Twelve Pound Tuesdsay!

Roasting everything in twelve pound batches today. Roasting twelve pounds at a time is more arduous than a typical batch, the curve compresses and is much more susceptible to heat variations. Luckily I roast like a boss and accept the challenge of such epic roasting.

Roastlog:
Organic Costa Rica La Amistad
Organic Guatemala Huehuetenango
Organic Honduras Octotepque
Sumatra Harimau Tiger

I also dialed in a new espresso blend this morning and I must say it is approaching facemelting status. Since the crazy Sumatran weather is keeping all exports from getting here I've had to find substitutes for that part of the espresso blend. Typically Sumatra is the heavy-hitter, adding big body and dark chocolate notes to the blend. I substituted a microlot of washed Sulawesi to the blend and it has really taken it to the next level. I'd love to be able to continue this blend but unfortunately I already blew through all the Sulawesi.

Roastlog Fri 11 Feb 2011

Rounding out the week with more espresso! I'm also heading out of town for the weekend so I pushed this post into Saturday. Ah the glory of publishing in the future!

I might try to bust out a video demonstrating a brewing technique on Sunday. What would you all like to see? French press, chemex, aeropress, percolator, v60, cowboy coffee, something else?

Organic Costa Rica La Amistad - espresso
Organic Guatemala Adisque - espresso
Organic Peru Cepicafe - espresso
Organic Sumatra "Mega" Mandheling - espresso
Decaf French roast - very dark

Roastlog Thu 10 Feb 2011

Organic Costa Rica La Amistad - light roast
Organic Columbia Paez San Pedro Gaitana microlot - light roast
Organic Honduras Octotepque - light roast
Sumatra Harimau Tiger - medium roast
Ethiopia Washed Sidama - light roast
Decaf. Espresso - espresso roast

Roastlog: Wed Feb 9 2011

Catching up from yesterday!

Organic Costa Rica La Amistad - Espresso
Organic Guatemala Adisque - Espresso
Organic Peru Cepicafe - Espresso
Organic Sumatra "Mega" Mandheling - Espresso
Organic French Sumatra - French roast
Kenya Thika French Mission Bourbon - Al Fine
Decaf. French Sumatra - French roast

A quick breakdown of some roast level nomenclature, from lightest roast to darkest:
Cinnamon (light)
City (light-med)
City+ (medium)
Full City (espresso falls in this range)
Full City + (also espresso)
Al Fine ("to the finish")
Vienna
French

The history of these profiles is pretty interesting and I will be making a more in-depth post about it this weekend.

Roastlog: Tue 8 Feb 2011

My baby .

Another mild roasting day. Going to pay for it tomorrow though, since I'm not roasting spro. We got about 6 inches of fresh snow last night, and really I'd like to be as far away from a 400 degree roaster as I can (such as -- up in the mountains with all this fresh pow!). But all the same, I love all the rituals that involve coffee and that certainly applies to my rituals with roasting coffee.

Roastlog:
Organic Costa Rica La Amistad - 22.4Lbs - light roast
Organic Honduras Octotepque - 18Lbs - light roast
Organic French Sumatra - 24Lbs - very dark roast
Organic Honduras Octotepque - 12Lbs - very dark roast
Ethiopia Harrar Ali Brothers - 12Lbs - very dark roast
Decaf Sumatra - 22.4Lbs - medium roast

Roastlog: Mon Feb 7 2011

Nice and easy Monday, which is great for me because I got a little drinky drinky last night.

Organic Columbia Paez San Pedro
Organic Costa Rica La Amistad
Organic Peru Cepicafe
Organic Honduras Octotepque
Decaf Vienna

Roastlog: Fri Feb 03 2011

Organic Sumatra Mandheling, green

Some of the usuals to round out the week:
Organic Costa Rica La Amistad
Organic Columbia Paez San Pedro
Organic Honduras Octotepque - light roast
Organic Honduras Octotepque - dark roast
Organic French Sumatra
Decaf Vienna

I'm thinking of expounding on this information to include more details about each coffee, including origin information as well as roast curves. I've seen a lot of talk about transparency these days when it comes to the shared knowledge of the specialty coffee industry. I agree, and believe its time to start being much more open about how we're treating our coffee from seed to cup.

Roastlog: Thu Feb 02 2011

Thursday is the official hectic day for my roastery, here's what's in the lineup:
Organic Costa Rica La Amistad
Organic Bali Blue Moon Rain Forest Alliance
Organic Vienna Roast
Ethiopian Washed Sidama
Kenya Thika French Mission Bourbon

It's not so hectic for the amount of coffee that's needed to roast; but rather because today is also cafe delivery day. Several hundred pounds of coffee, tea, syrup, and chocolate need to get out to the cafes. Oh and its still something like -15 degrees outside... which always makes things interesting.