Understanding this Ethiopia offering is an anaerobic natural process I wanted to capture the up-front acidity and notes of watermelon, pineapple, and blueberry that I tasted on the cupping table from the sample roasts of this coffee. I planned to use gentle heat application as to not distort any of the fruit and sweetness notes that were presented in the cup. I did not want to risk muting the complexity of flavors this coffee has to offer or run the risk of losing development time because of too much momentum. I roasted a 7lb batch on a five kilo Diedrich IR-5.
I charged using 50% heat and applied 75% 1:03 into the roast which resulted in a 1:24 turning point. At 4:30 into the roast I adjusted the Airflow to 50%. Getting closer to 5:00 duration I had momentum and reduced the heat application to 50%. I wanted to make sure the coffee had sufficient time in the drying phase of the roast as I approached color change at 5:12 of duration.
This coffee took on color extremely fast and sensing this coffee may have the tendency to take off and run I reduced my heat as to not have an aggressive first crack preserving the vibrant acidity this coffee has to offer. This adjustment paid off when I approached first crack at 9:34 duration although coming up a little later than initially expected. Aromas of pineapple, blueberry and cinnamon were present. I maintained a steady rate of rise while achieving 2:36 of development time or 21.4 % development time ratio with a duration of 12:10.
