Diedrich IR-5 Analysis by Doris Garrido
If we ask around about the flavor profile of Kenyan coffees, we will discover some specific notes like savory, zesty, and winey. But Kenya has more, like this triple washed coffee from the region of Muranga Gondo that came with a colorful pallete of tasting notes. The first thing that catches my eye as I am looking into the Croptser notes is PEACH! In capital letters and the exclamation mark. Cupped an hour after roasting this coffee was super buttery with a great mouthfeel, among many other notes that I will share later.
My roast was based on the numbers I got from green grading. The uniform size of the beans fell mostly between 18 and 19 screen size. In other words, that means an even roast. Then the moisture and density being in the average range let me know to take it easy with the option of stretching the Maillard phase. Usually, the density on Kenyan will come in high which makes the roasting process tricky as all the power is needed from the beginning, but in this case, I can start gently and stretch the yellowing using that 11% moisture to bring the delicate acidity, and getting sugars to bring the complex sweetness of a peach.
I roasted this coffee on a 5 kilo Diedrich, as a 5.5lb batch, using 50% of the roaster’s capacity, and started with a drum temperature of 439°F and 50% airflow at charge. I worked the air from the beginning to the end of the roast, pushing 100% when the coffee started cracking at 7:18 minutes.
I began with 100% gas, ran it for 3 minutes and then dropped it to 60%. Then I marked the color change at 303°F and lowered the gas again to 30%. I got 3:01 minutes of Maillard when the coffee started cracking. Other than adding the air, I did nothing more that watch the rate of change dropping consistently being able to finalize the roast within 1:29 minutes of post-crack development and a drop temperature of 392.8°F.
Due to the Q course that was happening at the Crown that week, we needed to gather at the roasting lab and cup just an hour after I finished the roast. Since the coffee was that fresh I was a little hesitant, as with days of rest the coffee had a chance to open and show a better taste -- but this coffee surprised me. Here are the notes from all cuppers: Apricot, a bit of passion fruit, fresh tart strawberry, kiwi, lemon juice, oranges, peaches, tea peaches, rose wine, sweetened cranberry, butterscotch, butter, hard candy, caramel, and overall, exceptionally clean.
A rich and complex cup of coffee, with a silky body. Adding the air from the beginning to the end I believe worked simply great.
