Test roast notes: Jamaican Blue Mountain, Wallenford Estate, peaberry

by Reiss Gunson on Friday, 26 November 2010 11:44

  If you have not familiar with the term, 'peaberry' simply refers to a single seed pod mutation of the standard two half seed pod that you are familiar with.  Or so I thought.  This peabury is very dense, the only comparable coffee in terms of density being the single estate robusta that we have.  Please do not read this to mean that it tastes like the robusta we have.  I am purely noting the immense amount of energy this coffee draws when roasting, much like the Semeru Estate robusta we have in stock.  The unique shape of the peaberry is clearly visible in the close up image, something akin to the shape of an Australian rules football, an elongated form with slightly flattened ends.  If you are observant you will notice that there is a chip off the surface of one of the roasted coffee beans in the bottom image.  In my book this chipping is symptomatic of taking the coffee to its roasting limit.  You can get away with roasting coffee to the extent that chipping occurs where an espresso roast is sought, but for filter and vacuum use which is certainly the only way to enjoy a delicate coffee like this in my opinion, I feel that the chipping is an indication that we have taken this roast slightly too far.  We tasted our sample roast 3 days after roast (first bag) and 11 days after roast (second bag).  As always, it is easier to decipher what is going on in the roast after 11 days; there is a kaleidoscope of tastes dazzling the tongue when the roast is too fresh and it feels a bit like going over a waterfall inside a barrel; confusing.  After 11 days we could tell much more easily that we have taken the roast a little too far, not by much, perhaps 3 degrees Fahrenheit.  If time permits we will try again tomorrow, and report back with our findings in due course.  At this stage we can confirm that this is a very delicate coffee, with light Jasmin notes.  We just need to work on polishing up our roasting approach so a clear image of this coffee's taste potential appears in your cup.  The clarity that a vacuum coffee maker brings to the cup will allow the true taste profile of this coffee to shine with the clarity of a diamond on your tongue.

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