Today's Cup: Peru Organic "El Guabo"

I am starting this blog as a way to put my coffee roasting journal online. I have a paper copy of my journal, which I have been keeping for over a month now. I am not planning on going back and typing everything in all over again, but I will include excerpts when relevent (i.e. if I am roasting a particular bean, I may use that opportunity to publish my paper notes from previous roasts of the same or similar bean).

You should read other people's sights for details about how to roast. I don't want to repeat everybody else. But be aware that during the roasting process, there are two points in which the beans "crack". Actually, the first crack sounds more like popcorn popping, and the second sounds like a log crackling in the fire. After that, with my roaster at least, there is also a point where the roaster will emit a puff of smoke, which I call the "first puff". If you don't stop the roast right there then you will get a lot more smoke and a very dark roast. Many roasts don't even reach that first puff. The ones that do end up with a shiny, oily bean.

My roaster is the Heathware I-Roast 1. The link points to one of Sweet Maria's excellent web pages; anyone who wants to learn about roasting is encouraged to lose hours there! I use my roaster on top of the stove, so that I can use the overhead vents.

I am currently roasting various beans from one of Sweet Maria's trial-sized assortments. I also have some Sumatran from Dean's Beans. I personally am not thrilled with the Sumatran, which is organic. Dean only deals in organic, fair-trade beans, but I am less concerned with that than I am with the coffee's flavor and sometimes the organics are just not as good. Sweet Maria's usually has excellent beans but they are pricier and, being on the left coast, they take longer to ship to my side of the country. The Dean's Sumatran seems to be best when roasted right up to the first puff of smoke.

I am putting links to Dean's, Sweet Maria's, and Cate's in the sidebar, along with a link to an excellent pictorial guide. I will not be hyperlinking to these resource from every posting; I am already tired of putting in the links after just a couple of paragraphs! So from now on, when I mention a retailer or an online information resource without providing a hyperlink, then that just means you should check the side bar and use the link there.
Today's Cup
Today I am drinking the Peru Organic "El Guabo". I roasted 1 cup of these beans on May 19 as follows:
Preset 1 (9:00 total roast time)
1st crack: -3:11
2nd crack: -:50
stopped: -:25

The beans were at a city to city+ roast. Yesterday's cup was good but today, in order to fill the hopper, I added some "Italian Roast" beans that I had bought pre-roasted just before I bought my roaster. (Actually my buddy Mike gave me these beans but that's another, really long story...) The Peruvian actually seemed to benefit from the addition of the 1 tablespoon or so of darker beans. It rounded out the flaor nicely.