I watched several of the Nordic Roast competition videos last night, including a couple where Wendelboe (or staff) talking about their profiles. As far as I can tell, âNordic roastâ means light but developed. Wendelboe mentions that it is hard to develop light roasts and that it is easy to get the hay /grassy flavors. He also mentions a few times that they donât pay much attention to the phases. In fact, on their Loring they cannot hear first crack so they always log FC at a set temperature then drop the beans 50 to 1:30 after first crack based on the bean and their experiments at getting the best out of the bean for a light roast.
On my 3e Iâve been experimenting with drawing out first crack while only slowly raising the temp after first crack. This can keep the beans light while allowing heat to penetrate to their center. This lets me roast with longer development without overly darkening the bean on the outside and lowering the whole/ground delta.
Iâm guessing that your drop temp was fine, but the roast moved too quickly to develop the inside of the bean. I may have asked, but can you measure whole/ground color?
Wendelboe also mentioned that they mostly pay attention to total time and color.
Based on Munchowâs work, the longer the roast the lower the drop temp needed to reach the same ground bean color. So with your fast roast you needed to drop at a higher temp, though Iâm not sure that would have helped developmentâprobably overdevelop the outside to reach a desired development inside.
I took Morten Munchowâs Bullet roasting fundamentals course this past Monday and specifically asked about Nordic roasts. He says they are typically fast, but that FC at 8:30 is a possibility. The main goal is to roast light without being underdeveloped and that to do that with good results you really need the right green beans.
I started a subscription to Tim Wendelboeâs coffee last month with one bag and got three this month (they are all different). Last months was ok, but nothing that really wowed me. The three this month just seem very acidic and sour no matter how I brew them (even as a cupping). I canât seem to get sweetness out of them, just acidity/sourness or bitterness. I would think that this means that perhaps I donât like light roasted coffee, but I had a really nice very light roasted Panamanian Gesha at George Howellâs in Boston a couple of months ago (at $12.00 !!!) and bought a couple of light roasted Howell bags. Those were very nice. I have also had light roasted coffee from a fellow roaster that I liked. Thus far I have measured only one of this months TW coffees, called Nacimiento. They measured Agtron whole/ground at 75/86, which is really not that light.
How acidic and/or sour is the coffee and how are you brewing it? Are you able to get sweetness out of such a light roast and can you measure the agtron whole/ground color? It should be light given the drop time and drop temp.
@otaibimn What would be interesting to know also is whether youâre on a v220 or v120 board given the discussion by @toddjohnson in his earlier post.
@toddjohnson Maybe I should look for some of Howellâs light roasted beans at Whole Foods near me (no need to schlep into Boston) and try for reference. His stuff is expense!!
A couple of times a year I will get some beans from George Howell just to see how his roasts compare. I am getting better, but my taste buds need to be really âawakeâ to taste some of the subtilties. (some days I can taste everything. Some days not so much)
Georgeâs coffee is very expensive. Especially his Geshas.
The Wendelboe coffees are clogging my V60. Iâm using the Gagne/Rao method with water at 212F. 22g coffee in (7 to 7.5 on a 1Zpresso k-plus). I use a chopstick to make a cone depression in the center, tabbed V60 filter, 77g of water for 1 minute bloom with a swirl, then 200g and swirl, then 354 g of water and another swirl. Drawdown is still slow even at a grind setting 7.5. Super sour. I turned H20 down to 205F. That eliminated a lot of the unpleasant sourness/acidity, but introduced astringency. Lower temp water should decrease viscosity, which increases the chance of overextraction or of getting astringent compounds. I suspect it was astringent compounds, because TDS was only 1.01% for the low temp brew. The high temp brews are all over 1.5% TDS.
The Gesha I had as a $12 pour over sold for $80 for an 8 oz bag. Unfortunately (or fortunately) they were out of bags that day. I did buy an 8 oz bag for $27 and another 12 oz bag for $21. Both were quite good.
Just finished Gagneâs book. Try down scaling the dose a bit. if clogs are still an issue try removing some agitation. I start removing the swirl after first main pour, then the second pour if needed after checking tds and tasting.
Damn, I just got a personal email from George about an Affogato tasting class that he is having this Saturday. And for a few minutes, I actually considered it. I love me some Affogato.
for those of you who donât know: George Howell was the inventor of the Frappuccino and When he sold his first coffee business to Starbucks they ended up with that drink. It may have been called something else then.
Okay, It really wasnât a personal email. If it tastes like ham, it is probably spam.
Sorry for the highjack.
