ageorge:
Cheers. My first roasts were overdone. The beans were all black but not burnt yet. Compared to commercial roasted beans where some are very dark and some less dark brown, todays appears closer.
Is this correct: undercooked will be a weak flavour, overcooked (but not yet burnt) will be very strong?
First 2 roasts were too strong for my taste using GBH Brazil Morininha Formosa.
This page on Sweet Maria's is really nice - http://www.sweetmarias.com/library/node/2924 and gives some details on what to expect as you progress. The pics are the best on the net.
I don't think coffee is weaker or stronger depending on roast per se, just depends on what you notice most. Lightly cooked beans tend to be quite astringent - like really sour and sharp white wine and it's much easier to taste the identifying flavours of the bean. Mouth puckering at times.
As you cook further the sugars begin to caramelise and the sharp taste fades replaced by more typical coffee-roasty taste. Keep cooking into 2C and those roasty flavours dominate until that's all you can taste - big flat dark over-roasted coffee like what Starbucks is famous for.
The sweet spot of roasting is to balance the astringent flavours with the caramelised sugars, while trying to preserve the special fruit taste of your particular beans. Your beans and palate will tell you what works best for you.
How are you preparing the coffee? What sort of grinder are you using?
Might be worth grabbing a 250g of fresh roasted beans from your local roaster at some point - proper fresh is a lot different from prepacked supermarket-fresh and it's good to be able to compare if you're not sure what you're aiming for.
Quite fun to learn, and a great way to save money.
Trusted
