Understanding Coffee Roast Levels - A Beginners Guide

[@3dflyer87]

EXCELLENT summary video! I consider myself a fairly experienced roaster that has been roasting for several years, but these back to basics videos are VERY helpful!

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

I am glad that you found the video helpful, Collin. What are you using to roast coffee? Thanks for watching and being a subscriber.

[@kg-Whatthehelliseventhat]

Hello, What do you use to roast?

[@3dflyer87]

@@VirtualCoffeeLab I use a Freshroast SR800 with chaff collector extension and a thermocouple connected to Artisan

[@doseofsense4727]

Thank you very much for the info. No problems with the length of your reply Mike. I work in aviation so am used to detailed info lol. Apologies ahead as my reply may be just as lengthy. Yes, guess it would have been helpful to include that I'm a (new) SR800 user, only about 5 roasts on it so far. Previously used Cafeymasy a for few months. For the most part I try to stay in the medium roast range, aiming for around a 9-10 minute roast depending on how long I let it go past 1st crack, which I try to hit at the 8ish minute mark. I have been using that Coffee Roasting Timer you used in a couple of your videos and try to get at least to the 18% development and have been getting around 14.8% moisture loss (may well be on the lighter side)with those benchmarks. I try to hit dry around 5 minutes, however, with the SR800 with OEM extension I have been hitting that quicker than I want and that is with fan 9, power 1....can't go any lower. I've even contemplated leaving the chaff lid off to reduce the heat but just been rolling with quicker drying times. Anyway, I have some Colombian that I'd like to take darker, maybe the beginning of 2nd crack and it's actually while using that timer that made me ponder my initial question. After marking 1st crack on the app, the development % starts ticking but all I am doing is letting that 'phase' count up, so I wondered if that was the right approach or should I have adjusted everything else. I do get what you are saying about times though and that's what I currently use, along with sight/smells and a temp probe I hang in the chamber. Haven't noted any drop temps yet. Edited to add that I stick with around 226 grams or whatever half of a 1lb bag may be(I try to evenly divide the bag). Hope that all made sense.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

For only 5 roasts in, it seems like you are doing pretty well with your SR800. You can shorten the total roast time. Don't hold to the 5 minute dry. That was a drum roaster thing. You can shorten your roast a little. 3.5 to 4 minute dry will work great. That will allow you to increase your power a little more to shorten the roast a little. When you get close to dry you will be stepping down your fan to keep the coffee from blowing up into the chaff collector. This increases the heat to the coffee at the same time. Aim for the 3-3.5 minute long middle phase and 2-3 minutes long on the For only 5 roasts in, it seems like you are doing pretty well with your SR800. Don't hold to the 5 minute dry. That was a drum roaster thing. You can shorten your roast a little. 3.5 to 4 minute dry will work great. To better understand your momentum at first crack, pay attention to the pace of first crack. Is it slow and meandering? Then you need to enter first crack with higher temperatures. If it is explosive and fast then your temps are a little too high at first crack. Consider lower the temps a little at first crack to have a nice solid first crack session. Remember, the darker you go, the less moisture is in the bean, the larger the bean gets. This means the heat penetration of the bean will increase faster. That means, the coffee will take off on you if you roast too hot and too fast. Keep these things in mind and use the sound/pace of first crack as your guide to how much energy you need to get to second crack. Development percentage can be a helpful reference but as we both agree, that percentage is influenced by the dry phase which will be shorter on an air roaster. You want good flavor development in the middle phase and a nice developed coffee without under or over development taking place.

[@doseofsense4727]

Awesome, much appreciated Sir. Not sure what happened but sorry for my reply not connecting to the original thread. Also, thanks for the reminder regarding the roast acceleration as it progresses. Definitely need to keep that monitored. Thanks again for your input. Have a great New Year and look forward to more of your content. P.S, if I may add, as someone who has had to train multiple technicians over the years, your method of presenting information is spot on. I don't see them very often, but don't pay attention to the few that complain about the length of your videos. The 'why' is just as important as the 'how'. I've run into many that have only paid attention to the 'how' and they are always the ones asking 100 questions later on about why this or that isn't the way they expect. Keep your content the way you feel works to get your teaching across. There's a fast forward for those that need.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

i appreciate your P.S. feedback. Sometimes It can be a downer with the complaints and questions to what was clearly presented in my video BUT it gives me an opportunity to directly connect with someone who wants to learn. So, I try and look at that as a win. ;-)

[@John-jd8vx]

Great information. I always learn something from you. Thanks

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thanks for the encouragement, John. I’m glad you are learning from my videos! You are very welcome.

[@domenicdapice7218]

Excellent video . Coincidentally I'm retired and spend 6 months a year in the Coffee axis Capital Pereira. I'm there now. My next door neighbour in my condo owns a coffee and chocolate farm. His coffee roast is medium, and he insists that it must be medium. Unfortunately he's not interested in selling me green beans but I can find a farm within 5 to 10 miles away from the city. He also has Geisha , again he isn't interested in selling it to me 😂. I saw a bread machine that's clever 😄. The origen coffee here is basically chocolate, berries , panela, and oranges 1800mts. I've seen coffee bean pickers , their wages is about 5 dollars for a 50lb bag of raw coffee beans , usually poor people that live in the farm fed and provided with their own bedroom. You watch them pick berries its just crazy how fast they do it. And its a tough job on steep hills .

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hello Domenic from Colombia 🇨🇴 . Thanks for watching. I find it very interesting the farmers won’t sell you any unroasted coffee beans. Coffee farm harvest is very hard work from what I’ve seen. I’ve read several articles about the organization who buys direct from the farm paying farmers and their workers more for the coffee with direct from farm relationships.

[@ronnyskaar3737]

Thanks. I have an ethiopian I want light, but so far in the few roasts I have done, I have been worried that development would be too short, and ventured into medium. I think I will drop right on the end of F.C next. You said it is considered a finished roast. Thanks.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hi Ronny, I've done a few light roast videos using different roasters. Here is an ethiopian light roast I did on the Kaleido M10 kzbin.info/www/bejne/goipk5WYr9t3adk shorter development time is common for light roasts to maximize acidity.

[@KaiBuskirk]

Great Job!

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thanks Kai. I'm glad it was helpful. What are you using to roast coffee? BTW, thanks for being a subscriber!

[@doseofsense4727]

Thanks for another easy to understand, informative video Mike. One question dealing with darker roasts. In relation to development phase percentages, if I want to take a roast darker, do I have to readjust the percentages for each of the roasting phases or is it just a matter of lengthening the development phase? If I adjust the whole roast, is there a general recommendation as to where you want to tweak times/percentages? Thanks ahead.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

thats a great question. I have a couple of brief comments before I answer your question. When i started making videos on KZbin, I was living in the drum roasting world. Many of my comments, especially the phase percentages, were based on giving beginner roaster enthusiasts a starting point to produce good roasted coffee. I'm thinking specifically of my "3 tips for new home coffee roasters" video. The basic principles were not new information. Scott Rao's book was one of my sources for that video. The phase percentages were based on a 9-12 minute roast that would help someone get a range of where to land for a medium roast. The concepts could be modified for other profiles. The air roasting group can use these concepts with success but because of the efficiencies of 100% convection roasting, will need to change things up. They can have shorter roast times, especially the dry phase, which impacts the phase percentages approach. I still talk about phase percentages, but as far as teaching goes, I focus on event times for each phase. This way, I can address both groups without causing confusion. I'm sharing this first, here in your question, because i know there are both drum and air roasting people who will be reading this. There are several different ways to approach this and without knowing the roaster, coffee, batch size and the ending roast level, it is difficult to give a simple answer. So, in the simplest short answer here, I would not focus on the phase percentage. I would focus on times. I would make sure you have enough momentum to get to second crack without crashing the ROR or going flat. Rather than a 1 1/2 - 2 minute development time you might use for a medium roast, I would consider a 2-3 minute development time. How this equates to percentages I don't know because i don't know the type of roaster you are using. I'm sorry for the long answer. Why don't you tell me a little more about your roaster, batch size and your typical event times for your current roast. Also share how dark you want to go. I'll be glad to try to be a little more specific.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

For only 5 roasts in, it seems like you are doing pretty well with your SR800. You can shorten the total roast time. Don't hold to the 5 minute dry. That was a drum roaster thing. You can shorten your roast a little. 3.5 to 4 minute dry will work great. That will allow you to increase your power a little more to shorten the roast a little. When you get close to dry you will be stepping down your fan to keep the coffee from blowing up into the chaff collector. This increases the heat to the coffee at the same time. Aim for the 3-3.5 minute long middle phase and 2-3 minutes long on the For only 5 roasts in, it seems like you are doing pretty well with your SR800. Don't hold to the 5 minute dry. That was a drum roaster thing. You can shorten your roast a little. 3.5 to 4 minute dry will work great. To better understand your momentum at first crack, pay attention to the pace of first crack. Is it slow and meandering? Then you need to enter first crack with higher temperatures. If it is explosive and fast then your temps are a little too high at first crack. Consider lower the temps a little at first crack to have a nice solid first crack session. Remember, the darker you go, the less moisture is in the bean, the larger the bean gets. This means the heat penetration of the bean will increase faster. That means, the coffee will take off on you if you roast too hot and too fast. Keep these things in mind and use the sound/pace of first crack as your guide to how much energy you need to get to second crack. Development percentage can be a helpful reference but as we both agree, that percentage is influenced by the dry phase which will be shorter on an air roaster. You want good flavor development in the middle phase and a nice developed coffee without under or over development taking place.

[@calebhyatt5090]

Outside of visual cues, are there other ways of knowing where a bean is in development while roasting? Are there certain bean temps that correlate with different roast levels?

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hi Caleb, thanks for the great question. Absolutely, there are other cues to help know where a bean is in development. Temperature is the primary way to monitor temperatures. You might be wondering why I have not mentioned temperatures in my Roasting 101 playlist or some of my other videos. There are two reasons. First, many people skip the basics and rely on temperatures without using their senses. I occasionally find myself doing that. There are many new home roasting enthusiasts who are buying machines that include an auto roast feature. They download some's profile and let the machine roast the coffee. While this is convenient, it often leads to disappointment because temperatures between different roasters are almost always different. That means the end result will be different. Second, the roaster machine doesn't provide temperature readings via probes. An example would be the fresh roast or Behmor. They have sensors but they don't actually read bean temperatures. Now, your second question about temperatures correlating with roasting events. Yes, you can read roasting books that mention temperature ranges at roasting events. There are variables that influence these temperatures including bean density, batch size, speed of the roast, processing, probe placement, probe size, and more. So, the short answer for temps for one of my profiles are: Dry End - 160c/320f First Crack - 190c/375f These temperatures can range as much as 20 degrees depending on how far your probes are pushed in, where they are placed, if they are influenced by IR light, how fast you are pushing the roast, and all of the other reasons I mentioned previously. Was that helpful? Does it make sense? Did I answer your questions? Please let me know how else I can help. I'm also wondering why you asked the question. It helps give me context to give a better answer. Thanks.

[@calebhyatt5090]

@@VirtualCoffeeLabthanks for the response. That is helpful. I was curious because I am colorblind and I sometimes find it difficult to visually see things occurring. Are there generic bean temps for when they should be dropped? Say for a medium roast or dark roast. I know people talk about weight loss and most people like 14.5-17%, but you can’t tell that until after the roast is over. How can I know where I am during the roast? I’m assuming bean temp would be the best way? I am using a freshroast sr800 with the razzo tube for bean temp monitoring.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

If it was a drum roaster you could use texture and bean size to help determine roast level. I cover that in this video. You can also use smell, smoke, and the pace of first crack to help you determine where you are in your roast level progress. Use these in combination with your temps and that should be helpful..

[@robertroth287]

Very helpful video. Do you know of a resource that indicates recommended roast levels for different beans that you can share with us? I do realize that roast levels are a matter of personal preference but guidance for specific beans or regions would be very helpful. Thanks, Mike.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hi Robert. Thanks for watching and sharing. Depending on where you buy your beans, the seller will describe tasting notes on the product page. Sometimes they will describe notes at various roast levels and even make recommendations. Sweet Marias often recommends a roast level range per coffee.

[@robertroth287]

@ Thank you. I will check that out.

[@dhook425]

What are the chances that we're going to get a video in the future about creating a blend? I'm to the point now where I would like to create a signature blend and I would like your thoughts on the process.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

That’s a good suggestion. I can’t promise it soon, but I’ll definitely move it up on my list of topics. Would you mind sharing a little more about some of your questions or things you want to learn related to blends?

[@dhook425]

@VirtualCoffeeLab I just want to know what types of coffee varieties mix the best, what flavors complement each other well, if mixing Arabica and Robusta is a good idea, and if it is best to pre or post-mix the roast.

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Thanks for sharing. I'll try and address those. FYI, I don't roast Robusta coffee. I stick with Arabica. When roasting, I roast each origin separately and then blend. I'm hoping to get together with a local roastery and talk about several topics including blends so I hope to have more info in the near future.

[@DkpProductions]

I'm ready for coffee bread

[@otaqurota]

is oily bean normal for dark roast level? the oil appearing when the resting time, still taste fine tho but im not sure is it ok or not

[@doylebbq4329]

I wouldn't put beans like that through my gridners but I can't stand dark roast

[@VirtualCoffeeLab]

Hello Ota, oily is normal for very dark roast coffee. If that is how you like the coffee to taste, then it’s ok. In my video I mentioned what happens to the flavor and sweetness of coffee. The darker it gets after 2nd crack the more bitter the coffee will taste. As Doyle commented, the oil from the beans will leave residue in the grinder. This could affect the taste of other coffees you grind which might be lighter. It is a personal choice.