Absolutely ripping! That was the first thing I read when checking the notes on the sensory analysis of this roast. Kenya Ichamama has its fans here at the Crown, and this coffee did not disappoint them this year. For the rest of the sensory analysis, I experienced tasting notes like apple pie, ruby red grapefruit, Sungold tomato, tart grape, and tart peach. This year Ichamama came through incredibly clean and very sweet. Here I explain what I did on my Diedrich roast.
As in past years this coffee has featured a similar density, just a bit on the lower end of the high side, with average moisture and slightly larger bean size. However, my decision this year was based on the taste I got from the sample. With extremely complex savory notes and subtle sweetness, I decided to slow the drying phase to bring out the coffee’s character. Typically, I go fast during drying for Kenyan coffees, but for this one I aimed for over 4 minutes using the air only on the yellowing phase.
This led me to use a starting charge of 445F. From there, I left the coffee guide my subsequent gas inputs. Just before the turning point, I started the 100% gas as I didn’t want to slow the roast too much, but enough to stretch the drying phase. The second and last gas adjustment were made at 317F, reducing the gas to 30%.
For airflow, I started at 341F with the 50% and increased to 100% at 366F, lasting through the yellowing phase two minutes and 10 seconds, and starting crack at 378F. I waited 1 minute and 25 seconds for development and dropped the coffee at 398.4F
The end result of this roast was an excellent success. I know there's some fans of Kenyan coffee in our crew, and their reaction exceeded my expectations. This coffee is going directly to the crown menu. I faced the challenge of moving the profile to a different roaster, which I have already done. I must say, this time did not end perfectly, I went fast on the drying, ending up stretching yellowing, which reduced some of the complexity of the tart acidity, However, I will look for it on the next roast.
