Diedrich IR-5 Analysis by Chris Kornman
This is the fruitiest honey process coffee I’ve come across in a while, and while I’m usually trying to lean into those fruit notes I wondered, if for this roast, I could try and highlight a little more of its floral characteristics. My other primary concern as I began roasting this was the amount of momentum that very quickly built up. This coffee does not need a heavy-handed approach to heat application, it will brown quickly and maintain a high rate of rise if you’re not careful.
I promise I wasn’t trying to be dramatic with this one, but maybe the 450F charge temperature was just a little too much for these beans. I just wanted a brisk roast, nothing too crazy. I even started with a partially open airflow to prevent an overly hot drum.
At 5lbs in a 11lb capacity roaster, I just nudged it a little with 70% burner power from the turning point to about color change (around 320F and just before 5:00). Our minimum burner setting is about 30% gas power, which is where I stayed for the rest of the roast. I also opened the airflow fully to 100%.
The exhaust temperature coasted at 400F, not an especially high temperature, and the low burner and high airflow setting helped to drag the ROR down to about 15F/minute by about 7 minutes, around 370F. One more minute with a steady ROR and first crack began, with the bean temp showing no initial signs of slowing and quickly surpassing the exhaust temperature.
I kept a hand on the tryer and allowed a little air in starting at about 9 minutes, when the ROR began to finally dip below double digits. At 1:33 of development, about 16% of total roasting time and a final time of 9:40 I dropped the batch. It was still popping in the cooling tray but I could tell that the high end temperature had taken the roast level just beyond my intended target, nearly 56 on the Colortrack (ground) this was a bit more caramelized than intended.
The coffee cupped well, great in fact. There were plenty of fruit flavors and some nice floral characteristics – I tasted ripe summer melon and sweet basil, Isabella noted lavender and crème fraîche. But I couldn’t help thinking about what might’ve been if I’d slowed development a little. Given another opportunity, I might use a slightly lower charge temperature, but I’d really focus on those last 90 seconds, trying to get the rate of rise down below 10F/min around the time first crack starts.
But that’s a pretty insignificant detail. The coffee is great, and you’ll find more than enough character without fussing too much over the perfect roast. It’s by far one of the most flavorful honey process coffees we’ve imported and that’s exactly why it’s on the Crown Jewel menu. Happy roasting!
