now, if taste ISN’t relative, then perhaps there’s a range of “goodness” to be found in an absolute set of characteristics. furthermore, maybe the reluctance to make clear calls on “goodness” and “badness” is just modesty, since none of us yet knows anything remotely close to what coffee has to offer, and how to tap it.

but, hey, that’s the crux: is coffee just coffee, endlessly complex and not remotely close to being “decoded?” or are its endless variations rooted in something else? some other standard, that could be used as a rough guide for deciphering the strands?

i’ll get the blogwife to weigh in. you’re making me feel guilty for just “messing around.”

Regarding “defining characteristics”, I think a whole book could be devoted to this matter. In my humble quest, I have found little to no definitive input on the subject. I would lump this issue in the category of : Is beauty in the eye of the beholder, or is there something inherent within the object on display that transcends time, culture, and opinion?

Let’s use EZ as an example. Is it taboo to drag out the roast profile, leaving the cup dominated by heavy caramel rather than the subtle presence of jasmine, honey suckle, blood orange, mango, etc? In my mind, I can get caramel from many beans (even sub-par beans) but I cannot get the characteristics of a gesha crop from a Sumatra.
So, in my mind, these qualities “define” gesha and place it within a category of it’s own; and when I come to a table with gesha on it (like a crop I encountered tonight from Costa Rica) I come with a certain level of expectancy. This is where I would establish my “defining characteristics”. From there, I set paramaters in my roast profiling that interacts with those characteristics. (I normally seek to showcase those qualities, but if I do otherwise, I attempt to do it without totally losing them.)

This is not a hard and fast rule (I use a wide range on some beans like: Guatemala, Kenya, Costa Rica, etc.) but I am pretty dogmatic about it when it comes to most East African coffees (Idido included). The characteristics that “define” the origin are totally lost if not roasted properly. Can you still get a good cup with a different profile? Absolutely! However, the characteristics that “define” the origin (placing it on the map — so to speak) are lost.

Could a filet mignon be enjoyed well done? Possibly, but rare to medium rare is the sweet spot (on my palate . . . and most other red meat lovers.)

I am serious dude, if you made a post out of this philosophical question, the comments would be endless! I am not even sure there is a “right” answer, but this is how I tend to operate.

I would love to hear the blogwife’s input on this (yours are obviously welcome as well!) What would her perspective be in regards to objective beauty in visual art and would that parallel this discussion as a culinary art?

the misty valley has a fairly broad range of roast and brew temp tolerances, i’ve found. but how do you know what “the bean’s defining characteristics” are? do those come from the sweet maria’s label, or what?

just being difficult. i operate on the same assumptions, but often find myself wondering why i’m striving for one thing, flavor wise, when i am clearly finding (and liking) something else.

with the idido, i actually am tasting very little of the blasting berry flavors that people talk about. and i’m on the verge of saying, “who cares?”

as brightness goes, i’ve managed to eliminate most of it — little or no citrus to speak of in my idido espresso. i’d bet you need to stretch the gap between first and second crack a bit. of course, that may be harder to do, in your cold weather, without causing the roast to stall.

‘Twas good to chat last week. Dreadful news about Claudia.

to get this, though, i have to use the lid-juggle. with my i-roast, i run a warm-up stage for four minutes, then a quick two-minute ramp-up, dropping the first lid halfway through to keep the temp moving up. then a long, hot final stage, during which i drop the second lid whenever the temp stalls. this takes it through first crack, which lasts for like two whole minutes.

once i’m sure that first is done, i’ll count 30 seconds and then lock in the final lid, causing the chamber temp to shoot up to its third-stage maximum (450 on my read-out). i’ll leave it there for about 5 seconds, then hit cool. not even a hint of second crack. so basically, first crack plus 30 seconds plus a brief temp spike.

your dark berry, maple and toasted bread doesn’t sound much different from my barley, maple and sweet gum. we could be hitting roughly the same area.

and yes, it’s claudia who was forced to leave — the reason for all the silence here on the blog. spent days and days using every connection in the book to find her another visa. immigration folks misled, lied, whatever, and one day she was deep in study at the institute. next day, she’s headed back to the village. depressing, in case you couldn’t tell.