With the guild retreat coming in just a couple days, I decided that I needed to do a few things before going that I would have needed to do during the time I will be away. This included working out a profile for the new Mexican, a Vienna Roast, and Wilson's House Blend. House Blend also uses French Roast made from a Brazil that I expect to run out of soon, so I also opened the new Brazil and worked out profiles for that as well.
The Mexican cupped very nicely. It had a delicate flavor that remained consistant across all 18 samples I tried (end temperatures ranging from 409—460 degrees F and end times ranging from 14—19 minutes). The lighter sample I selected as the best suited to sell as Mexican had a sweet, clean taste that was light on the tongue and very refreshing. I also found a darker sample with a hint of roast flavor, nice body, and a slightly complex character. This was the best possibility for Vienna Roast, but it didn't seem quite right so I looked over my notes for other coffees to see if something else might be better.
While cupping coffees, I usually have some idea of what I'm looking for, but I make a note of anything good, even if I can't use it immediately. I found such a note about Tanzanian Peaberry, which took nicely to a dark roast. I decided to roast a small batch of both Vienna Roast candidates and see how they translate to drip preparation. As expected, the Mexican Vienna Roast was good, but there wasn't enough to the cup that I would feel comfortable selling it. The Tanzanian Vienna Roast, while not an exact match in flavor to the previous Vienna Roast, it is an excellent coffee with just a hint of fruitiness that often gets lost in darker roasts.
Brazil seemed straightforward in cupping. I quickly found what I was looking for in the samples I had. Once I tried these as drip, I found that the medium roast I would use as Brazil was very good and a nice match to the previous lot. The French Roast was a different matter entirely. It was bad, lightly flavored black water. I could never serve this. It tasted like restaurant coffee.
I continued to drink the bad coffee while looking over its roast profile thinking about what was wrong with the coffee. I considered and rejected a number of possible corrective measures before deciding that I'd stretch the roasting time out a little, lower the end temperature, and add some Tanzanian Peaberry and Papua New Guinea to the Brazil before roasting it. This delivered a very good French Roast.
With two coffees that are somewhat different from what they were before, it comes as little surprise that the existing recipe for House Blend did not work at all. With my third attempt I got the character of the blend correct and I used another five tries to bring the intensity up. I considered stopping at my sixth attempt, which was very good, but kept at it until my eighth attempt that had everything right. The final blend is dark and smoky with good body, intense flavor, and a strong aroma.