Aug. 2, 2019
We talk about our FloresFlores is an Indonesian island, and as a coffee bears more resemblance to the coffees of Timor-Leste, New Guinea and Java than to the wet-hulled coffees of Sumatra... coffees as being a nice alternative to Central American coffees, which has a lot to do with the balanced cup flavors and roast versatility. It’s that latter aspect that I explore in this blog, not so much in terms of roast level, but by roasting Flores Gunung Gedha in two different roasting machines – a popcorn popper and Quest M3s.
Poppers are by far the most accessible and least expensive entry to the coffee roastingThe application of heat to green coffee seeds (beans) to create palatable material for brewing a great cup!: Coffee roasting is a chemical process induced by heat, by... hobby. The unmodified popper is limited by a single heat setting and small roast chamber. But the access afforded to the roasting coffee is second to none. Add to that the ability to roast small batches quickly, and the popcorn popper is one of the best roasters to start on in my opinion (and even end on!).

On the other end of the cost spectrum is our Quest M3s. It’s built like a small, tabletop shop drum roasterA roaster with a rotating drum that provides agitation to the beans, while a heating element (typically either electric or gas) provides heat. The metal drum conducts heat..., replete with manual heat and airflow settings and miniature bean trier to view the coffee during the roasting process. Manual controls mean you have the ability to profile a coffee and potentially draw out different characteristics in the cup.
But back to the coffee a minute. Like Central American producing countries, wet processingThe removal of the cherry and parchment from the coffee seed.: Coffee is either wet-processed (also called washed or wet-milled) or dry-processed (also called wild, natural or natural... is the norm for farmers in Flores, a technique known to promote cup cleanliness and more articulated acidityAcidity is a positive flavor attribute in coffee, also referred to as brightness or liveliness. It adds a brilliance to the cup, whereas low acid coffees can seem.... Depending on where along the roast spectrum you wind up, the coffees show balanced bittersweetness and bodyAssociated with and sensed by mouthfeel, body is sense of weight and thickness of the brew, caused by the percentage of soluble solids in the cup, including all... similar to the cup characteristics of a mild Guatemalan coffee. And balance is a key factor I focus on when judging the final cups, noting any differences due to roast development.

For my popper roasts, I decided to mitigate the inherent limitations by adjusting roast batchOne of the most important variables in roasting coffee, the weight or volume of the coffee being put in to the roaster will dramatically affect the outcome of... size. My first batch was 100 grams of coffee, or roughly 1/2 cup. I hit first crackFirst crack in one of two distinct heat-induced pyrolytic reactions in coffee. It is distinguished by a cracking or popping sound in the coffee, and occurs between 390... around 3:15 seconds in, finishing it off at 4:45 when 1st snaps were all but finished. The roasted coffee weighed 87 grams, a 13% weight loss. The outside color looked a bit dark for a weight that should be City, but the cup would be the ultimate test.
My second popper batch was 70 grams, which achieved 1st crackAn audible popping sound heard during roasting. In coffee, one refers to "first crack" and "second crack," which come from two different classes of chemical reactions.: An audible... at 2:37, a bit faster than the previous roast. In trying to match physical color to the 100 gram batch, I wound up stopping the roast at 4:04. The roasted coffee weighed 61.3 grams which meant a weight loss of 12.5%, fairly close to the previous roast.
For the Quest roast, I went with a single heat setting to mimic the popper to some degree. I know that 100 grams does well with the heat input set to 7.5 amps and fan setting wide open. I stuck with those parameters and my roast times were close to what I shoot for when sample roasting: 1st crack 6:55/401F, finishing at 8:55/419F, and weight loss of 13.1%. I figured the Quest roast would be my flavor benchmark, an “ideal” roast level to taste test the two much faster, less than perfect roasts from the popper.
Rather than note all the different flavors in the cup, I set out to judge how this coffee tastes under the different roasting conditions, rating four main categories on a scale of 1 – 5; balanceSuggests a harmony and proportion of qualities, and implies mildness since no one quality dominates.: Balance is both an obvious and slippery taste term. It implies a harmony..., sweetnessSweetness is an important positive quality in fine coffees, and is one of five basic tastes: Sour, Sweet, Salty, Bitter, Savory (Umami). In coffee, sweetness is a highly..., acidity, and body.

I cupped these blind, and fully expected the 2nd or 3rd position to be my trusted Quest roast. I was pretty surprised to find that wasn’t the case, and in fact, I liked the Quest roast the least. To be fair, I enjoyed all three and felt they were close approximations of the description in our review. But in this side-by-side assessment, roast #3 – the least likely candidate for “best” based on conventionalConventional coffee means that a coffee is not organic certified, in the coffee trader parlance. roasting wisdom – won out.

So what does this mean? Well, for starters, it’s a reminder that all you really need is a popcorn popper to roast delicious coffee yourself! But it’s not saying that a popper is the better machine. Adjusting the roast parameters on the Quest would yield different results and easily change all of this.
I have a feeling that the reason I preferred the popper roasts has something to do with my Quest roast being too light all around. It’s also the case that popcorn poppers tend to roast fast, so the roasted coffee beans are less developed at the center and darker on the outside. This is expressed as a more complexThe co-presence of many aroma and flavor attributes, with multiple layers. A general impression of a coffee, similar to judgments such as "balanced" or "structured" cup, with higher perceptions of acidic impression and sweetness.
It’s also a testament to the durability of this Flores bean. Taking almost any coffee to 1st crack in 2.5 minutes risks charring the outside, invariably introducing bittering, ashyThe smell or taste of ash, such as an ashtray, cigarette smoke, or fireplace. Often a roast defect.: A quality in aroma or flavor similar to that of... flavors in the cup. But this coffee withstood the high heat without issue, coming off sweet and balanced, and finishing clean. In this way, the dense Flores coffee is a prime candidate for popper roasting, similar to many of our high grownHigh Grown, or HG, is a coffee designation that can mean different things in different countries. : High Grown, or HG, is the highest quality Mexican coffee designation... Central American coffees.
*Check out our entire Flores lineup on Sweet Maria’s or Coffee Shrub
*Have a look at the Nostalgia Electric Popcorn Popper/Coffee Roaster
*See what all the fuss is about with the Quest M3s