Roast Profile For Kona Coffee - geek alert
Phone rings: "What profile do you use for your green?"
Ahh, a true coffee geekers question. What a way to start my day. Give me a chance to wax poetic over the roasting of a fine Kona bean.
What's green? unroasted coffee.
What's a profile? the roasting "recipe".
What's a homeroaster? a truly passionate coffee drinker (think homebrewer)
Google doesn't turn up much about roasting 100% Kona coffee. It's a rare bean and even some of my commercial customers will ask me how to properly roast it. So here is my optimum Kona profile. (I am not including a log here, as I use a Sivetz-style fluid bed air roaster, which will chart out differently than a drum roaster.)
Green Kona demands a lighter touch. Be gentle with the heat and the speed. It doesn't want to be rushed, and it doesn't like a darker roast (espresso roast will remove all Kona characteristics). My "dark" is a rolling-crack Full City. I sell a lot of Full City. But to fully appreciate the bright and smooth Kona flavor, a medium or City to City+ is the way to go.
My City+ gets dropped out of the heat at 430 degrees (remember, this is fluid-bed, not drum). The first crack is complete and the last of the chaff is coming out. The beans are fairly uniform in color at this point. If I leave it another minute, they'll start to show a little "black-tip" as it approaches the second crack.
If I'm taking it to Full City, I will crank down the heat slightly at the City stage. This slows (careful not to stall) the roast and keeps the beans from tipping, charring, or divoting extensively. Like I said, she's a touchy one. Second crack hits at 450 degrees in the fluid bed, and I watch it very closely at this point. Its a fine line between a flavorful dark roast, and a waste of Kona beans. Midway into the second crack (but before it slows) or around 455 degrees, the beans come out.
Here at Lions Gate, we then bag the beans immediately to preserve the freshness. On average, I roast about 3 times a week. Fresh coffee is Da Kine!
That's Hawaiian for "da best!"
Ahh, a true coffee geekers question. What a way to start my day. Give me a chance to wax poetic over the roasting of a fine Kona bean.
What's green? unroasted coffee.
What's a profile? the roasting "recipe".
What's a homeroaster? a truly passionate coffee drinker (think homebrewer)
Google doesn't turn up much about roasting 100% Kona coffee. It's a rare bean and even some of my commercial customers will ask me how to properly roast it. So here is my optimum Kona profile. (I am not including a log here, as I use a Sivetz-style fluid bed air roaster, which will chart out differently than a drum roaster.)
Green Kona demands a lighter touch. Be gentle with the heat and the speed. It doesn't want to be rushed, and it doesn't like a darker roast (espresso roast will remove all Kona characteristics). My "dark" is a rolling-crack Full City. I sell a lot of Full City. But to fully appreciate the bright and smooth Kona flavor, a medium or City to City+ is the way to go.
My City+ gets dropped out of the heat at 430 degrees (remember, this is fluid-bed, not drum). The first crack is complete and the last of the chaff is coming out. The beans are fairly uniform in color at this point. If I leave it another minute, they'll start to show a little "black-tip" as it approaches the second crack.
If I'm taking it to Full City, I will crank down the heat slightly at the City stage. This slows (careful not to stall) the roast and keeps the beans from tipping, charring, or divoting extensively. Like I said, she's a touchy one. Second crack hits at 450 degrees in the fluid bed, and I watch it very closely at this point. Its a fine line between a flavorful dark roast, and a waste of Kona beans. Midway into the second crack (but before it slows) or around 455 degrees, the beans come out.
Here at Lions Gate, we then bag the beans immediately to preserve the freshness. On average, I roast about 3 times a week. Fresh coffee is Da Kine!
That's Hawaiian for "da best!"
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