Understanding the stages of the roast is fundamental to successful roasting.
Tom has been talking about this for a while … that we don’t have enough basic information about color changes in roasting. Understanding the stages of the roast is fundamental to successful roasting; it is hard to emphasize it enough. He shot a macro-image video under very strong light to show color changes during the roast process.
He emphasizes the development of each stage (in both air and drum roasts) and what you can expect to see and hear. The end of the roast is crucial; in the 15 to 30 seconds from first crack moving toward second crackAfter First Crack, a roast reaction around 440 to 450 degrees that is distinguished by a snapping sound. Second Crack is the second audible clue the roaster-operator receives... ...more, your roast very quickly goes from City+City+ roast is an ideal roast level that occurs roughly between 425 and 435 degrees Fahrenheit in many coffee roasters with a responsive bean probe where First Crack... ...more to Full City+ (and beyond!).
Make sure to pull up a stool and pay attention to the end of the roast not matter what method you use.
I’ve added this video to our Visual Guide to Roast page as well. Hope you find it useful. – Maria
2 Responses
Using a Gene roaster and want to find a coffee that will produce a pronounced chocolate flavor. What do you recommend?
Jerry
Hey Jerry, here’s a list of coffees that have chocolate notes from our green coffee list. I just pre-selected “chocolate bittersweets” from the flavor profile filter. Take a look at the coffees from Brazil and Colombia at the top of the list especially, you could probably get some very nice results with those in a Gene. Coffees with fruit or berry flavors like you might find in some of the Ethiopias on the list might not be exactly what you’re looking for, so be sure to read the notes and look at the charts!