Coffee

This is what I'm drinking. "City Roast" end of first crack. Good balance between roast character and origin character. This stuff will knock your socks off it is so strong.
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Note to burnt coffee drinkers, with the declining production of Kenyan coffee, it's a sin to waste it needlessly. Please enjoy your coffee the way you like it but PLEASE don't buy up all the good Kenyan coffee just to make charcoal from it. :p
(honestly you can't tell the difference between Kenya Kiriyaga Arabica and Timor Atsabe Robusta once all the flavor has baked out)
 
DrHenley said:
Note to burnt coffee drinkers, with the declining production of Kenyan coffee, it's a sin to waste it needlessly. Please enjoy your coffee the way you like it but PLEASE don't buy up all the good Kenyan coffee just to make charcoal from it. :p
(honestly you can't tell the difference between Kenya Kiriyaga Arabica and Timor Atsabe Robusta once all the flavor has baked out)
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Lol! I rarely ever go this dark on a roast myself. Once in a while I get in the mood for a really dark or really light roast. That's one of the good things about doing small batches. I can use it up fairly quickly because it's only a few ounces and get back to what I normally like.

My experience with dark roast has been the same as far as being able to tell the differences between coffees. I also dislike how it gets coffee oils all over my storage jar and grinder. Much more of a pain to clean.
 
What Starbucks calls "Medium Roast" is actually a dark roast called "Vienna Roast" which is end of second crack. Dark Roasts go from "Vienna Roast" to "Italian Roast" (or "Spanish Roast"). Medium roast is from "City Roast" which is end of first crack to "Full City Roast" which is beginning of second crack. Starbucks "Blonde" coffees are "American Roast" which is beginning of first crack. Light roast coffees are "Cinnamon Roast" and "American Roast." The best Kenyans need to finish the first crack or the acidity is overpowering, but after that the flavor starts baking out. Beginning of second crack (Full City) is as far as you should ever take a good Kenyan coffee, or its distinctive flavor will be gone. Anything past the end of the second crack (Vienna) should use Robusta beans. In the parts of Europe where they drink French Roast and Italian Roast espresso, they primarily use Robusta.

Here is the breakdown of coffee roast levels:

Cinnamon Roast:
- Light brown to cinnamon color
- Beans are dry (no oil droplets present)
- Agtron 53.1 - 58.0
- Internal Bean Temperature - less than 400° F
- Roast stopped before first crack is completed
- Low body and light acidity

American Roast:
- Medium light brown color
- The beans are still dry
- Agtron 48.1 - 53.0
- Internal bean temperature - 400-415°
- This is the stage where "first crack" begins
- Profile - The acidity brightens and body increases slightly

City Roast:
- Medium brown
- The beans are mostly still dry
- Agtron 43.1 - 48.0
- The acidity continues to increase and the body becomes more potent
- Internal bean temperature - 415-435°
- First crack stage is finished
- Profile - 50% of the sugar is caramelized, acidity is developed and the varietal character of a bean can be clearly tasted

City +:
- A more developed stage of City Roast, well beyond first crack.

Full City:
- Rich brown color
- Beans may show tiny droplets of oil
- Agtron 38.1 - 43.0
- Good Balance between sweetness, body and acidity
- Internal bean temperature - 435-445°
- Just into the first snaps of second crack
- Varietal character is present with decreased acidity and slightly
bittersweet "roast taste"

Full City +:
- More developed version of Full City well into second crack.

Vienna Roast:
- Moderate dark brown color
- Beans have oil on them
- Agtron 33.1 - 38.0
- Internal bean temperature - 445-455°
- Second crack at or near completion
- Acidity muted. Cup quality is bittersweet with heavier body

French Roast (some call this Italian and some also call the next stage, Italian):
- Dark brown color
- Beans covered with oil
- Agtron 28.1 - 33.0
- Acids are radically decreased
- Internal bean temperature - 455-465°
- Subtle nuances are mostly gone. Body dominates with burnt undertones

Spanish Roast (some call this Italian and some recognize Italian as
another stage just before this one)
- Beans are nearly black and oil-covered
- Flavor compounds are degraded and charcoal tones are present
- Agtron 8.0 - 28.0
- Internal bean temperature - 465-480°
- Burnt bitter tones dominate
 
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D DrHenley slow your roll brother, you’re among fellow enthusiasts and connoisseurs here. ;)

We know the pitfalls of Charbucks, several of us home-roast (I’ve been doing it myself for 17 years...), and one of us even has his own shop. Stick around, get a feel for the room, and enjoy yourself.

With any new green coffee I’ve never tried, I usually roast to the verge of 2nd crack, unless someone I know well and trust says to go lighter. Main exception to this rule is Gesha, which I usually only roast just past first crack.

So guys, I’m on travel for awhile. I must have chosen the right hotel, because these two items were waiting for me when I got back from work on Thursday. :cool:

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The coffee is excellent! Early on while still piping hot, there is a subtle fruity note on the palate that I can’t quite identify. A little later as it cools, it turns to plum and blueberry. Healthy body and a strong earthy background makes this particular coffee extremely enjoyable for me! :D

The knife is a Pena X-series Rhino made by Reate. It’s flawless, and a nice, stout knife. A little shorter blade than I like, but it fills my XXL hands nicely. :thumbsup: I want to hate it because it’s Chinese, but I can’t...

The quality of this Reate really surprised me, and continues to surprise me still. Ceramic detent ball, ceramic bearings, (fully caged in SS too), internal stop pin, steel lock face with integral over travel stop, pretty much perfect grinds, and nicer than typical thumb studs. I found out last night when removing the pocket clip (scratched the heck out of it yesterday on the sharp nose of the wind tunnel model I’m working on) that the scale has a milled pocket for it similar to a Hinderer, and the clip itself fits damn perfectly into the recess. So much so that I didn’t know it fit together like that until I took it off. :cool:

Edit for another shameless photo of the Rhino:

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SpyderPhreak said:
D DrHenley slow your roll brother, you’re among fellow enthusiasts and connoisseurs here. ;)
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So you say I'm "preaching to the choir" eh? Good to know brother! I've been a coffee connoisseur since trying Gevalia's Kenya Meru back in the 70's. I don't know many real coffee enthusiasts in person. My wife will drink pretty much any coffee that's been sitting in the pot all day. My daughter, who is almost 30, is finally starting to catch on, LOL. She has a "Coffee Club" she goes to and is learning about what I was never able to get her interested in when she was home. I'm sick and tired of arguing with local roasters who think their blackened Kenya AA is the greatest thing since sliced bread and who can't fathom my objections to it.
 
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It has taken a long time to find roasts I like. Here is a quick list of favorites ...(not in any particular order after 1&2) :D

#1-Cafe Britt Costa Rican Dark Roast (best ever!)
#2-Chromatic Honduran blend (heavenly)
Gregory’s Night Vision
Stumptown Hair Bender and Homestead
Peers Major Dickason’s blend
Small World Black and Tan
Roastery7 Breakfast Blend
Mississippi MUD Sumatra medium
Iron Bean Coffee Cast Iron
Black Rifle AK Espresso
Kaldi Cafe Espresso 700

I know I have missed a few. Y’shua’s beans from his shop are wonderful- I have had Dannyp and Spyderphreak’s home roasts and they are excellent as well.
The one thing that bothers me is the consistency from batch to batch. My favorites I know what to expect. Some roasters it’s never the same twice in a row!
 
DrHenley said:
So you say I'm "preaching to the choir" eh? Good to know brother! I've been a coffee connoisseur since trying Gevalia's Kenya Meru back in the 70's. I don't know many real coffee enthusiasts in person. My wife will drink pretty much any coffee that's been sitting in the pot all day. My daughter, who is almost 30, is finally starting to catch on, LOL. She has a "Coffee Club" she goes to and is learning about what I was never able to get her interested in when she was home. I'm sick and tired of arguing with local roasters who think their blackened Kenya AA is the greatest thing since sliced bread and who can't fathom my objections to it.
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Yes indeed, you are preaching to the choir, and maybe even the elder board, lol. ;) :thumbsup:

Agreed, most roasteries overdo it. I grew up with my father traveling frequently to Seattle, and drinking the front end of 3rd wave coffee. We have had a local roaster in the West Denver area since I can remember (they've been roasting since the the 70's), but the past 2 decades the previous owner was doing the same thing, always over-roasting the coffee. We talked several times about it, and he claimed that's what the customer wanted. Maybe, and if it's true, it's only because they didn't know better. He sold the place about a year ago, and the new, much younger owner seems much more open to trying lighter roasts. We've talked a couple times, and it's slowly getting better.

Kenya is in a sad state right now. It's still my (and my wife's) favorite overall origin, but the really good coffees are getting harder and harder to find, and prices are rising. We also rather like Costa Rica and Guatemala, and Burundi is really starting to get good. Options are nice. :)

Monofletch said:
The one thing that bothers me is the consistency from batch to batch. My favorites I know what to expect. Some roasters it’s never the same twice in a row!
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Yeah, that's a bit odd, especially if you're buying it from a roaster. It's something that I'm used to with home roasts, as I typically only buy a pound or two of most coffees, so I experiment a little with the roasts. However, when I buy 5 pounds of something, I usually get it dialed in pretty well and see pretty darn consistent results by the third pound. A commercial roaster really has no excuse for not producing consistent results. That's why you cup...

Today's coffee brewing at the hotel before I headed in to work:

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I'm finding that I like this particular Ethiopian coffee brewed for a little longer than usual. I'm letting it sit for almost 5 minutes before setting the CCD onto my thermos to drain. SO good! :thumbsup: :D Thanks again John!!!
 
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