rest time for sample roasting

[lovethatcoffee]

I have seen many videos on how roasters pull 2-3 triers of beans as they go through a roast to find the best temps for a new batch of beans. My question is: If letting beans rest 2-4 days lets best flavors come out, will that translate from cupping the beans shortly after they are pulled from the roaster? Or, do most people pull enough to sample 3 days later from each temp, as well? thx!

 

[JumpinJakJava]

I have found that too hard for me. My trier is so small. Maybe it holds an ounce, not much more.
The barrel tabletop samplers are awesome for the best cupping results(pricey though,wish I had one!),
they are made for cupping. So I will roast 1lb., let it rest at least 48-72 hrs. and get my results.
I personally will not cup before 24hrs. I have a couple of different tabletop air roasters, but find
my results differ too much from the drum gas roaster. There are many varied opinions on roasting
and time before cupping, that said, this is just my opinion. Works for me.

 

[lovethatcoffee]

So you roast small batches to particular temps, drop each batch and sample at 48-72 hours? That makes sense. I questioned cupping immediately after roasting. How many different profiles will you roast before settling on the right one?

 

[peterjschmidt]

Pro cuppers claim they can extrapolate what flavors will emerge after resting when they cup it soon after roasting. I don't buy that, as I've seen too many coffees that were so-so even after a day or two of rest that really shone at day 4 or 5.

I also realize that pro cuppers are not always cupping for writing a review of a given coffee with flavor notes, etc, but are looking for defects and giving a pass/fail grade.

To your question, in an ideal world you would be able to pull sufficiently-sized samples out of a batch every ~5*, let them rest 'til their ideal rest time, and decide which is best. But even that would be assuming that the profile up until the point where you're pulling samples was ideal. There's a lot that goes into it. I'm not that anal about all of it, so my caution is to not overthink it. I like to think my profiles and roasting produce great coffees; could they be better? Yes, of course. But I'm not going to make myself crazy chasing after that last 2% of excellence.

 

[chast]

well said Peter! I found way back that by allowing my blend to sit 5 days before grinding brought out its best! Like yourself, I am not going to beat myself and try for that little bit more of excellence! My customers love it and that is all that counts!

 

[lovethatcoffee]

Thats very helpful! When you guys get a new bean in, how much time (how many different profiles) do you typically try before settling on a profile?

 

[peterjschmidt]

Thats very helpful! When you guys get a new bean in, how much time (how many different profiles) do you typically try before settling on a profile?

For me, because I have a good 6 or 7 profiles and maybe 25 coffees on hand that all use those profiles, when I get a new coffee it will almost always do well with an established profile. For example, a Guat from this year will fit the profile from last year; a CR can use the Guat profile with an extra few degrees before being dumped; a Rwanda will work with a Bolivian profile.

So for you it might depend on whether or not you have worked with some decent profiles already.

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm very satisfied with the beans coming out of my roaster, as are my customers. That, and I'm just not as intent on making my life more difficult to wring out that last 1% of greatness out of a coffee.

 

[Redswing]

lovethatcoffee: I bet I missed this, but what kind of roaster do you have? On my little 6 lb roaster, my trier is too small to pull samples on, but I have found that I can open the door to dump out a portion of the beans and then get it shut again, repeating every 5-10 degrees or so. That gives me a basic taste of the roast spectrum, guiding me towards the drop temp I like the most. I taste that spectrum within the next few days, when I can get to it. From that idea of my desired drop temp, I continually reconsider each batch and find my way to a desired profile at that drop temp...though I am not too set on hitting it right on the money each time.

I must say, (crucify me here, fellow roasters), that I am coming to believe that my job in the process is least important...though still very important. I believe 1)the quality of the green bean and 2)the baristas work are more critical. Obviously anybody in the chain can ruin the final product, but for now, my hunch is that if I follow certain principles for different bean types (ie, dense bean/washed process, drip brew intended coffee = drop at 400 degrees drum temp, 300 degrees at 4:00, first crack at ~8:00, finish around 11:30), the potential of the green bean has a good chance of making it into the cup if the barista is doing his/her job.
I wish I had something different to say, but I too don't lose any sleep over subtle changes brought by tomfoolery* behind the controls of the roaster.

*:lol:

 

[PinkRose]

A barista, no matter how good he or she is, can't work magic to compensate for a poorly roasted coffee.

The barista has lots of people (and factors) to blame in the whole process, if the coffee comes out lousy in the cup. (the roaster in particular).

There are so many factors involved. Each one is very important, and each person needs to do some good quality control every step along the way.

Rose

 

[Redswing]

Rosie, don't you know that isn't what i was saying??

 

[peterjschmidt]

Is it Rosey? Or Rosie?

 

[PinkRose]

Is it Rosey? Or Rosie?

No need to wonder about the spelling - It's Rose

 

[slurp]

The SCAA cupping protocols are in the link below. It is the industry standard for cupping. Rose is correct there are many many things that can change the taste of coffee from green to the customers mouth including roasting, storage, bean age, bring, brewing. All the things that can change the coffee taste and aroma have about 100 sub categories.

Since the OP was about rest time for cupping here is the standard. I personally have my beans rest 24 - 48 hours the latter is better.

http://www.scaa.org/?page=resources&d=cupping-protocols

 

[topher]

I was talking to a company many years ago about a job. They told me that I would have to cup every batch that came out right as it is cooled..while the next batch was roasting. I asked how many batches a day were they roasting. He said more than 20. This is what cracks me up. Companies that just go through the motion. I personally wait 24 hours to cup...and after 3 or 4 cuppings my palate is shot.

 

[ensoluna]

when you want to do it really properly, they want to rest the beans about one day and cup.
When I send coffee bean samples to overseas customers, normally we send 250 grams of Parchment coffee. Then, customer peels them and roast and rest for one day and report back to me.

however, in many cases working for a company as a cupper, they do roast and grind and cup immediately. My Avatar was from ASDECAFE in Huehuetenango. Noe Quintaro was cupper and we did 10 coffee sample cupping in 5 hours, starting from peeling the parchment.

also, Hector Gonzalez (one of our partner and cupping director for Olam in Guatemala city), he always does them 10 to 15 a day.

For some of really experienced Cup tasters, they told me that it does not matter so much about resting time.