HELP! I need somebody. HELP! Not just anybody. HELP! You know I need someone. HEEELP!

[Peaberry]

I have been buying whole bean, medium-roast Tanzanian peaberry (Tp) from a commercial roaster for several years. I chose med-roast Tb because it is very mellow, buttery and not too acidic. After decades of drinking Butternut brand, finding fresh-roasted Tp was like stumbling upon the Lost Dutchman's gold mine! I have a West Bend Crazy Air popcorn popper and would like to try roasting my own beans. This leads me to the question "What is the best roast time for med-roast Tp?" I roasted a small batch (before I bought an electronic count-down timer) that turned out quite sour tasting. I can't really say how long I roasted it because I did not take notes. I won't make that mistake again! I'd also appreciate any additional info to HELP! me produce that glorious mug of Tp I've come to love. Thank you.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Hello there. If you are using air popper, you really got to watch out for the color and sound. You will get much more acidic flavor when you roast darker.
So You want to roast medium roast or light medium to bring out more flavor.

I normally finish my roast end of the full first crack. This would be around light-medium roast. I would wait til start of second crack to get my full medium roast and end of full second crack would be medium- dark roast.
So if you get like Milk chocolate color of the beans, you gut yourself medium roast. Depends on how much you roast but play with your roaster and see what is the best way to roast for your taste.

 

[PinkRose]

Hello "Peaberry"

Welcome to the Coffee Forums website.

I was getting ready to delete your post/thread as spam, because the title has a spam look about it. But when I saw that you were asking a legitimate coffee-related question, I reconsidered.

If you make your post/thread titles more informative and less spam-like, you'll probably get people to actually look at them, and you'll have a better chance of getting some serious responses to your questions.


Rose
(Forum Moderator)

 

[CoffeeJunky]

maybe my responds was not serious enough for Rose...

 

[PinkRose]

Hey! CoffeeJunky!

When I saw that you responded, I knew it probably was a serious post and not a bunch of spam.

No delete necessary. You saved the day with your serious response. :grin:

Rose

 

[eldub]

Your beans tasted sour because they were prolly under roasted. You will roast the acidity out of a bean the darker you go. Our Yirgecheffe is very bright and lively when roaster lightly. It loses the acidity when we go dark. Bitter and acidic are not the same thing, although a dark roast need not be bitter.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

I disagree. If the beans are under roasted, they get awful taste not sour. When the beans are roasted in home roaster, over roasting creates more carbon which can create more sour taste. I bet his beans were toasted and well over roasted.

 

[Peaberry]

Despite drinking coffee for decades, I'm grossly unfamiliar with the coffee drinkers'/roasters' lexicon and, am unsure if my palate can even distinguish the various subtleties that define each descriptor used (I'm a heavy smoker and experimental cook/bachelor). Thus, 'sour' was the most accurate term that seemed to fit my experience. I have no idea what the difference between 'bitter' and 'acidic' would be.

The beans I've been buying from the commercial roaster (cr) are very dark and have a very noticeable, oily sheen. After my original post, I roasted a small batch for 5 minutes to 'Milk chocolate' color (thank you for the descriptor, CoffeeJunky, it works for me) but there was no 'sheen' on the bean. The following day I sampled that batch. It was very good but, not as full flavored as the cr's. (I like a very strong mug, and think I simply brewed it too weak).
I'm going to experiment with a few small batches at different times, 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5 mins etc, to see if I can find that 'sweet spot' that satisfies my taste buds.
Thanks for the responses. They are greatly appreciated.

 

[eldub]

Disagree all you want, CJ, but roasting darker removes acidity from the beans. Over roasting might lead to bitter beans, but that's not the same as sour, imo.

We regularly sample new bags of beans at various roast levels, from very lightly roasted to darkly roasted. In general, he lighter the roast, the more sour/tart the results. The roasting process develops sugars in the beans. The sugars aren't usually fully formed at lighter roasts. (I don't think it matters if you are talking home or professional roasters, btw.)

Peaberry: The sheen on the bean is caused by oils coming to the surface. The darker you roast, the more oils are forced out of the bean. It has nothing to do with bean quality per se. However, you might find that you develop the sugars more and get a better tasting cup if you roast a bit darker. Ime, flavors are developed until the beans roughly reach 450*. At that point, you start tasting more of the roasting process and less of the inherent qualities of the bean in question.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Peaberry: Eldub is a great commercial roaster and I am a experienced home roaster. I can't say i have as much as experience as Eldub does but I do have fair amount of experience because of the size i roast each time. I can mess up 10 batch and only out for less then 50 dollars verses, commercial roaster can't afford to mess up 10 batches. That would be very costly. That is the reason I am little more experienced in messing up then Eldub. lol. Again, if you can afford to experiment with your beans, i would recommend you try. That is the only way to find what you like and how it is done. Keep in mind roasting temp will be very important and bean temp will determine the flavor. Good Luck...

Eldub: No offense and you know how i feel about your roasted beans. So there is no disrespect of your work here. I was disagreeing about sourness from under roasting. If it is too raw, i don't think you can taste the sourness. I have done many under roasting and it was so awful i only wanted to spit it out..lol. That was what i was disagreeing with you.

 

[eldub]

CJ: This is from Sweet Maria's. Check out what they have to say about lightly roasted beans and acidity.

Here is Sweet Maria's list of roast names from lightest to darkest:1. Light CinnamonVery light brown, dry , tastes like toasted grain with distinct sour tones, baked, bready2. CinnamonLight brown and dry, still toasted grain with distinct sour acidy tones3. New EnglandModerate light brown , still sour but not bready, the norm for cheap Eastern U.S. coffee4. American or LightMedium light brown, the traditional norm for the Eastern U.S .5. City, or MediumMedium brown, the norm for most of the Western US, good to taste varietal character of a bean.6. Full CityMedium dark brown with some slight oily drops, good for varietal character with a little bittersweet.7. Light French, or EspressoModerate dark brown with oily drops, light surface oil, more bittersweet, caramelly flavor, acidity muted.8. FrenchDark brown oily, shiny with oil, also popular for espresso; burned undertones, acidity diminished9. Italian or Dark FrenchVery dark brown very shiny, burned tones become more distinct, acidity almost gone.10. Spanish

 

[Peaberry]

Thanks to everyone for responding to my comment and providing info, I'm truly grateful. Since my last post, I roasted some small (1/4-1/3 cup green beans) batches at 5, 5.5, 6. 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, and 8.5 minutes. I like the results of 7.5-8.5 minute roasts the best. I think that would be somewhere in the City-Med-Full City range (Thank you, eldub). Currently, I don't have a way to gauge the temp in the popper so I've relied on visual/aural indications and a timer. I'm getting closer to what I'd like to ultimately and consistently produce but, am still off the mark set by the cr I buy from.

Being a 'frugal' (lol, I'm way too kind to myself) sort, I'm going to try further roasting the batches I did for 5-7.5 minutes. Any thoughts/advice on that?