Costa Rica Doca Estate (Len's Coffee)

For Christmas my son gave me several varieties of green beans. He did research to determine which beans received the best reviews. This was one of them.

I've made a couple of changes to how I roast after visiting a local coffee roaster who allowed me to observe him roast several batches. He uses a commercial roaster that can roast up to 11 pounds of coffee in one batch. He typically roasted 8-10 pounds depending on how much he planned to sell. I learned a couple key things from watching him roast.

Colombian Supremo (Portside Java)

I bought three (3) pounds of green beans from Portside Java a while back. I recently got around to roasting some of it. The Colombian beans have been the easiest to roast to produce a crisp, nutty cup of coffee.

Colombian Santa Barbara (Portside Java)

It's been quite a while since I roasted but I finally found some time. I did some experimenting with these Colombian beans as Colombian beans are the hardest to screw up. It doesn't seem to matter how you roast them they always turn out delicious. Welp, I was sure wrong about that. Apparently I can roast so bad that even Colombian beans don't taste all that hot.

Mexican Chiapas (Portside Java)

Roasted two batches of these beans and unfortunately, like the Panama roast logs, I cannot locate the roast logs.

After sitting for seven (7) days I brewed some coffee.  It is pleasant and smooth with very slight body. There is a slight trace of some nuttiness in the middle. I like this one better than the Panama. I'm wondering if I under roasted both of these since they both seem to lack some pizzazz. If I do these again I'll roast them longer after first crack.

Panama Boquete (Portside Java)

I roasted a couple batches of this coffee last Sunday. The roast charts have gone missing. If I find them I will update this post.

The roast profile was similar to the profile I used for the Ethiopian beans. Since this is the first time roasting this bean I will use another profile as a place to start.  The beans were roasted a little past first crack producing a city+ roast.

Papua New Guinea, Peaberry (Portside Java)

My wife informed me of a new coffee place that opened near where she works called "Portside Java". Apparently they roast their own coffee and sell green beans. She purchased three green varieties for me to try.

The first one I tried was a Peaberry from Papua New Guinea.

Sumatra Boru Batak (Happy Mug)

With these three (3) roasts I have finished roasting the last of this bean.  I stuck with the roast profile I've developed for this bean on all three (3) batches.  The last batch was 3/4 cup instead of the usual 1/2 cup since I didn't want to roast a small 1/4 cup batch.

Sumatra Boru Batak (Happy Mug)

I've really grown to love this coffee. Once I learned it takes higher roast temperatures, all the roasts have been coming out great. It has a tangy, almost grassy taste, in the middle of the drink.  This doesn't sound enjoyable but it is very pleasant and leaves no aftertaste. I've offered it to several guests and all have enjoyed it.

Colombia Santa Barbara (Happy Mug)

 I ordered five (5) pounds of Colombian, Ethiopian, and Sumatra at the same time from Happy Mug. This is the last of the Colombian. I was alternating between roasting Sumatra and Colombian with Ethiopian and Colombian. This exhausted the Colombian supply quickly. I did this so I would always have some good coffee to offer guests since the Colombian always seems to come out nicely regardless of how it is roasted. It is always clean, nutty, and never bitter.

Ehiopian Natural WOTE Konga (Happy Mug)

I've roasted these beans several times to the start of 2nd crack. The resulting coffee is OK but lacks any nuttiness or depth. This time I decided to roast these through 2nd crack for a roast close to a Vienna roast to see if the flavor would improve.

Sumatra Boru Batak (Happy Mug)

Finally was able to do some roasts with the new roast profile feature of ELF. I also used the marker feature to mark first crack start, first crack end, and second crack start.

Roasted two batches of Sumatra Boru Batak. This coffee has really grown on me since I've dialed in the roast. I used the following profile for the first batch:

Sumatra Boru Batak (Happy Mug)

Finally was able to do some roasts with the new roast profile feature of ELF. I also used the marker feature to mark first crack start, first crack end, and second crack start.

Roasted two batches of Sumatra Boru Batak. This coffee has really grown on me since I've dialed in the roast. I used the following profile for the first batch:

Ehiopian Natural WOTE Konga (Happy Mug)

The last time I roasted these beans I tried to roast 1 cup in a batch. That did not go well as the roast took over 19 minutes.  This time I did three (3) batches of 1/2 cup each. I used the following roast profile which is close to the roast profile I use for Sumatra.

00:00 - 04:00, 375 F
04:00 - 06:00, 425 F
06:00 - 09:00, 450 F

Uganda Sipi Falls, Take Two

Back in March I roasted some Uganda Sipi Falls beans and reviewed them as being rather bland. I recently found a small quantity of these beans in the back of my pantry.  Never one to waste coffee I decided to roast them, this time at a higher temperature.

Sumatra Boru Botak (Happy Mug)

Roasted several more batches of the Sumatra Boru Botak from Happy Mug.

In previous roasting of Sumatra beans I settled on the following roast profile:
00:00 - 04:00, 350 F
04:00 - 06:00, 400 F
06:00 - 07:00, 450 F
07:00 - 08:00, 500 F

This resulted in first crack near the 7 minute mark and second crack near the 9 minute mark. Both cracks were very pronounced.

This time I started at a slightly higher temperature.

Colombian Santa Barbara (Happy Mug) with new ELF features

The following new features were added to ELF:

1. The temperature chart starts with an x-axis scale of 12 minutes and a y-axis scale of 0-500F. The chart will expand the scale if the roast goes longer than 12 minutes or if the temperature exceeds 500F. Most of my roasts are finished within 10 minutes. This fixed axis allows me to compare roasts since they will all be using the same x-axis and y-axis scales.
2. Ability to export the roast log as an image and include the notes section as part of the image.
3. Markers can be added to the chart to indicate significant events like first crack start/stop, second crack start/stop, etc..  The markers are blue vertical lines. I will make them thicker so they are easier to see. When roasting press ALT-M to create a marker.

Now that I've settled on a temperature profile for both the Colombian and Sumatra beans I will begin working on the next ELF feature: automated roasting profiles.

Sumatra Boru Batak (Happy Mug), Success!

My previous attempts at roasting Sumatra beans resulted in under-roasted, sour, twangy tasting coffee. Each time there was hardly any first crack and no second crack. This time I roasted at a higher temperature hoping to produce both a better first crack and possibly a second crack.

Colombian Santa Barbara (Happy Mug), next features for ELF

After many roasts I've finally settled on a roast profile for Colombian beans that I like. First crack occurs around the seven (7) minute mark while the beginning  of second crack occurs around the ten(10) minute mark, at which point I stop the roast.

Ethiopian Natural WOTE Konga (Happy Mug) and my next car

Was a bit overzealous in roasting Ethiopian beans as I attempted to roast 1 cup in ELF. The roast took over 19 minutes to complete. The roast chart below shows the last 16 minutes of the roast as I accidentally turned off the roast at the 3 minute mark.

Sumatra Boru Batak (Happy Mug)

After reading many rave reviews about Sumatran coffee I bought 5 lbs. of green beans from Happy Mug to try for myself.

So anxious to try the coffee, I roasted two batches in the black of night. With this experience I was taught a valuable lesson: