You can't tell by the usual content of this blog...

 ... but I really do roast coffee! Usually once each week.

Most Wednesdays find me in the shop with the roaster heating, stabilizing, then roasting from 3 to 6 batches of greens. The typical yield is about 450 gm of coffee (almost a pound) per 550 gm batch of greens. That's been the weekly routine for several years now. Initially I bought greens from a different country every few weeks, but for about 2 years now I have been locked onto greens from the high-country of Chiapas, the most Southern state in Mexico. To our taste these greens yield the most consistent morning cup.

Initially I was buying greens from Sweet Maria's in Oakland, California. But the owner/operator, Thompson Owen, likes to provide a variety of choices. What you buy one week may not be back in stock for months or even years. Once I discovered we really enjoyed the flavors of the high-grown Chiapas greens I found myself drifting to other sources. Unfortunately I think I may be on a path to disappointment thanks to the US import duties: importers are having a problem stocking thanks to the prohibitive prices our import duties add to the cost of greens. So I may have to make some choices soon which I fear are going to be a huge disappointment!

In the mean time, here's a recent roast-

I use the same roast profile for all the Chiapas-grown greens I buy and so far that has worked with minor tweaks to the recipe. The "recipe"? That's the automated sequence of adjustment of Power (the amount of heat), Fan speed and Drum speed. The duration depends on the the room temperature and requires about 13.8 to 14.5 minutes. I roast in an uncontrolled-temperature space in the rear of the casita, so on a hot day the time will be longer than on a cold day. That probably sounds counterintuitive and the reason is the firmware of the roaster protects the control board of the roaster from damage caused by a too-hot operating space. If the space were temperature controlled the roast time would (should!) be very consistent.

All this is to say that, unless I change variety of green coffee, one roast is pretty much the same as another. If I were to use differently sourced greens, i.e. greens from a different country and/or grown at a different elevation, I'd have to start all over again developing a new recipe specific to the new bean "What?! Start all over?! No way!!!"

The reality is that my roaster is probably on borrowed time. As specialty home appliances go, the coffee roaster - an Aillio R1 V1.5 - has been reliable and requires not much more than cleaning maintenance. I vacuum the chaff left behind after the roast and every 3rd roast session I clean the dump-door glass, the inside surface of the face plate, and the squirrel-cage fan. That and a little vacuuming and the roaster is ready to do another batch. All pretty much still within the do-able range of an old toot. 

But I've been using this roaster since I bought it new in January 2019 for about $2,600. It was a brand new offering from Sweet Maria's in Oakland, California and was/is imported from the manufacturer, Aillio, at their facility in Taiwan. The newest offering from the same manufacturer & the same supplier is about $4,100. I suppose it's a 'bargain' in today-dollars but an unlikely purchase for someone approaching their 88th birthday! So I'll stick with the what I have thank you very much.

I've been a software tester for the free Aillio roasting software RT4 since late 2019 or early 2020 (it was called RT2 at that time). Not sure how much help I've been, but at least I've felt like I was allowed to contribute in terms of flaws and operator interface. The primary software developer is a guy named Matt works remotely from Utah. He's an independent contractor and manages the programmers in Taiwan. Matt has made me feel like he has listened to my whines and suggestions... thank you Matt!