Today's Cup: Sumatra Mandheling Toba Grade 1

I think I am on to something with the new roast curve. The coffee was definitely less tangy than Friday's cup and I liked it a lot more. It was still a little brighter than what I prefer, so I think I will try taking it a little bit darker. (The beans were still quite light.) I will probable slightly extend the 2nd phase and then just add to the 3rd after that until I get the roast I want.

I also noticed something interesting in a product review of a roaster at freshcoffeebeans.com. The review was for a different roaster, but here is the pertinent part:

You can change the flavor of the coffee by changing the amount of coffee beans you place in the roaster. If you increase the amount coffee, you will get a longer roast time, (you will notice more body as you would in a professional drum roaster). By decreasing the amount of coffee you will achieve a roast with more inherent acidity and brightness.


I imagine that the same could apply to my roaster, and am wondering if I should try larger batches of the lighter roasts that never seem to come out quite right for me.
I don't really want to do that, though, because I loose the advantage of only screwing up a 1/2 cup if I don't like the roast!