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ROASTING TERMS
Coffee Cherry:
Coffee beans are actually coffee seeds that make up the pit
of a coffee cherry. Coffee cherries are picked when they are
ripe, and bright red in colour.
Coffee Processing: See Processing Link
Cooling tray:
The cooling tray is usually circular, and equipped with stirring
arms that agitate the just-out-of-the-roaster coffee with air
being pulled through the tray (and through the mass of freshly
roasted beans) to halt the roast by bringing the temperature
of the beans down from over 400F down to room temperature. Without
forced cooling, the beans would continue to roast beyond the
intended rate.
Degas: The time
needed for a batch of coffee to release carbon dioxide for optimum
flavor. More degassing is necessary for optimum espresso than
is needed for brewed coffee. This takes place for 48 hours after
the roast.
Green Coffee: The coffee seed before it is roasted, and after
it is processed and dried. This is the form coffee is in when
it is purchased by a roasting company.
Roast Profile:
The rate, timing, temperature, and homogeneity of roast rate
at various layers of the bean (external and internal). Roast
profiling is critical for allowing the coffee’s own characteristics
to be highlighted as well as for blending different coffees
to be used as espresso, or as brewed coffee.
Tryer: On a drum roaster, the tryer is the tool used to collect
a sample of coffee to be observed by the coffee roaster during
roasting in order to track the profile and progress of the roast.
Light Roast: No
oil, usually cinnamon, or a little darker in colour. Lighter
body, more flavor of origin and acidity comes through.
Medium Roast: Very little to no oil present. Milk chocolate
in colour, has added depth of body at the cost of some acidity,
and possibly at the cost of some origin characteristics.
Dark Roast: Dark, almost black, with ample amounts
of oil present on the surface. Almost, or all origin characteristics
are gone, the body is beginning to decrease, the flavor is thin,
and usually tastes of the roast, including charcoal, bitter
flavours, and very low acidity.
First Crack: A
roasting term. The coffee bean’s first expansion as vaporized
moisture escapes. The coffee been expands to nearly double its
volumetric size, and a popping sound almost like popping popcorn
can be heard.
Second Crack: The coffee bean’s second
expansion as vaporized moisture is released, and the bean structure
itself begins to fracture. Many of the flavors of origin are
burned off during second crack, while body is increased, and
acidity becomes more muted, or possibly lacking entirely. A
noise sounding much like rice cereal in milk can be heard as
the second crack develops.
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