Loring S15 Falcon Analysis by Doris Garrido
Besides the cool name, we received one of the first batches of these Supernatural coffees just in time for us to show at Expo this past April, and it ended up being the most popular coffee at the traders' booth. Royal selected a few lots from Banko Chelchele, and this particular lot was chosen for our Crown Jewel program.
There’s a lot to say about this coffee. Yes, it’s super delicious, super fruity, and super sweet, highly recommended! But let’s focus on the roasting.
This coffee loves to fly.
Starting from the beginning of the roast, I wasn't timid with the charge temperature. I pushed the drying phase because my main goal is always to reach Maillard as soon as possible, then find the sweet spot to start stepping down the power... That is basically how I love to approach Ethiopian coffees.
For the couple of roast I’m sharing here, I used the Loring Falcon S15 with an 18 lb batch size (about 50% capacity).
The drying and yellowing phases went exactly as planned. The coffee took the heat remarkably well as it reached Maillard, changed color, and rode right through yellowing. I made an early power drop first at 320°F and then another at 340°F, settling the gas at 70%, which kept the yellowing phase right on track.
Now, this is where the party started, right as we approached first crack and post-development.
For this part of the roast, watching the numbers closely became crucial. It took me a couple of attempts to dial in the exact profile I was looking for. This coffee will be served as espresso here at The Crown, so I wanted to tweak the roast specifically for that format. It’s not that I roast exclusively for espresso; our green selections are already special as they are, and our goal is simply to highlight that inherent quality, but espresso accentuates every detail of the roast, so I needed a super clean finish.
As I mentioned, this supernatural coffee flies, and it flies high, so you have to be careful. Leading up to the first crack on my first roast, I saw the RoR spike coming, but I didn't take it seriously enough. I regretted that! The rate of change jumped first at 385°F, then again at 395°F, and my bean temperature started soaring. I cut all power as fast as I could, but I couldn't stop the momentum. I ended development at 1:14 with a finish temperature of 419°F. I was sweating. This wasn't what I wanted.
I cupped that first roast immediately, it was tasty: sweet, fruity, with lots of berries, but it had a grainy finish. Not quite toasty, but right on the line. It was okay, but this coffee deserved more than "just okay" roast. I asked my coworkers to taste it with me, and we agreed I should try again.
I set the Loring up for a second roast. Same start, same drying phase, but this time I caught the RoR bumps earlier to drop the power ahead of time. It worked better, allowing me to drop the finish temperature by a few degrees. When we cupped it again, the difference was noticeable, a much cleaner finish. The roast was good, but I knew it could be even better.
My third roast was the winner. Learning from the previous runs, I caught the exact moments the RoR started to bump and didn't hesitate to cut the power. I made earlier drops at 365°F, followed by a few more adjustments right before the first crack that brought the gas down to 30%, before cutting power completely at 408°F. I developed the coffee just a touch longer and dropped the batch at 413°F.
Even with a relatively high end-temperature, the notes on the cupping table were absolute magic:
Floral, jasmine, baklava, rose jam, cream cheese, tamarind, hibiscus, blackberry, pomegranate. An overly sweet coffee, intensely fruity, with a buttery, silky texture, creamy body, and tangy acidity
An overall excellent Supernatural coffee. There's no doubt this coffee will be a favorite at bar: sweet, silky, fruity, and velvety. Highly recommended! Just be careful, this Supernatural flies, on the roaster and off the shelves.
