Roasting a New Coffee I Have Never Roasted Before and Know Nothing About - Natural Honduras

*NOTE: This video is relatively advanced, assuming previous knowledge of roasting language and concepts. If you're a coffee roaster, this video might be interesting or useful. If you are not a coffee roaster, well, I'm sorry if it's confusing or boring.
A friend's roastery had an emergency so they asked if we could help out in a pinch. We said yes, so they dropped off the green coffee, gave us minimal info (origin country, processing method, and loose parameters of end temp and development time), and we went for it! This is how I approached at 96lb roast of a Natural Honduras coffee on the 70kg Loring machine.
First, start with the usual between batch routine as always. I find that maintaining a consistent procedure (even - especially! - with new coffees) helps to keep my mind calm and focused.
Next, I waited to see what the coffee would do in the roaster. This one had a quick turnaround, followed by a slow heat absorption, so I had to kick up the heat in the middle of the roast.
Then I observed what the coffee wanted to do around first crack. This one wanted to take off, so I cut heat significantly to try and slow the roast down. I didn't intervene quickly enough for my goals, but I only had one go at it this time. I'm sure the coffee will be great (hot take: green coffee is the most important determinant of roasted coffee's flavor).
Would you have done things differently? See things I didn't see? Learn something new? Comment below and let me know what you think.

[@joshuasechter5306]

Don’t know who your boss is but you deserve a raise

[@roasterkat]

Aww thank you so much! I’ll tell him😉

[@charles_the_elder]

Another great video. I don't roast, I just watch videos and try to learn more about how my coffee is produced. Thank you.

[@roasterkat]

That's great! Thanks for watching and glad it’s interesting.

[@toritowalker]

I'm starting to learn how to roast and your videos are extremely informative! Thanks for putting them out 🙏🏼

[@roasterkat]

Thanks so much! I’m glad they’re useful :)

[@kg-Whatthehelliseventhat]

I just roasted some Honduran beans a couple weeks ago. They were so long. Kinda like footballs great coffee. Thank you for your videos

[@roasterkat]

🙌🏈❤️‍🔥

[@audioman99]

First video of yours I’ve seen. Very educational so thank you very much!

[@roasterkat]

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed.

[@user-pp8ly2wn6t]

Your videos are very informative. Keep posting! Good Luck with your upcoming always wait for your videos as they are so informative and effective. Thank you for always sharing the correct information. Keep posting.

[@roasterkat]

Thanks so much! Glad you’re enjoying

[@coffeemanray]

Pretty awesome behind the scenes dive

[@coffeemanray]

I find learning the way the beans you're using is roasted could better inform the strategy/decision making behind brewing... same thing with learning exactly how its processed

[@roasterkat]

For sure! Glad it’s interesting and useful for you.

[@bryanwray8038]

Thanks for the video! I don’t think I have any notes, just happy to see someone’s approach to a new coffee (and feels validating that it’s basically the same as mine)

[@roasterkat]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Wings_nut]

Thank you, Kat. I roasted for the first time...on the stovetop. Waited until just after 1st crack. Turned out okay. Cheers 🙂

[@roasterkat]

Nice! Gotta start somewhere haha🔥

[@Wings_nut]

@@roasterkat Indeed. Thx Kat

[@kelvinlee8919]

Your coffee vlogs are so interesting!

[@roasterkat]

Glad you like them!

[@jgranahan]

Very cool share!

[@roasterkat]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@jeanfxjeanfx]

Thanks alot Kat ❤

[@roasterkat]

You're welcome 😊

[@jeffrodgers8181]

Home roaster here. The part about not being able to hear first crack with this machine so you rely on temperature. Can you explain? Does that machine capture FC automatically?

[@roasterkat]

The machine itself doesn't capture First Crack (ie: the machine can't "hear" FC), but you can tell the software to "mark First Crack" when it hits a certain temperature. So when the temp probe reads that designated temp it marks First Crack at that temperature/time point. Make sense? Good question!

[@24Turkeys]

So cool to see how you approach something new on such a large machine! Love the advice on knowing your machine and falling back on your experiences. Not a note, but something to offer up. I like to start doing RoR-temp projections in my head about half way through the roast. Iirc you can enable temp projections in Cropster too. I just imagine if ror continues to decrease at a linear rate, am I over or under my target? Ror won’t be linear, and you might know a better approximation for your given machine (use that). However, that gives me a pulse check of sorts if I’m on track for my target with enough time to make small adjustments to get back on target.

[@roasterkat]

That’s a good tip - I’ll try it. I wonder if it’ll work with the Loring and the approach we take with coffees. The RoR can tend to nearly flatline toward the middle or 2/3 of the way through the roast. I can usually hit first crack right on target, but the issue is what the coffee does after that point. Some continue smoothly, while others just take off or crash. And there’s no way to predict that with 100% accuracy (that I’ve found anyway haha)

[@24Turkeys]

@@roasterkat completely true that you never really know what’s going to happen post 1c, just my approach on a much smaller drum. Your note about the return air seems really helpful though. Def locking that away if I ever end up on a loring.

[@user-zt3xx4bp1f]

Hey Kat, thanks for taking us through this process. You mentioned that some roasters like to use the pyramid approach to heat application on the Loring. I've only ever roasted on a Diedrich and always used the step down approach, which gave me the sweetness and balance I was looking for. I'm going to be using a Loring pretty soon and would love a bit more context as to why the pyramid approach works with the Loring's convection heat application system. Are there certain coffees for which the pyramid approach works better/worse (washed v. natural; high v. low density, certain varieties, etc.)?

[@roasterkat]

It all has to do with controlling the roast. For some roasters who are used to more traditional drum roasters (like you on the Diedrich), you're probably used to seeing a very particular RoR curve, specifically a peak after turnaround and a gradual slope downward. The Loring's RoR curve looks very different if you apply your heat with the "step down approach." On the Loring (as you can tell in this video) the RoR curve spikes SUPER high - way higher than you'll see on a Diedrich. Then it comes down pretty quickly. So the step down approach can be a way to approximate the shape of a traditional drum roaster's curve. As for certain coffees the pyramid approach "works better/worse" on... I can't really say because that depends on what you're looking for in the cup. I believe that there is no "right" or "wrong" way (not even a universal "better" or "worse" way imho) because it depends on the results you're looking for. Hope that helps! And if you want to talk more in depth about switching to a Loring, hit me up for consulting. I'd be happy to guide you through personally as you switch roasters. [e-mail] ;)

[@user-zt3xx4bp1f]

Huge thank you. I reached out via email a few days ago to see if we can chat about some Loring specific consulting. Not sure if it may have ended up in spam folder though. Looking forward to connecting@@roasterkat

[@MMMMMM-w3l]

What are you looking for and smelling for when you are pulling out a sample around first crack?

[@roasterkat]

Smelling: a change in the smell, visually: the release of vapor or the beans moving slightly to indicate first crack

[@jerryhubbard4461]

Kat, what is your opinion of commercial hot air roasting vs. drum roasting?

[@roasterkat]

Both can roast coffee well if you know how to operate the machine.

[@mohammedthalha4582]

Thanks for the video.... the roasting videos are amazing....(kat)

[@roasterkat]

Glad you like them!

[@jachmd]

Please make sure you wear hearing protection. Noise induced hearing loss is increasing.

[@roasterkat]

Thanks for the tip! Are you seeing that a lot in coffee roasters?

[@braxtonjens7839]

Cool video! I’ve roasted on a SF6 and that was a lot of fun. But totally different than the Loring. Are all B&W coffees roasted on Loring? And what sample roaster do y’all use?

[@roasterkat]

Yeah, SF is very different than the Loring! All B&W coffee is roasted on a Loring, yes. We have 3 machines - 15k, 35k, and the 70kg machine. For sample roasting we have the Nucleus Link.

[@ozibarista233]

I never use loring before, I use only probat and giesen. And that 2 machine use different way to roast even same beans. How do you manage to get first crack less than 9 minutes if you do 1 minute or more for soak ? Because when I use probat p12 , after I soak about 1 minute and drying phase took 5 minutes more and first crack is on 10 minutes, and with dev time total 12 minutes.

[@roasterkat]

The Loring is very efficient in heat transfer. That’s WHY I soak, so I don’t have first crack at 7min haha

[@atticustay1]

Do you not use a small sample roaster?

[@roasterkat]

The QC folks do the sample roasting, I do production roasting. Sample roasting is just for finding out what flavors are in the coffee - figuring out what we want to pull out. Then I take that information and run the production roast.

[@camwilliams7341]

In your experience, is it more important to watch and adjust the airflow of the machine or the heat supply when you're adjusting to reach certain milestones in your roast? I am still new to this and have found both theories and not sure which to go by. This was such a relevant video for me as beginner roaster and the more complex information is pretty hard to find actually, so thanks! lol

[@roasterkat]

With the machine I’m roasting on (Loring) the airflow is tied to the burner so I can’t adjust them independently. My advice: try one method for a set period of time. Maybe a month. Then try the other method for the same amount of time. See which you prefer, what coffees you like best and go from there.

[@camwilliams7341]

@@roasterkat I appreciate your insight!

[@andrewocven2403]

Excuse Me, i have a questions, when i roast a coffee sometimes my coffee made me bloated, i used Nordic 1kg, 100% airflow, 75% drums speed, 200°c charge temp, 11% water contents of the beans, so from that can you give me suggestion wheter why my coffee are make me bloat, does it connected with thermal equilibrium or something? Thanks

[@roasterkat]

Hi - I haven't heard of this before. It seems like this has more to do with your body's reaction to the coffee than about the coffee itself. I would talk to your doctor about this if you are concerned. Sorry I can't help!

[@sco0tpa]

@andrewocven2403 consider looking into FODMAP which are types of sugar that are in foods. Bloating may be caused you body's 'malabsorption' of one of the sugars. If not FODMAP, it might be something triggered by caffeine.

[@tarekz9992]

How'd it turn out?

[@roasterkat]

Great! It was a while ago now but I think it was tasty🙌