I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a kilo of this Geisha coffee from La Candelilla in Costa Rica as soon as it arrived at Ministry Grounds. I've roasted this one for espresso, but didn't want to lose any of the florality, sweetness or fruit flavours the geisha is known for. Quite a challenge, when 1kg is only two roasts for me.

I decided on a three minute drying phase ramp up to 100 degrees, then increase in heat output up to 195 degrees first crack at 10:00.  First crack was actually at 196 degrees, and then the slow ramp up to just shortly after the end of first crack at 205 degrees at 13:00 was when i dumped the beans.

I'd definitely rather go too light than too dark on this one, but i'm actually really happy with how this first roast has turned out. You can see there is the slight mottling still present which only disappears well beyond first crack. The ground coffee reveals a nice light espresso colour, and smells like geisha! Clean, sweet and floral.

Some people may think this is too light for espresso but in my opinion if you want to impart more roast flavour than this there are better (and less expensive) coffees you could choose. Plenty of kenyans would take a darker roast and retain the sweetness, for example. There's just not much point buying a geisha at this stage of the game and then roasting the florals into submission. Geisha is still quite rare and the most expensive coffee varietal, so it deserves even more care and attention to detail.

I'll post an update with tasting notes both here and on Ministry Grounds as soon as it's had 5 days to de-gas. I'm also going to attempt my first ever coffee scoring here on BrewMethod, and i have a little something special planned for that.

This week i roasted more of the Kenya Tinganga. I was not happy with my initial roast - i let it go too dark, and it just didn't have as much sweetness as i think it could deliver with a lighter roast. I'll blame my neighbour for interrupting me right as i was about to dump the roast for that one!

Today i also roasted the Bolivian San Juan 8 Estrellas.

This is a red and yellow caturra fully washed coffee. I love the white grape acidity and caramel/toffee flavour of good Bolivian coffee, and if the look and smell of this roast is anything to go by, we're in for a cracker here!  This is a well known coffee farm, but i've not yet tried the Estrellas.

I roasted this one to the same profile as i did the amazing Costa Rican Las Lajas Black Pearl coffee. First crack was at 10:45 at 198, then roast pulled at 14 mins at 207 degrees, about one minute past the end of first crack.

Quick update on the Columbian Santa Rita sent by Latorre Dutch.  Now a week since roast, and it's tasting rather spectacular! 

At this roast depth i'm tasting a lot of fruitiness, balanced and juicy body, long sweet finish with notes of ripe lemon and white grape. Reminds me a little of some recent Bolivian coffee but with less caramel and more citrus. Lovely coffee.

Thanks again to Latorre for the sample, we enjoyed it very much!

Latorre & Dutch coffee traders kindly sent me a sample of a Columbian coffee from the Santa Rita farm. This is a washed and sun dried lot mostly made up of Caturra variety at 1600 - 2100 meters above sea level.  The farm is located in a volcanic soil region near the Andes Mountains.

Latorre are involved in a range of social community projects at origin, aimed at giving something back to the farmers who work so hard to bring us these special coffees, and improve their quality of life while educating and encouraging the farms to produce higher quality coffee, rewarding them for doing so.

Columbia Santa Rita green coffee sample:

This is a high quality Columbian coffee, with an even screen size and very few defects. Latorre have just received a fresh batch of the Santa Rita.

Fresh green coffee is always best, as many coffees tend to aquire a woody taste as they dry out over time as green beans. Stale green coffee can taste flat compared to fresher greens.

I wanted to roast this one in a very light espresso roast, to really bring out the varietal characteristics in the coffee and minimise any loss of the unique flavours from this origin. Some of the roast styles i've been enjoying lately from the likes HasBean and Square Mile in London have really helped me realise that even though i typically roast light, i'm probably still imparting too much roast flavour to the coffee. And more importantly, that it is possible to roast light and not end up with a grassy under developed roast.

For the Santa Rita, first crack was reached at 10:50 at 195 degrees, and the roast was ended at 14:00 at 206 degrees, just after the last few pops of first crack. In other words - first crack plus 11 degrees, and slowing the temperature increase to 3 degrees per minute once first crack is reached.

The ground coffee dry aroma is sweet, clean, citrusy and floral.

I'll report back with full tasting notes next week. Latorre & Dutch have this coffee in stock now, and it's fresh! They source it direct from the farm.  Contact them if you're a cafe and would like to source some for roasting.  For home coffee drinkers, Ministry Grounds are selling the Santa Rita roasted.

I've returned from four days of coffee and food crawling Australia's gastonomic city, and noticed a couple things that I really felt good about.

Firstly, the number of cafes sourcing beans from the quality specialty roasters is increasing. Less of the big "brand x" blends, and more interesting single origins and specialty blends.

Secondly, and this is a big one - doserless Robur grinders are taking over the city!  There seems to be a big shift from dosered super jolly's up to the doserless robur's, even at smaller cafes.  I don't know if this is by encouragement from the roasters, or if cafes are starting to realise that not only is freshly ground best but that doserless is easier too.

These two trends meant i actually had some of the best coffees not at the usual coffee haunts but at smaller cafes or new up-starts. Naked Espresso in the Melbourne CBD looks to be starting off on the right foot, featuring coffee from different roasters including market lane, and taking great care with each and every drink.

Occasionally, ordering continues to be challenging when you're not sure how the coffee will be made. To my taste, a split shot with milk is simply too weak (even in a piccolo) unless the dose is high enough. For the most part though, ordering went smoothly.

And of course, the food & wine ranged from good to amazing!

Favourites were a cosy wine bar called Von Haus, breakfasts at Hardware Societe (and good coffee too), and lunch 'at the pass' in Cumulus.

Until next time, Melbourne.