Starter Greens

[josh_robb]

Simple question - probably a complicated answer (as with most coffee things).

Which greens should I be looking to get my hands on for a first roast? (Probably in a popper - although - I'm not definite about that).

I'm drinking a lot of Monsooned Malabar because it makes nice espresso like I used to drink every day in Italy. I understand this is not a 'beginners' been so I'm looking for suggestions.

Whats easy to roast.

Thanks,

j.

[tisri]

Monsoon Malabar isn't difficult to roast - you put the beans in the roaster and heat them, just like any other bean. It's strange because second crack starts before first crack finishes - personally I'd say it's a bean that needs to be roasted until second crack is going crazy.

My first roast in my (then) new Hottop was Ethiopian Mocha. Truth be told most beans you can get from mainstream sources will be relatively straightforward to roast, you just need to decide how dark you want to roast them.

[ivdp]

Try to get somewhere a "starter pack", thus you can get acqainted with different types of coffee. After tasting several types/countries, you can make up your mind in which direction to go.

Ivo

[simonp]

I'm sure one of our resident suppliers does a starter pack, and could certainly offer advice on a beginners selection. Give Steve a call, he'll give you good advice.

[josh_robb]

I saw a starter pack on the hasbeen site:

£293.95 for 6 different types of green coffee.

but it comes with a free Alpenroast. I wonder if they'll do a discount if you tell them they can keep the Alpenroast? I'll call them tomorrow. Has anyone seen any starter packs anywhere else? (I had a quick scan of H&V and monmouth but didn't see much).

[alans]

I'd go for a 2kg bag of something fairly standard as well though (steer clear of blends, perhaps a Brazil Cerrado), you need a reference bean that you wont mind throwing out a few roasts of. Also you can roast much lighter and much darker than you think you like with this reference bean and see how the tastes change.

I found I didn't really have a clue what fresh coffee tasted like and most of what I thought I liked was just the strong flavors that last longest in coffee that's gone stale.

[wang]

I'm not sure either on the specific greens but I agree with alan on not being too particular about the first few roasts - make sure you go through the different variables and don't be afraid to junk the first half to a full kilo or so in order to get accustomed to not only the roast process but your machine's behaviour.

Do not start on expensive or blended stuff right away, just make sure it's from a decent supplier and a normal origin, say kenyan or columbian - it took me quite a few before I started getting things tasting decent, and for the love of god and all that is holy make sure the coffee is 'rested' for a day or so.

You can emulate this by grinding and then leaving it in a bowl for about 7 minutes so it'll rest extra quickly as it has increased surface area, but I'd say some people would object thoroughly with that. It'll develop its tastes after the aforementioned resting and the CO2 bloom won't be as bad as with 'just roasted coffee. The first 24 hours are the worst

[josh_robb]

It's interesting this whole resting business.

Matt roasted me some beens in his popper when I was up north last year. We stuck em in a screwtop glass jar and I carried them back with me. There was a definate pop when I took the top of the jar back in london 3 days later. The interesting bit was that about 3 days after that (around 6 days total) the beens tasted best.

Did depriving them of oxygen etc slow down the resting process?

[wang]

I'm guessing so, seeing as most attempts at prolonging the lifespan of roasted coffee involve displacing the oxygen with something else. I think it's the same reaction as staling with oxygen, but the coffee peaks a while after the actual roast is done before slowly degrading off into staleness so that's where the idea of grinding and letting it sit for a few minutes comes from.