Kona Koa

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Kona Koa

Postby mnemonix » Tue Nov 25, 2003 9:50 am

Maybe it's just me, but I don't really get anything other than quite a nice smooth cup of coffee from it, nothing special as opposed to say the Yemen Mokha Haimi I'm enjoying at the moment. Am I missing something ? Any roasting tips ? I've been keeping it quite light so far but giving it 2 or 3 days rest, maybe I'll try a longer roast next time.
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Postby phil » Tue Nov 25, 2003 11:27 am

Keep it light for sure, certainly well away from second crack. I've not tried this particular bean, but my experiences with Smithfarms Kona and Kowali Blue Mountain tell me go light and then rest up to five days.

That said, don't go too light. I made that mistake with one batch of KBM and had to bin it, which was a crying shame.

I'm developing a strong interest in the effects of profile on flavour development before second crack. You may have seen my discussion about this topic with Jim Schulman on the SM list Chris. I did two batches of Smithfarms Kona this weekend to test the idea out. One was a default Hottop profile to just a tad before second, and the other was my current experimental profile where I shorten the time to 1st and extend the time to second, again taken to just a bit before second.

I'll let you know the results when I've done some tasting. That said, the results for the extended profile batch may not be significant if they're bad as the cooling went wrong - the cooling tray stirring motor on my Hottop failed and I had to shovel a pile of hot beans into a colander and toss them around until they cooled. Cooling was not as rapid as usual and this may affect the flavour. We'll have to see.

Let us know how you get on with tasting the Koa after longer rests Chris.

Cheers

Phil
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Postby mnemonix » Tue Nov 25, 2003 12:07 pm

sorry to hear about the hottop failure, is it fixable ?

jim's got some interesting ideas re roasting profiles and i'm following his threads closely.

i think my last kona roast was too fast and a tad light. i'll be trying again soon. why the especially long rest i wonder ? (i do prefer at least 48+ hours rest on all my roasts anyway)

chris
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Postby phil » Tue Nov 25, 2003 12:20 pm

Re the Hottop, yes a replacement motor is winging it's way from Taiwan as we speak. Of course the failure is unfortunate but Hottop's prompt and very helpful response speaks bucketfuls about them as a company (I'm an undisguised fan of theirs and their roaster).

If you read what Kona Mike writes he tends to go for long rests on his Konas too. I can't pretend to understand the maturation process that's going on with some of these lighter roasts but it's undoubtedly there. Eeffoc for example reports "knock your socks off cinammon" (I'm quoting) in the finish of the Smithfarms Kona after five days.
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Postby Steve » Tue Nov 25, 2003 9:02 pm

its deffinatly a rester! The kona as phil says is best after 5 days or so. Light Light Light as phil also says. I'll be quite now :)
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Postby michel » Tue Nov 25, 2003 10:33 pm

You guys speak of resting the beans... and for the first time in my 'perfect-coffee-quest' I believe there is something true about resting the coffee, as the beans I've blended at the moment are out of balance (towards the sour/citrus taste...) too much... (and I am just hoping it wil stabalise...).
Normally I rest the beans for only 12 hours (which is means resting to the next morning...) I turn the grind a lot courser, fill the portafiller-basket and pull a shot that is not balanced at all, but fascinating fresh... adventurous, exciting, tastefull aso... In fact most of my roasted coffee does not survive two or three days... (turning the grind finer every 6 hours...)
But now I have some beans blended (Kenya, Cuba, Panama, Sumatra, Harrar and a little Brasil) which is sour for two day's already... and I'm noticing small bitters ariving, while the citrus is fading a way... bit by bit...
So resting may have a point!
thanks,
Michel
(who will try to rest the beans for 5 days... or more... if necesarry... while roasting other badges for consumption 'right way...')
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