# First Roast & Cup



## Guy Levine (Aug 20, 2019)

After seasoning my Bullet I have just completed my first roast - a Rwanda Hayu Mountain. I waited 24 hours for my first cup - Cant say I was blown away. I don't know if this was because It is only 24 hours?

I didn't do any comparisons, so it was more of a first taste, one cup with a cupping protocol.

The biggest thing I got from it was each slurp left my mouth quite dry and there was a bitter aftertaste. Acidity came as it cooled. How do i now start looking into my Roast Curve to fix this? Should I have tasted with another coffee to get some context?

I plan to taste more as the days go on.

When i first sniffed the grind there was a bit of smoke there so for example on that bit i feel i should give more fan next time?

The end use of this coffee will be espresso.

Thanks!


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## cengland117 (Apr 11, 2020)

Hi, do you have any photos of the beans?


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## Guy Levine (Aug 20, 2019)

Hi - yes, here are the beans. I did a seasoning roast before, lets all the beans come out, but then in my finished beans at the end there were about 5g or black charred beans - i picked them all out.


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## cengland117 (Apr 11, 2020)

I didn't see your second photo initially. Which is a shame because diagnosis would have been a lot easier based on the charcoal in photo one!

I have no experience of the Bullet so I will be of limited help. Hopefully someone with one will chime in. Is this your first ever roast or just your first with the Bullet? I would always try and cup with a few coffees at a time because it can be tricky to analyse a roast taste wise without points of reference. By way of example, if you cupped your roast next to a clearly dark roasted bean you may decide that your roast isn't so bitter after all! Of course, this may become less of an issue with a very experienced palate.

Your roast doesn't look to shabby to my eye. Not clearly taken too far anyway. To rule out the obvious, I assume you were strict with your cupping technique and didn't leave it brewing for too long which would easily lead to unwanted bitterness?

Finally, what were you expecting from that particular bean? The natural qualities will to an extent dictate your roast profile.


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## Guy Levine (Aug 20, 2019)

Thanks for your help - this is my 6th ever roast - the first 5 were to charcoal to season the drum. This was my first drinker 

I ground 12g coffee to 200g water - let it sit for 4 mins, broke the crust and let it sit for 10 mins to cool down before i slurped.

The importer gave these notes

85.75 Tea like Cherry liquor and tropical fruits with a heavy dark chocolate and cream body. Floral with Orange, almond and a milk chocolate body.

So could possibly be the dark chocolate / cherry bitterness doesn't sound like a lot of acid in the notes.

Thanks for your feedback!


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## Beeroclock (Aug 10, 2015)

Hi Guy

you have a post FC crash and subsequent flick - which will most likely introduce the roasty notes. It also looks like you're trying to control the roast with air at the end on heat, I would suggest making your final air adjustment before FC and using the heat to control the roast. I do sometimes increase airflow once FC is truly underway, but only really right at the end of the roast to help clear any chaff and smoke.


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## Guy Levine (Aug 20, 2019)

Beeroclock said:


> Hi Guy
> 
> you have a post FC crash and subsequent flick - which will most likely introduce the roasty notes. It also looks like you're trying to control the roast with air at the end on heat, I would suggest making your final air adjustment before FC and using the heat to control the roast. I do sometimes increase airflow once FC is truly underway, but only really right at the end of the roast to help clear any chaff and smoke.


 Thanks for the insight - just to be clear, there was not a lot of management going on, a lot of button pressing and a lot of crossing the fingers  Through all my reading though, you just have to start, try not to set the beans on fire, which is a win, and refine from there. No one gives a straight answer on what to do anyway!


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## Beeroclock (Aug 10, 2015)

There are no short cuts - honestly, you have to learn yourself which inevitably means a few beans might end up in the bin or given away etc. But there's a ton of info out there on roasting. I would humbly suggest buying a decent amount of one bean and just nailing that, getting a handle on what your machine is capable of etc. I think the classic mistake with a roaster like the Bullet - is that one can make too many adjustments to make a curve look pretty - which doesn't necessarily translate to a good cup.

Also worth remembering that the bullet's air flow works differently from other roasters - as it draws in mix of the both cold and hot -" ish" air. It's primarily a conduction based roaster. Too high a fan setting will really bring the heat down.


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## Guy Levine (Aug 20, 2019)

Thanks. I agree with you on nailing one bean and learning the machine. You don't even know what you don't know to start with so not only one bean but a moderate one too.

One of the issues I have found is I bought a bean people said was forgiving which is great, but also not the kind I would normally buy to drink - so might swap up to something where the taste notes of getting it right excite me.

Again - thanks for your help. Much appreciated.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Beeroclock (Aug 10, 2015)

Is the Huye Mountaina a washed or natural? I had some of the washed and a sample of the natural - I much preferred the natural - Not the easiest to get right - though I think a quicker shorter roast is the way to go with a Rwandan like that..


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## Guy Levine (Aug 20, 2019)

It is the washed.


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## Beeroclock (Aug 10, 2015)

Hi Guy

So it looks like you've charged at 150c and done a 1 min soak? I would try charging at 180c and see how it goes. The Rwandan is a fairly high grown dense bean - so should take the heat no problem - especially with a soak. The soak method (which I use) is really used by production roasters to reduce the time in their "in between batch protocols". You really want to get your peak RoR a little higher and avoid that plateau before FC. Once you get a plateau like that you're invariably going to have a crash and flick, no way round that. The goal here is to carry enough momentum to get you through development stage and not stall the roast but not too much so that you plateau before. Getting you max RoR higher will make that a lot easier...


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## Guy Levine (Aug 20, 2019)

Thanks - I preheated to 230, and didnt do a soak. I left the power the same until mid way through FC, then dropped it one power notch?

This should give you the interactive profile!

https://roast.world/r/LLMSPeNIRzqkDIDaI6h4e


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## Beeroclock (Aug 10, 2015)

Ok, my bad - I forget the IBIS sensor curve reads differently. So preheated to 230 - but what was your actual charge temp? The principle is the same though - i.e. the plateau before FC - if you can smooth that out it will help alleviate the crash and flick.


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## Guy Levine (Aug 20, 2019)

No probs - My actual charge was 230 as well. That was the temp when i put the beans in. But if i start connecting the dots - if these are 1600-2300 masl beans, that is high so they are pretty dense, I might need to push the charge temp?


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## Beeroclock (Aug 10, 2015)

I don't have an Aillio, but pretty sure that your BT is near 150 at charge - Drum Temp is higher but I'd expect that. I would try to charge higher - preheat to 270c and see how you go then. If I remember correctly the BT analogue probe is actually an ET until you charge the beans and then becomes a BT one the beans are loaded. The Drum temp I'm assuming is the IBIS sensor off the actual drum surface...

Cheers Phil


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## Guy Levine (Aug 20, 2019)

Thanks for tip - looks like a few other people crank up charge and heat higher in the begging to give them somewhere to come down from.


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