Too Much Coffee

what should i do with some 250g limoncillo that have been accidentally dumped before 1st crack... some of the beans even have a bit of a greenish tint to them...
(teaches me to no listen to old vinyl records through headphones while the hottop is urgently beeping for my attention...)

i guess the only solution there is the rubbish bin, right? or keeping it for the next visit of the in-laws?

This has been discussed quite often. Some say bin them and forget them. I say, why not try re-roasting them. I have done it a number of times and the results, while not perfect, have been perfectly drinkable. You have nothing to lose really. Just pop them in the roaster and take them through 1st crack and then watch them carefully. The generally react quite normally, but of course take somewhat less time than normal. If you try it let us know what you think.

done - 1st crack happened ver yearly (under 190C) and slowly stretched quit a while. 2nd started a bit early too (about 203C). dropped them then. they look very nice. don't think that i ever saw such an even looking roast coming out of my hottop.
they have until monday now to rest a bit, i'll report back then.

dankeschoen bruce

icke wrote:done - 1st crack happened ver yearly (under 190C) and slowly stretched quit a while. 2nd started a bit early too (about 203C). dropped them then. they look very nice. don't think that i ever saw such an even looking roast coming out of my hottop.
they have until monday now to rest a bit, i'll report back then.

dankeschoen bruce

Perhaps it may start a new trend for pre-roasting if it turns out well!
I think it would be a shame to have dumped the beans, I look forward to hearing how they turn out.
When I am roasting it is always somewhere at the back of my mind that the Behmor might decide to end early and I wonder what I might do.

well, i don't think that i'll start a new double roasting trend here . i just had a shot of my double-roasted limoncillo and as bruce said, it's drinkable. but it's not comparable to what the limoncillo usually tastes like. it seems to be less sweet and fruity. instead i find some slightly harsh tones (bitterness). but it's not undrinkable and possible would be totally unnoticeable in a milk based drink. will see if the missus spots the mishap it in her americanos...

I believe double roasting can be used to remove/reduce off-tastes in sub-specialty coffee. The same 'less-everything' naturally applies to the undesirable parts of the flavour/aroma as well. I know a few long-established roasteries that are doing this, but I do not believe they're aware that better coffee would be better roasted just once

I'd love to be taught better since I've developed quite a strong prejudice around double roasting in the past ...

I feel a bit responsible for this because I have related a number of adventures in which I "rescued" beans that had been prematurely dumped. This is an emergency procedure, not a suggestion for standard operations. I said from the beginning that I only use this to rescue roasts gone wrong. My idea is that you might wind up with a drinkable batch of coffee and if not you can still bin it after the second roast, in other words, you have nothing to lose. I see no advantage whatsoever to double roasting under any other conditions.

There is a company out there with a patented triple roast...

I think morbid curiosity best describes my feelings there....

Have you sampled it Jim?

Jim's mad, but not that mad.

i participated in a sensory training exercise where one of the samples was a double roast. We cupped it blind, and it cupped up a lot better than the "baked" and the "fast" roasts.

I think there are definitely common practises that produce a worse flavour than the double roast.

Jasonscheltus wrote:i participated in a sensory training exercise where one of the samples was a double roast. We cupped it blind, and it cupped up a lot better than the "baked" and the "fast" roasts.

I think there are definitely common practises that produce a worse flavour than the double roast.

That's interesting Jason, thanks for sharing that. I defend this practice as an emergency measure because some years ago my "automatic" roaster decided it was time to dump the beans just before they entered first crack. Since they were beans from Molokai, Hawaii, brought back by a friend who paid big money for them I couldn't bear to just bin them, so I let them cool down and then reroasted them. I guess it was just evidence that you couldn't ruin great beans because they were some of the best I had ever tasted.

I know many will say NO.
Bruce will probably reiterate that he only re-roasted as a last resort instead of dumping half roasted beans.
I'm still going to give it a go on my next roast,,,, just to try it!