I’ve ordered five pounds of Guatemala Gesha and have looked at recipes on Roast World and they are all over the place and of course don’t give any outcome information. I would appreciate a starting recipe that produced really good results. I’m looking for the unique floral qualities of this bean, so I’m assuming a light roast. Educate me.
Thanks
Gil
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I have been roasting this coffee for quite some time, and here is my best recipe. There is a little “flick” at first crack, but I have found it to be very satisfying, nonetheless…
Interesting! The high heat + high airflow is to keep the roast on track while keeping smoky flavor out of the end product?
I’ve not roasted Gesha in a while but somewhere I’d read that smoke in the roast chamber is the enemy of those subtle floral notes.
edit: nothing that that’s a really quick profile too
Actually, if you look at the IBTS, it looks more like a crash than a flick. At small batches the bean probe is pretty much useless. Have you tried starting with high heat and high fan? I mean P9 and F5 from the start, and then easing the heat as you go?
Thank you so much for your recipe. The beans should be here soon and I’m excited to get started. Again, I appreciate your help.
Gil
Yes, I tried P9 to start. But I think that I got a bit of tipping with the initial high heat. Perhaps this is because of the fairly high preheat temperature, which I like because it prevents the roast from “running out of gas” at the end. I ended up tweaking this recipe quite a bit, and liked this one the best.
P9 and F? I’m asking because I agree with the strategy of high fan right before FC, as I’ve mentioned in some of my posts in other topics, but also wat to know how a combination of high PH, high heat and high fan at the start works. I will do it, it’s just that I don’t have to roast the gesha soon.
Hi @matilsky , what flavours are you getting in the cup?
I am wondering because at a development time of 2:17 and 27.8% DTR, this is not a light roast as is common for delicate Geisha flavours.
Also, any reason for using D5 instead of D9?
I’m expecting 20 pounds of this on Thursday. I will try high fan plus P9, and let you know how it goes…
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I agree. And usually I do roast a bit lighter. However, I found that with this coffee, a lighter roast (final temp = 206 C)seemed to produce some “grassy” notes, which I didn’t care for. Of course, everyone’s palate and preferences are different…
I will try a final temperature of 208 C, and see how that goes.
Thank you Matilsky. I must admit I have always struggled with Geisha roasts. Never felt I got anywhere near the potential the beans were supposed to have.
Your explanation makes lots of sense and I may try your approach one of these days.
One last question; why are you roasting at D5 and not at a faster drum speed to get more convective heat transfer to the beans and have a faster roast?
Really curious as to your learnings there.
Thanks again my friend…
If you’re looking to accent the lighter notes, I have found the most success in prolonging your build-up to the caramelization phase. Where prolonging the development phase builds on your darker notes (like tobacco or dark chocolate), a longer drying and caramelization phase develops the floral notes without muddling them out later on.
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I have found that I simply cannot detect a difference in roast outcomes by varying the drum speed. Usually, the corrections I want to make to profiles require a change in fan or power. I must admit, I have not looked at extremes in drum speed. Someday, hopefully in the near future, I’ll modify a recipe only by going from D9 to D1, and see where that goes…
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Thank you for your reply Matilsky and for sharing your learnings. I have roasted at D9 and D7 and have found that roasting at D9 results in a faster roast than roasting at D7. I am told this is because D9 results in greater heat transfer to the beans via convection than via conduction, relative to slower drum speeds, which is more efficient and hence speeds up the roast. I haven’t experimented enough to see if I can taste the difference. I mainly roast at D9 to minimise defects in the roast which is more likely to happen with conductive type heat transfer.
This has been my favorite profile for the Nicaraguan Natural Geisha I currently have. Roast level is quite light, but I’m still getting about 18% development. Please note that I am using the 110V model and I am using a powered inline exhaust fan, albeit at a very low speed. I created a recipe to follow this profile if anyone is interested.
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Hipfire:
Thank you for your recipe. I received my coffee and did my first roast yesterday and have yet to cup it. I have received several suggested "starter recipes that I’m going to work my way through, and hopefully, it will result in my being able to post the results. Again thank you.
Gil
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Thank you for sharing @hipfirecoffee.n2v8 , I like your profile and would appreciate if you could share the recipe you developed for it.
Thanks in advance 
Regards,
Gaby
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Sure thing! Never actually linked one before, guess we’ll see if this works. A couple notes: I charge with 560g when BT reads 308F/153C. I end at IBTS 405.5F/207.5C and shoot for about 18% development. My roasts have averaged about 10:00 in duration. Hope it works well for you!
Bless you @hipfirecoffee.n2v8 . Thanks for sharing, will try your profile when I get a chance.
Kind regards,
Gaby
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