Boy, Never figured coffee to be such a hot topic. No pun intended.

If I ever pay $70 for a pound of something, I'd expect to be buying it in an alley way on the south side of Chitown from a shady character in a trench coat 😉

So slim, are you strictly JBM, or do you also enjoy other, more common origins?

cexshun --- JBM isn't my favorite ...

... and I've only bought it once. Not at $70 a pound (where did you come up with that?), but $70 for 5 lbs. That makes it only $14 a pound ... which is only about twice (per lb.) what it costs to buy the already roasted regular supermarket stuff.

Right now, I'm working on some Rwanda Masaka 'Seven Lakes' (tastes like a cross between Tanzanian and Yirgacheffe). But my favorite so far is the Organic Galapagos Island Estate.

I've also got a lb. each of the below 'green' waiting in the roaster line:

Guataemala Huehuetenango
El Salvador Torogoz
Costa Rica West Valley
Mexico Chiapas
Sumatra Takengon
Timor Maubesse
Nicaragua Matagalpa

One exciting find that I just recently picked up is a couple pounds of Karoma Estate from the Dominican Republic. I'll be having that for the first time this morning with a 'Best Seller' on the deck ...

Happy Roasting !!!

Oh sorry. Not $70 a pound. But fair market value of 1 pound of roasted JBM is $50.

After drinking so much Kenya, I think I'm ready to put my favorite to rest. Last night, ordered
5 pound Sumatra
1 pound PNG-Kimel Plantation
1 pound Harrar

I think I favor the Island coffees and Africans more then anything else.

"But fair market value of 1 pound of roasted JBM is $50" ... are you serious !!!! YIKES !!! I guess that is why I started roasting my own ... LOL!

You also hit the 'nail on the head', and your tastes are same as mine.

The best coffee out there comes from either the islands (any of them), and Africa. I love African coffee for it's 'earthy' flavor, but my wife says they taste like 'dirt'. I like that ... but I guess she doesn't ... LOL!

I've also found that most of the 'island' coffees taste best with a light to barely medium roast. Anything higher will result in a degradation of the subtile flavors that you want to bring out in them.

My best roast time for the island coffees are no more than 7 minutes:

350 for 3 minutes
400 for 3 minutes
450 for 1 minute

You want to start the roast out at the lower temperature, because the Island cofffee beans aren't as dense as the others grown at higher altitudes ... and you have to get the center of the beans up to temerature before you increase it, so you don't 'caramelize' the outside of the beans. I have also found that I will start the cooling cycle right before the oils start to show ... because once that has occured, I've lost those flavors that I was trying to bring out.

What have your experiments come up with?

Hey cexshun ... have you tried the Organic Galapagos Island Estate yet?

If not ... I have about 7 lbs. of it, and will send you a pound of the 'Green' beans for you to try, but only if you roast it at my recommendation above ... 😉

Email me your 'snailer' to [email protected] ...

BTW ... You can find Jamacian Blue Mountain 'Mavis Bank' on several sites, roasted to your specs, for around $28 a pound ... 😉

... and the JBM Peaberry for only $30 a pound.

Slim, I have not tried anything from the Galapagos Islands yet. I've never roasted anything that light before. Never gone lighter the a city roast. At that light of a roast, I'm afraid it would be way too acidic and lack body.

I also love that earthy flavor, and I often describe it as a "dirt" taste to non coffeegeeks. I'm not a huge fan of acidic coffee, and Kenya is the only high acid/low body coffee I make an exception for. I got turned off of high acid content after my first experience into gourmet coffee. Ordered a pound of roasted Kona as my first non-foldgers ever. $22 a pound. Drank a cup and said, "That's it?". Ever since then, I try to stay away. I may be able to venture into that world again at your recommendation. I may have to alter your profile a bit due to ambient temps and voltage differences, but I'll shoot for the same end result.

cexshun ... my wife is VERY sensitive to the acidic flavors in coffee, and has commented that the way I roast the Galapagos is the best she has ever drank ... no acidic taste at all.

Serioulsy, I have roasted it every way possible, and the cook times and temperatures I suggested are the best I have found.

You may be able to put another minute (at the most) on the last temerature (450), but if it starts to go 'oily' on you ... hit the 'cool' button!

You want it to look dark brown ... with none of the 'sheen' ... you want the beans to have that dull brown look to them.

I'll send you four of the measuring cups, enough for two batches (½ lb. each) in the i-Roast ... do one my way, and the other your way ... then let me know what you think.

... no email yet ... 😉

I just went and inspected a batch I 'cooked' last week ... and there is a slight 'sheen of oil' on them, so I guess a little oil on them is fine ... but they shouldn't be too dark. Brown is good, black is bad ... 😉

... and that is at the temperature and cook times I listed above.

With temps and times like that, are you halting the roast immediately after first crack? There's no way that even comes close to second crack.

email being sent

... exactly.

Boxed and ready to fly ...

I'll try to get it to the P.O. today (if I can) so that you will have it in time for Christmas.

If not, you will definately have it shortly there after.

USPS Priority w/ DC# 0304 0370 0000 8107 6573

Oh, and here is another 'Copy 'n Paste' for you to enjoy ... 😉

Several roastmasters and green buyers submitted samples of "partnership" coffees, coffees that represent an ongoing relationship between roasting company and growers from a particular farm, mill, or cooperative.

Among them, the most unusual was an offering from a farm in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador roasted by Flying Goat Coffee of Healdsburg, California. Rather than simply constituting another coffee curiosity, the Galapagos turned out to be as interesting and distinctive in the cup as it is in its geography. Its cup character would seem to derive from the heirloom Bourbon variety of arabica, a classic cultivar once widely planted throughout Latin America and now growing rare owing to its susceptibility to disease and other agricultural drawbacks.

Perhaps because the remote island location has protected the trees from the diseases that have killed Bourbon trees elsewhere, the crop is apparently entirely from very old, well-established Bourbon trees. The age of the trees may be responsible for the very pronounced Bourbon character, a character that is as memorable as it is difficult to describe.

Here is my best shot at description as it appears in the review: "... a dry fruit character that suggests wine at one moment, at another tart berries, at another pipe tobacco, at still another a roasty but sweet chocolate."

Overall Rating: 88 points

Aroma: 7
Acidity: 7
Body: 7
Flavor: 8
Aftertaste: 7
Roast (Agtron): Medium-Dark (53/45)


Origin: San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands

Notes: From a farm on San Cristobal, one of the larger of the populated islands of the Galapagos Islands. Certified organically grown from trees of the old and distinguished Bourbon variety of arabica. Flying Goat Coffee is a boutique retail/wholesale roaster located in the wine country of northern California. It donates a portion of its profits from sale of this coffee to the Charles Darwin Foundation, an organization dedicated to the conservation of the Galapagos Islands and surrounding marine reserve.

Blind Assessment: A rich, low-key, satisfying cup dominated by an unusual complex of flavor notes associated with coffee from trees of the heirloom Bourbon variety. This is a dry fruit character that suggests wine at one moment, at another tart berries, at another pipe tobacco, at still another a roasty but sweet chocolate. Owner and green buyer Philip Anacker cites its "gentle acidity and distinct flavors."

Who should drink it: Aficionados who want to experience a clearly delineated version of the precious Bourbon character. Anyone interested in a low-key, versatile cup with genuinely distinctive flavor notes.

cexshun --- I wasn't able to make it to th P.O. in time (short Saturday hours) ... but I will definately indure the long lunch hour line and get it out to you on Monday ...

... so that you will have it in time for Christmas.

Thanks Slim. No worries.

Phil, received and tried, quite enjoyable.

Slim/cex - so far I have found I agree with your tatses. Although there are many you listed I have yet to try. Eventually I'll hit em.

You are all evil. Now I have a new habit.. ehh I mean hobby. I was happy with just smoking an occasional cigar, but since first reading this thread I have aquired:

a hot air popper, a bur mill, a french press, swiss gold filter for my drip coffee pot, several pounds of unroasted beans from sweet maria (kenyan and sumatran), new coffee mugs, and several pounds of locally roasted coffee beans just to play with the bur mill. Not to mention the cigars I bought lately.

With xmas expenditures and a baby on the way, I'm starting to feel a bit guilty and selfish for buying all this. I bet a WOAM and a nice fresh cup will help me feel better.