What is the Ideal Size of a Coffee Roaster, Can You Save Past Crop Coffee, Drum Speed, Mimicking Espresso and more ...

 

In this podcast, we will revisit the question of what is the ideal size of the roaster one should buy for their coffee roasting startup. You can find my old article here:

https://coffeecourses.com/buying-a-coffee-roaster-here-are-few-considerations-so-you-do-not-get-burned/

We also got a few questions from you! Thanks! We feel your questions make this podcast more dynamic. Keep them coming, please.

1

Love the podcast!

I have a question about adjusting a roasting profile as a coffee ages. We’ve had a few coffees that started out wonderful and juicy, but as the enter or near the ‘past crop’ zone start to taste woody, papery, or sometimes underdeveloped, any advice on how to adjust our profiles? 

thanks

Matt, Matthew Schodorf

Founder / Roaster / Café de Leche

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2

I do have a question, and I shall take your roasting courses if you give the answer that cures the issue we are facing.

We do roast green coffee beans from China and from Indonesia, of course, each single source is roasted separately. We do not roast blended green beans.

The issue we face is that we always get color inconsistency in the roasted coffee within one batch (uneven coffee color for the same roasted batch).

Our roaster is 3 kg (max load for each batch is 2.500 kg of green beans). 

We pre-heat up to 150 Celsius some times 170 Celsius (experimenting).

This is always the case with Medium Dark roast (we drop down the roasted batch immediately after quietness of 1st crack), and not with the dark roast

Your help in this is highly appreciated.

Best regards

Samir H Yousef

3

Hi, this is Candy from Southeastern Roastery. I’m opening a cafe this fall 2019 in Riverdale Park, MD and already have a few wholesale clients with more interested.

I am running into an issue regularly where potential clients want a tasting, have equipment but don’t have it connected (espresso machines, grinders, etc). My first question is what are the best portable equipment for tastings as I’m getting my shop built out? 

My second question is how to best mimic and espresso with portable equipment? I find it hard with a French Press, water hot pot and portable grinder.

Thanks,

Candy Schibli

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4

1. If I wanted to donate a portion of my coffee business profits to coffee producers in need, how would I do it?
2. Seasonality: I need a guide to determining when I should buy a certain country's coffee. I want to buy at the beginning or middle of the season & not at the end

Dan Gorman, Punto Fino Coffee,  Fairfax 

5

When is the best time to adjust drum speed? Drying phase Maillard, after first crack? I’ve read what Scott Rao has to say about rpm for specific roasters depending on the roaster size and would agree with him for the most part. What I can’t seem to understand is at what point do you adjust drum speed when trying to create the best curve/profile for a specialty coffee?!

Too slow will cause more conduction heat and scorched coffee

Appropriate speed will give you a good well-rounded coffee if the roaster is skilled enough.

Too fast will also give you scorched coffee since beans aren’t flowing in the drum properly

I’m trying to think outside the box and figure out how to manipulate drum speed to create an outstanding cup of coffee. I understand there are many factors involved such as atmospheric pressure, ambient temperature, humidity.. etc but I truly believe there has to be a way to slow down Maillard with drum speed to fully develops sugars and achieve a better end result.. questions is how?

Rudy Altamirano, LuwakCafe, Tijuana Mexico