The Bearded Blunder: Roaster Man

Admittedly, I still have a lot to learn about coffee. I noticed I tend to plod along at a slow rate of education since I don’t have many connections in the coffee industry itself.

It’s frustrating, but I also don’t go out of my way all too often to build connections either. I remain shy and aloof when it comes to networking.

But I put a sample of a coffee I roasted last night through a bee house and I tasted an underdeveloped coffee with notes of a tart grape that faded quickly, dried out the mouth, and vanished. It sucked out all the moisture of the mouth before going down the throat.

It got worse as it cooled.

While I’m not surprised, I’ll be disappointed for a while as I work with the coffees I roast and develop profiles. I don’t need to spend countless hours tasting horrible coffee though. I can basically brew it up, sip once, and probably dump it immediately and go right back to the drawing board.

But again, I’ve been spending a tad bit more time with someone who knows more about coffee than I do. They have connections with roasters and industry folks I’m envious of in many ways. Their dedication seems to be on a further level than mine.

But, that doesn’t seem to surprise me.

Now that I’ve rambled a bit about myself, on to the coffee I roasted and will be playing with over the next few days.

It’s a Brazil Fazenda I purchased from Sweet Marias.

This is what the roasting curve looks like at the moment.

There’s a number of problems with this.

I didn’t let my roaster pre-heat to a high enough temperature before dropping the green in there. This is what led to the underdeveloped nature of the cup. The low temperature of the roast may have baked the beans instead of roasted them.
My air flow might be a determinate of why it was also underdeveloped. I cut the air flow after the initial few minutes because I did some reading into how air flow helps dry out the beans and adds to a sweetness of the cup. I don’t know how accurate that is, but I think I might try some other experiments with it.
The roast ended about a minute and a half after first crack. The beans didn’t do anything that suggested they were on their way to second crack. No identifying smells or anything of that nature.
Aromas came later than I’d like as well. Grassy smells escaped about 8-9 minutes into the roast, which as I’m used to smelling those within 4-6 minutes of the roast.
I lost 25% of my beans mass in this roast. This suggests my green coffee has a lot of moisture in it or I spent way too long drying them out or I may have over roasted or baked them.

These are mainly my hypotheses on the situation as I don’t feel like I read enough on roasting to merit a lot of thought about this.

::kicks his hiatus in the teeth::

I’m back! And this time I have a new beautiful machine! Programmable Hot Top which lets me play with an average batch size of 250 grams!

I can’t post much, because I have a lot of set up to do for the machine, my green storage, laundry, inventory at work, and a ton of other things demanding my attention, as always.

So for now, I’m going to hold myself to posting once a week. Probably on Tuesdays.

But aside from this change, I want to take a moment to talk about the changes I’ll be making or things I’ll be adding.

“Roast profiles and their affects on taste”

I’ll be doing a lot of experimentation and posting whatever I can in terms of the profiles, the experiments, and the affects on taste due to these experiments.

It seems kind of crazy, but in all honesty, transparency is something I’m shooting for. I want roasters to be helpful to one another and share findings, not their personal profiles. I want roasters to push the envelope.

I’m tired of the tried and true methods and even if my ideas make it more difficult for me to get ahead because I’m sharing them with more experienced people, I’m sure I’ll stumble upon a different way of doing things that will make my product stand out.

“More analysis on Roast Magazine articles, Fresh Cup articles, Barista Magazine articles, and Specialty Coffee Retailer articles”

I want to post more references to these avenues of information and try to comment on them with my limited amount of knowledge or break down what they’re talking about. I don’t know how effectively I’ll do this, but I’m hoping to post something on these magazines once a week on a day other than Tuesday, like probably Thursdays.

“More talking about the science of coffee.”

I want to, twice a month, talk about the chemistry and science of coffee. So this might take a Tuesday or Thursday away from one of the other topics.

Aside from that, I hope to bring good things and branch out and help expose people to the coffee scene of Philadelphia more and more.

Cheers.

Two jobs are paying off. Bills almost squared away and this paycheck covers the programmable Hot Top, I hope. I can’t wait any longer.

I won’t apologize for my lack of posts, because I haven’t made time for them. Not because I’ve been too busy, but because I’ve been afraid to up my game in my personal career.

It’s easy to just follow the well beaten path in corporate. So easy, I’ve been with a company for 6 months and I’m on track to be an assistant leader to a department after starting out as, basically, the lowest on the totem pole.

This path has its merits however. I’ve become better at managing my time, planning 6 months in advance, setting schedules, tracking inventory, taking comments on a professional and not personal level, and becoming a stronger more confident leader.

I’ve been afraid to roast and take this step at home because I am thoroughly engrossed in the coffee business at both jobs. I fear burnout.

These past 6 months have been difficult for a variety of reasons. Working 60 hours a week means on my days off, I sleep through my alarm getting close to 12 hours of rest. I have two 16 hour work days starting at 5 am ending at 930 pm. That’s excluding when I wake up and go to bed and travel. My body aches some days and I spend time on those days to massage and stretch my muscles and work out the weak areas to even the push/pull on joints - sometimes, most often, while I work. I’ve developed a work place yoga and stretching routine for me to use while working. People see me do things in weird ways or move oddly to encourage the stretching of these troubled areas.

I’d like to make more time for roasting and, to some degree, coffee journalism. So, I’ll be examining the coffee scene in Philadelphia periodically, interjecting my roasting, perhaps some reviews on local coffees and brew guides for those coffees.

Why? Because I love what I do. I want people to love the beverage and consume it properly. I’m tired of “half a cup of cream an sugar, half a cup of coffee.” That’s how diabetes begins and I want people to enjoy the beverage as it is, black.

Hope all is well.

An old, old friend of mine is a roaster for Cafe Grumpy (something I was totally stoked about once I found out) invited me up to NYC for the day to catch up and attend a presentation from someone they work with in Honduras.

It was an amazing presentation of the hard work that goes into developing a direct trade relationship with farmers. Everything from gaining the trust of the farmer, funding equipment purchases for the farmer, getting them to maintain best practices, and sharing the importance of the CoE or Cup of Excellence.

It was interesting too, to hear the perspective on the Cup of Excellence and how a percentage of the winnings seems to go directly back into the organization or the government of the winner…at least if I heard that correctly.

This was somewhat disappointing to learn. Also, an entry fee is required to enter your coffee into the competition, which I thought was also kind of crappy.

I also learned more about the rust that attacks the coffee and how it’s migrating into higher and higher elevations. Something I knew a little bit about or speculated, but didn’t realize how nervous it made farmers. Before I thought it was tragic, now I can really empathize with their problem.

I saw some pictures of farms and also learned that most of the farmers, at least in Honduras, have small farms. Their farms aren’t broken up into hectares, but a unit that is .7 of a hectare. Most have about the equivalent of 1.5 to 3 hectare of coffee to grow. This is due mostly because of the limited growing space on the mountain sides.

There are a few farms that are larger, but it seemed to be a competition between smaller farms.

I was curious, but never asked, if they were planting bumper crops or using honey bees to boost their funding. Apparently, someone else asked about the bumper crops, which were a beautiful flower that I can’t remember the name of nor the purpose.

I took a lot out of this experience. I learned a bit about distribution of roasted coffee, building a direct trade relationship, storing and packaging, the importance of a coffee lab, how to host a presentation such as this and a lot of other interesting things.

All in all, it was an awesome day. I enjoyed catching up with my old friend and seeing her roast as well as tasting her Costa Rican coffee.

While it’s been a while since I’ve blogged or roasted, I’m switching focus at the moment to save money and buy a roaster that lets me control more variables so I can experiment more with developing profiles.

In the mean time, I’m working two jobs and I’m slowly helping build a coffee community in these suburbs with both positions. I have a coffee education curriculum building up and it’s only a matter of practice and time before I can use it and make a larger impact.

I’m hoping with this curriculum, I can roast coffees and educate consumers unlike any other person I’ve seen in the coffee industry. I’m hoping it helps me build the reputation I want and gets me a job in the NCA or SCAA in the future. Until then, it’s plugging away.

Enjoy your day everybody.

The long awaited sequel to…well..this post.

I don’t know why, but I want to keep revisiting the basics. That’s all I’ve been talking about recently with customers, colleagues, and others.

I feel like I’m almost over emphasizing them, but it’s important that we understand the following about the basics of brewing: it’s subjective.

Everyone has different tastes and preferences and wants different things from their coffee. It’s important, rather than using snobbery to better the customer, we ask them questions about the coffees they like and direct them to similar product, if not slightly better.

Some customers will risk going out on a limb to try something completely different, some won’t.

But, I think we all know that, right? And honestly, I’m not an expert. I can’t say that enough, but I can talk about what works for me and I shall. Because this post is going to be about connecting people to coffee via their home brewing methods, drinking habits, and how to approach them.

When talking about brewing basics, I often ask if they’ve ever baked a cake and left it in the oven too long or had it on a higher or lower temp, affecting their cake. Most have.

I usually use that to talk about the various recipes needed to brew coffee.

How much flour to milk/water do you use? That matters here too. Take coffee as the flour and milk as the water. You need to mix the two at a good proportion to get an end product that isn’t too watery or too thick. You want moist cake…er…coffee? And the major, or easiest factor to remember is proportion.

I know I’ve touched upon this already. Proportion is instinctively the easiest way to control your brew. We have ratios for a reason. Some use 2 grams of coffee per ounce of water. Some use a 10 grams of water to 1 gram coffee or 14 grams of water to 1 gram coffee. As you can already tell, it’s a subjective test of tastes.

So, how do you decide what to recommend to people when they come in? Use their drinking habits to your advantage. Wait..what? That sounds twisted. Anyway.

Seriously. Use their drinking habits to your advantage and taste what they’re tasting. If some people drink Dunkin’ Donuts, what are the characteristics of the regular cup of coffee, then with cream, then with sugar. Get to know thy enemy! But in this case, they aren’t really the enemy. They’re peddling the same product (if we over generalize and we’re honest with ourselves) as we are. Its important we know what options are out there so when they come in, we can give them a proportion they’ll be comfortable with.

As we know, we can have the best freaking coffee in the world and totally change our experience with it while brewing it (correctly or incorrectly). So use your knowledge to get someone to try a new coffee.

For example.

I changed the brewing ratio for this dark roasted, burned, arguably crappy coffee. Just increasing the ratio of water to coffee (as in more water to coffee than usual) people actually enjoyed it more. So we sold the crap out of that coffee that day, simply by changing the brewing parameters and changing the customers’ experience with the cup.

Also, it might not have had anything to do with that. I don’t know because I didn’t have a chance to measure it. If I could’ve, I would’ve had them side by side, lied about it being different coffees, but it’d actually be the same at different brew ratios. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a second airpot to do so.

While I’m not saying changing the brew method as being a panacea to solve crappy coffee, I’m just suggesting we can use it to get people to try something slightly different or at least (instead of buying whole bean from a chain) buying whole bean from us.

Still haven’t begun to roast regularly. For a couple of reasons: 1) saving up for a Boehmor.

I’ll just let you go and Google that.

So I’m trying not to get too technical today, except I want to talk about frappes. Why do I want to talk about frappes? Because I work in a health food store and health is a primary concern of mine (as well as coffee) and I want people drinking healthy(ish) stuff that tastes good when there.

I could just have the team make double chocolate chip mocha, peppermint mocha, salted caramel etc. But honestly, everybody else has those fucking (pardon my french) things.

I want something worth the journey and it doesn’t give me diabetes. Except for the ones with condensed milk….

Below I’m listing a bunch of random things I’ll be trying this month in anticipation of Christmageddon 2012. I also plan on documenting the first Santa Clause I see this season and stealing it….to go along with the giant Sbux letters I…er…found..

Frappes that don’t end in “O! Cha!”, “Mel” or Al Pacino:

Coconut Thai Frap: little bit of raw coconut, milk, ice, espresso and a smidge of condensed milk. (I’ll play with this one a lot)

Smokin’ Hot as Ice Cocoa: pinch of cayenne, dark chocolate, milk, ice. Topped with cinnamon and hot milk foam. (I think this might not be as cool as I want it to be). ((While editing I realized I made a pun.))

A Dingo Ate my Baby T frappe: mint, kiwi, ginger, condensed milk, ice and ::ponders:: probably a black citrus tea….

Bloody Mary: For Halloween. Take a frozen hand mold and fill it with pureed tomato juice, celery, and water. Then, when it’s frozen, toss it into a blender for kicks. Maybe do it in layers so you can try to make bones out of something tasty. Maybe wrap the frozen product in a layer of chocolate to make it look like a hand….

Yes, I’m that creepy.

Ginger Caramel Chai: chai, caramel, milk, and ginger. Possibly blending it with ice or just serving it hot.

Dark Chocolate and Cherry Garcia: dark chocolate, cherries, vegan brownie, ice and milk. Or almond/soy milk substitute.

Avocado mint shake: avocado, condensed milk, ice, and a splash of lemon or lime juice. It’s green and minty, like an elf.

This’ll make you punch your mother: jalapenos, pineapple, mangos, ice, coconut water, little bit of spinach.

Pumpkin Pecan Smoothie: Pumpkin, pecans, bit of milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and probably a bit of brown sugar or maple syrup.

Grandma + Reindeer = Childhood Scars: cinnamon, cayenne, dark chocolate, ginger, peach, ice/milk or vanilla yogurt or ice cream.

Sorry for the morbid theme, but Halloween season makes me think of my favorite costume: the serial killer.

They look like everybody else….

Try not to celebrate Christmas too early this year folks. Take time to enjoy the leaves, the coffee, and all things Pumpkin King.

Don’t use this to describe your coffee unless it wrestles bears while sky diving naked with a mariachi band. Or battles a xenomorph while whistling the Andy Griffith theme and wins. Or while in a wheel chair, beats the Iron Chef while winning a competition in the show Face-Off.

While I haven’t posted in a while (new job, more responsibility + old job, supervisor responsibility = ain’t no rest for the blunder), I want to keep an upbeat tone.

So. Just close your eyes and imagine your coffee being bold while I figure out a way to roast coffee again.

I also think I found my Halloween costume.

Sometimes I forget that I’ve only been a barista for a little over 2 years and have learned so much yet so little in the time that’s passed.

Needless to say, I’m managing shops with that little amount of work experience and taking them to a different level in periods of time I thought, well, impossible.

It’s weird to see what a difference passion, energy, and enthusiasm bring with them, despite lack of experience. It’s even more interesting how energized people become and how they support those people to better themselves and that person who is passionate to begin with.

I can’t thank everyone enough.