Diedrich IR-5 Analysis by Doris Garrido
After some discussion about the roasting of Gesha cultivars, I agree that before anything else this cultivar must be approached carefully - period. Of course, what you look for is the coffee to bless you with its florals, and that is what I did in this roast. This coffee has an excellent fermentation process that can be noticed in the aromatics on the green. This is the second Gesha this month, and I used a similar approach to last week but on a different machine and with a different batch size.
I started the roast at 403F, applying 70% gas from the beginning and 50% airflow. At the turning point I raised the gas to 100%. After three minutes and still in the drying phase, I started lowering the gas first to 70% and a little after to 30%. That helped me to bend the curve during yellowing, slow the pace, and finally get to first crack at 9:31. After 30 seconds in development, I noticed the rate of change wanting to rise and I dropped the pilot, leaving the roast with enough energy to finish the roast. After first crack I added 100% airflow. I do this at the first crack usually, but this time I forgot, and ended up doing it a little later, not the best practice with a delicate coffee like this.
Fortunately, the final cup was just clean. This is a co-fermented coffee, and with the excellent fermentation skills of Edwin Noreña, there's no doubt of his impeccable work. Regardless of preference for coffee, this is a coffee worth tasting. It is impossible not to notice the perfumed lilac aroma, and the rosewater in the taste. With the explosion of dry berries and candy sweetness its complexity is just impressive.
