Bolivia, Sumatra, and Data Logging

14 January, 2008

I started roasting a few new lots of coffee recently. Most notable among them are the new crop Bolivia D'Montaña from CENAPROC and a new lot of decaffeinated Sumatra Mandheling.

As usual, I chose two different roasts for the Bolivian. The medium roast requires a very fast roast just to the point where a few beans hit the second crack in the cooling bin. The result is a rich, sweet coffee with vibrant fruit notes. The fast pace of the roast is essential for this coffee. With slower roasts the body becomes heavier and the flavor loses its vibrancy, resulting in a dull, lifeless cup. The dark roast, however, benefits from a longer roast. A heavier body helps to harmonize the carbon and caramel notes that develop in the flavor as the coffee becomes darker. The new crop takes this staff favorite and makes it better.

Decaffeinated Sumatra continues to be, in my opinion, our best tasting decaffeinated coffee. I've used this to improve our decaffeinated espresso.

Regular Viking Blend Espresso has also recently had some modification as our Sulawesi Toraja, while still excellent by any other brewing method, no longer performs well in espresso at the usual roast. The new espresso blend is made of Wilson's House Blend (which is made of coffees from Sulawesi, Papua New Guinea, Sumatra, Ethiopia, and Brazil, all roasted darker than these are on the shelf), Java Blawan Estate, Guatemala Antigua La Flor del Cafe Dark Roast, and Papua New Guinea.

Many customers have recently noticed the data logging software that I have been developing and using. The most common remark is that it looks very high tech. Nevermind that it has only the minimal features that make this useful for me to have and the appearance betrays the fact that this is very much a quick throwaway prototype. It is an improvement over what I have jokingly referred to as my state of the art manual data logger (notebook and pen), but it automatic data logging really so rare among roasters?