Iteration 2
As has been the case in previous boxed sets, when a new coffee arrives, I have a hard time waiting to dive into it. So, generally speaking, I don’t wait. Before I started roasting the coffee for the boxed set to share with you all, I had done two other roasts to play around with the coffee and have a chance to drink it by the carafe full.
The first of these roasts was an attempt to approach the coffee like I had approached the Galapagos coffee from the last set. In considering how Maragogipes can sometimes be regarded as delicate, I thought taking lessons from what I learned about roasting a dense coffee from 250 meters above sea level may help me get a head start on figuring out “Big Red.” I wasn’t satisfied with my first roast, but my second roast tasted like the beginnings of magic. Iteration 2 is essentially a repetition of this roast I did before the boxed set that I was pleased with.
Sadly, it isn't exciting. It is the quintessential yellow near 5:00, hits the first crack around 9:00, and has 1:30-2:00 development time. Those who have been through either a class or a boxed set before may remember that I refer to this as a standard profile. In my work with coffee roasters worldwide, this is a roast style that I see over and over. But, the coffee tasted really nice, and I felt that I would be remiss if I didn’t share this roast with everyone.
The coffee was a lot less savory than the first iteration. My very first round of tasting described this coffee as peach syrup and caramel. Later passes revealed notes like peach, cherry, vibrant, and sweet. The second day off roast was tart cherries and lime with a floral characteristic, bright and balanced with just a touch of savoriness. The third time tasting brought out more florals and juicy peach characteristics with a little more lime, finishing with savory grilled peach and vanilla ice cream.
I knew there was more to this coffee based on previous sample roast and tasting experiences, so it was time to take some risks to find those flavors!
