topher said they would have to list salt on the label if added.

 

[topher]

I just spoke to a good friend of mine. He is a coffee broker and got his start in the business with Proctor and Gamble. I asked him if large commercial roasters add salt to their coffee. He said he never has heard that. If there is any salt it might be from quenching and said if they added salt it would have to be listed on ingredients.