This is the first of a series that I am calling, “Coffee Roaster’s Diary.” I will be “talking” through some aspects of roasting, successes, almost successes, and yes, even failures. It is all part of the learning process, is it not?
This last Friday, my goal was to roast four batches of coffee, and I was going to roast them all to Full City +, or otherwise known as a Dark Roast. I did not succeed as I would have liked. They all are tasty, and they are much darker than I roast my mediums, but out of the four, there was only one that I can truly say is a Full City +.
Why? What happened, Roaster Boy?
That is a great question. The answer in short: I got scared, and didn’t want to risk loosing a batch. I have been roasting for about 2 months at Buckman’s Roasting Factory, and loving the bigger machine. However, moving from a Behmor to the Prostar is a little nerve wracking when I am taking my beans to a deeper roast level.
Like anything that is new, and worth doing, it can be difficult. I didn’t want to burn the beans (insert a major coffee chain here), so I erred on the side of caution. The Full City beans are really good. So good, in my opinion, that if you normally go for a dark roast, I suggest you give these a try (Brazil Salmo Dark or the Peruvian Dark). I still label them a dark, but they are not as dark as the Costa Rica Jaguar. But they are good.
More next week as I roast some newer coffees, and look forward to telling you about it! ~ John