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Roasting Fundamentals
MARCH 29, 2020— SCOTT RAO
ROAST TIME
There is no one “correct” duration for a roast. However, depending
on your machine, gas pressure, and batch size, there is a
reasonable range of roast times. For example, one can’t say “an
eight-minute roast is too fast” without knowing the context. Eight
minutes is not too fast when roasting 3kg in a Probat P12, but
definitely too fast when roasting 12kg in a P12. It’s all in the
context.
ROAST COLOR
I’ve never told a client how light or dark to roast: to me, that is a
personal and business decision. While I’d love to see most roasters
roast lighter, and while I personally choose to roast and consume
extremely light roasts, light roasting can be a poor business
decision for many. I also believe roasters should roast only as light
as they have the skill to do successfully; if you often underdevelop
coffee, then I recommend roasting a little darker until you have
figured out a system to improve development of lighter roasts.
THE BEST ROASTING MACHINES
Having a reasonably good probe (2.5mm—3mm diameter,
ungrounded is my preference) in a good location, using Cropster
or Artisan, and learning to read curves is critical. Prior to data-
logging software, specialty roasters as a group made little progress
for decades. After data logging became popular, roasters’ learning
curves went vertical. Please do not assume that your machine’s
manufacturer has set you up for proper data collection. If they are
not offering a 3mm (ish) probe and an ET probe, both well located,
at the least, please talk to them about it. I find many manufacturers
to not be very interested in data collection and presentation, but
customer demand for better data collection has altered their
decisions significantly over the past five years.
BAKED ROASTS
It’s taken years, but I’ve won over many roasters to the
understanding that baked roasts are caused by hard ROR crashes,
not by slow roasting. Some roasters intentionally bake coffee to
decrease acidity, though I recommend other methods to
accomplish that. Baked coffee is generally less sweet, more hollow-
seeming, and often has hints of straw and flatter acidity.
DTR
SMOOTH RORS
I’ve saved the most important issue for last: First, please trust that
99% of roasters’ RORs are not smooth enough to eliminate all roast
defects. I know this because for some reason people ping me
weekly on Instagram showing me their “smooth” curves, but less
than 1% of those curves have in fact been smooth. (PS Please don’t
DM me on IG with your curves, my inbox is a disaster :0. Thanks.)