Hi everyone, been roasting on the bullet for about a year now.
Does anyone notice a lack of dry aroma even after the beans have been resting for 1-2 weeks (especially whole beans agtron 65+)?
Apparently this dry aroma is a strong influencer to my customers who often judge the quality of the roast and greens based on the strength of the dry aromas.
Does anyone here roast to optimize aroma and have any tips or reasons on why the dry aroma can be weak or how it can be improved?
I’m a hobby roaster doing 5-7 lbs per week and not faced with paying customers, so take this with a grain of salt.
I roast pretty dark (roughly equivalent to Agtron 43) and get only a small amount of aroma after a couple days or longer resting in the fridge. I just opened a bag to confirm. Maybe what I’m getting is a little of the aroma from the oils that came to the surface of a few beans at the end of the roast then disappeared in the cooling tray. When I grind these beans, however, everything changes- the aroma from this freshly ground Chiapas beans is very strong and flavorful.
As I was about to send this it struck me that maybe the issue is prior ,customer experience with a variety of beans that are fragile… ?? I roast some SWP decaf from Timor-Liste and take it to about the same temp as the usual Chiapas (I-Temp = 444°F). That decaf roast ends up a lot darker (equivalent to Agtron 35 I would guess) and very oily. More important these beans are very fragile from the decaf process and I have many broken beans after the roast. There is distinctly more aroma from this decaf (though again not close to what I get when I grind).
One way to show them the difference is to grind a few beans and let them experience the aroma.
Bruce
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I tend to agree with @bab . I roast typically in the range of EspressoVision 13 to 16, which according to their conversion is between 58 to 67 Agtron Gourmet Conversion. I can typically get a whiff of aroma from the whole beans after about 2 to 3 days. The thing is everyone’s ability to smell is different - I have a friend who can’t smell much of anything which is why he can’t appreciate wine at all. But once you grind up some beans the aroma is definitely released, but it can be short lived. The key is in the cup. I also think the type of bean has something to say. I have noticed some beans are more aromatic than others. Sounds like you have an educating challenge 
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Thank you for your insights!
I’ve actually had some input from an experienced roaster saying that if you can smell strong aroma from the bean (especially during roasting) you may be baking it too much and the flavors are actually being lost, so what you get in the cup can be flat in terms of flavor and wet aroma.
I feel like some customers including myself just really enjoy that whiff of pleasant aroma when we open the bag. I think naturals and anaerobic fermented beans have a stronger fruitier aroma which is very nice especially when I seal it in a bottle or canister around its optimal drinking period.
I had a Colombian anaerobic fermented coffee which I roasted medium light and had a very fruity aroma with fruity flavors.
On the other hand I had Sidamo G3 natural which had almost no flavorful aroma after resting but it tasted good in the cup.