Mil Cumbres Gesha Natural Roast Comparison

Going into this first profile roast, we had a few goals in mind:
1. To allow adequate flavour development without imparting too much "brown" flavours.
2. Arrive at a "light" roast colour to ensure we don't roast away the characteristics of the variety.

We weren't too concerned with the acidity as it was a natural processed coffee without any excessive fermentation, hence it would typically display more sweetness than acidity.

For the Drying phase, we were aiming for 4 minutes which we predicted would give us a smooth and round acidity.

For the Maillard/Flavour Development phase, we aimed for 3 minutes as the beans were medium to large in size, which required more time/energy to develop the coffee's flavours.

For the 1st Crack Development phase, we were keen not to go above 50 seconds as well as a delta (temperature rise) of 5°C/min, simply to ensure sufficient breakdown of aggressive acidity and maintain florality of the variety.

Here are the roast details of Roast 1:
Dry End: 04m 07s
Maillard: 03m 29s
1st Crack Development: 0m 45s
Weight Loss: 11.71%
Roast Colour: 114 Lighttells

With all these details in hand, we needed to cup to taste our endeavour.

Our findings:
While the sweetness presents to be fruity, the flavours came up baked and hollow and it was lacking in body to support its mouthfeel.

Truth to be told, we felt a little let down with what we tasted after our first cupping. For the second profile, we were very clear on our objectives:
1. To improve the quality of the acidity, to a lively vibrant character.
2. Achieve a more thorough flavour development, with more energy in the middle phase.
3. A larger delta after 1st Crack, for a slightly darker colour.

Here are the roast details of Roast 2:
Dry End: 04m 00s
Maillard: 03m 09s
1st Crack Development: 0m 55s
Weight Loss: 12.01%
Roast Colour: 112.5 Lighttells

We achieved our roast objectives and were much happier with how the coffee tasted. This coffee taught us a couple of valuable lessons, such as managing our expectations for a new coffee/farm/process as well as putting aside our emotions to clearly focus on the details that needed improving.

We hope through this post, you'd be able to enjoy not just the experience of a tasty coffee, but also acknowledge the unsuccessful endeavours and appreciate the journey along with us!