"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the true art and science."- A. Einstein. 

Every time we received new beans, its like entering a new frontier. Most of it has same/simillar colour depending how it was processed and its grassy when you put it in your mouth. Each coffee beans is full of mysteries. Its romantic but doesn't always end up in happy ending. However, as a roaster, the aim its to conclude the story in a good end. 

Each green coffee beans is full of mysteries. Its non fiction. Before we could end the story, there are a series of mysteries that needs to be solved. Like a detective, there are various tools that helps easing up the whole process. As far as science is concern, record keeping is crucial as the results of each solved mysteries about the green coffee will assist the roaster to make judgements or choices which route they want to close the case. At the end of the day, everyone needs a closure to sleep soundly to grind further the next day. 

Minimizing waste is crucial in the whole process. As a nano roaster, we can't afford to waste the green beans. Even 100 gram is a lot of beans. 

We have own an Ikawa Pro since last October. The machine looks simple but can it be very challenging to operate. The truth is, it took us about 6 months to get a hang of the machine. A sample roaster function as a sampler. It is easier to use a Huky 500t (our other sample roaster - drum type) but an Ikawa is uniquely consistent, repeatable and produce the same cup every time a sample roast is produced. 

The results may not be the same as what the production roast can produce but it is able to guide us to the land of the unknown or the nueva frontera, "The New Frontier". As an example, we could know at what temperature the beans will turn from green to yellow, at what temperature will the First Crack be and what would be the indicative drop or development time ratio for the coffee. As far as taste is concern, it all falls back to the cupping table which is affected by :

1. Green/Yellow to First Crack - now that we know at what temperature the green to yellow and first crack, we can manage our maillard duration.
2. Development Time Ratio - how long we want to prolong post FC 
3. Set target the Caramelization.  

Over the past 6 months, we have standardize our sample roast profile to the following category

1. Honey Process/Natural Process
2. Washed Ethiopian
3. Central American Washed
4. Colombia Washed High Altitude
5. 1500 masl washed
6. Giling Basah Process
7. Central American Washed

To sum up, we segregated the process of of sampling into the the type of process as well as the origin of the coffee. As each beans has a different density, the fan speed will be adjusted accordingly during the 1/3 of the whole sampling process. 

We are also pleased to share the profile with you. If you own an Ikawa Pro, give it a try! As there are a lot of adventurous coffee producers out there, we are also continuously experimenting with the Ikawa sample roaster. 

Giling Basah Good for Indonesian Beans Good with Brazilian Pulped process.	Honey/Natural Process Medium Roast Honey and Natural Process.    Includes Ethiopian natural
Washed Ethiopian Not for the Gesha Village beans	Central American Washed Good with Catuai/Cattura For Bourbon use the SHB profile
Kenyan Washed For good result, use around 40 gram of greens for this profile.	SHB washed  Good for the high density beans for the South and Central American.

Give a try, make some modification and enjoy! 

Have a good weekend everyone!

Om