# Monsoon malabar



## jimrobo

I just roasted my first batch of this in the behmor. All the reports say this is a tricky one so I did a little bit of research and here is how I roasted it:

Preheat p4 for 2 mins.

Beans straight in and p5 D (15 mins)

I hit first crack at 12:58 and I hit cool and opened the door about 60 seconds later. As I opened the door I just got maybe 6 or so 2nd cracks with a touch of smoke. The notes say roast dark so I wasn't sure if I had slightly underdone it.

I let the beans cool but decided to give them a go in the expobar as these are the first beans I've roasted that I actually bought from hasbean pre roasted so had a bench mark to taste against.

First shot looked like this.....










It was genuinely the nicest espresso I've ever had! I put some milk through it and wow! Coffee heaven!! Definitely a new benchmark for me!

My friends are in for a treat tomorrow morning!

Never expected to get results as good as this. I think they are a good few notches above the pre roasted from has bean!


----------



## DavidBondy

Good! Another member of the Behmor home-roast club! I'd be interested to know just HOW dark they were. I have never used P5 on my machine and generally roast about 375g of my own sumatra / ethiopian blend at 1lb P4D wont minutes adde don to make 24:30mins. This give me a lovely chocolate brown dark roast which I really like, slightly smoky!

Again .. good to see another home roaster!

DB


----------



## jimrobo

Here's a picture of them...










They are really quite uneven. Some are dark and some are light although I read somewhere that's what to expect with malabar. I think it was Stephen from has bean that wrote that somewhere. They really do taste fantastic though!! Theyve got a real richness with heavy tabacco and spice to them! Maybe I just fluked them but if I can get that result with some consistency they're going to be majorly in demand from my friends


----------



## jimrobo

Actually this picture is a little more realistic










I think the first image was made lighter by my phone.


----------



## DavidBondy

That looks good. I think I might want mine a little darker but it is great fun to experiment and I have only chucked a few batches away because I burnt them. Of course, the proof is in the drinking and if they taste great then that is all any of want!

David


----------



## cafeco

I've tried roasting my own monsoon and the stuff from hasbean, both times I thought it was horrid, as did the other people cupped with. If you got a good result then fair play to ya!


----------



## jimrobo

I thought I undercooked it to be honest but the taste is unreal! Maybe I just fluked it!

If I can reproduce I'll happily send out some to the forum regulars to see if they think the same or I am being biased?!?!


----------



## cafeco

Sure I'd be up for giving it a try.


----------



## bobbytoad

phew thought it was just me, the roasted batch from Hasbean, tasted more like Starbucks off the shelf (burnt to a crisp) beans than their usual quality output.

Their Sumatran was exceptional - though not sure whether these 2 beans are comparable?

Interesting to hear of your great results, leads me to believe that the Hasbean batch may be a rogue.


----------



## jimrobo

I did just fluke it by the looks of it because the next 3 batches were nowhere near the same quality as the first! The first roast which was lovely was roasted a lot lighter though so next time I'm going to try and stop a little after 1st crack and not hit 2nd


----------

