Good morning and welcome to Part 5 of my home roasting series, where I’ve been roasting a nice natural Ethiopian from Sweet Maria’s!
Other parts of this series: Pt. 1 Equipment & Basics | Pt. 2 Espresso Monkey Blend | Pt. 3 Single Origin Colombian | Pt. 4 Guatemalan Peaberry
SWEET MARIA’S ETHIOPIA ORGANIC DRY PROCESS SIDAMA KERAMO
Earlier in the summer, I partnered up with Sweet Maria’s to share my thoughts and outcomes roasting a bunch of coffees they sent to me. Once it got really hot this summer I took a bit of a break, but jumped back into home roasting in the Fall with this dry process (aka “natural”) Ethiopian coffee. This particular coffee is sold out but there is always a wide selection of Ethiopian naturals at Sweet Maria’s, so don’t despair!
The coffee SM sent me was their Ethiopia Organic Dry Process Sidama Keramo, which they scored at a very high 93, quite the feat for both Sweet Maria’s and this being a natural process coffee. I’ve found that the SM tasters are quite realistic in their scoring, so their numbers are less inflated than the scores may be elsewhere. Also, natural coffees generally carry some ferment notes that I personally like, but that can lower a coffee’s score. The traditional washed coffee cupping score includes “clean cup” and “defects” scoring and, traditionally, dry process coffees have often had lower scores because of this, although I have seen scoring forms specifically for natural coffees, too. I’m not sure if those are typically used, or what, but suffice to say a 93 for a natural coffee is a really high score, especially from Sweet Maria’s!
Ethiopian coffees can be a challenge to roast because of their density, but I got mostly good results out of this coffee with my basic, first generation Behmor 1600 roaster. Sweet Maria’s described this coffee as “a fruit bomb with a fresh and dried fruited notes like strawberry, rhubarb pie, dried banana, green melon and tart, berry-like acidity, with accents of jasmine, all spie and rue. They recommended City to City+ roast levels, which means stopping the roast just after first crack or a handful of seconds after first crack. I’ve generally been wimpy about this, letting the roast go too long after first crack, or my other problem has been that second crack rolls in as first crack is just finishing and I’ve had some trouble with some of these coffees in differentiating the two, ending up with a pretty dark roast. I did that on one of my roasts with this coffee.
This coffee is a mix of Arabica beans from around the Keramo village in the Sidama region of Ethiopia. Some of it is grown on an estate called Daye Bensa and the rest comes from neighboring farms. These coffees are grown at 2000-2100masl and they are certified organic, which is a big feat for African coffee farms to achieve. Natural coffees are sorted by hand and then the coffee cherries, still intact, are laid out to dry on raised beds, sort of like turning grapes into raisins. While the fruit dries and breaks down, the seeds inside the cherries, what we call coffee beans, soak up a lot of the byproducts and this produces fruity flavors, lots of sweetness and body, too. Especially Ethiopian naturals are prized for their berry flavors, but you can get banana, tropical fruits and others, too.
First Roast
I used 155g and set the Behmor for a 1lb roast size, program P1, “B”, and this put 20:00 total on the clock. Trying to get fancy, I propped the door open with a chopstick when first crack commenced, which was at 9:35 left on the timer. First crack started in earnest at 8:50 and was over at 7:51 for the most part. I thought I was getting some stray 1C’s still at 7:32 and even some more at 7:10, and I don’t think this was second crack. I stopped the roast at 6:50 and ended up with a yield of 133.3g, or an 86% yield.
After a few days of rest, I made a pourover using my standard pourover setup of a 1:16 ratio of 22g of coffee to 352g of Third Wave Water in a Trinity Origin dripper using a Kalita 155 filter. This is basically a standard flat-bottom three-hole brewer. I pulse pour through a Melodrip to minimize agitation of the brew bed. I’ll basically just break down my notes here, so excuse the so-so writing! I found the fragrance from the grounds to be very sweet and fruity and I was getting strawberry candy notes. The brewing aroma was floral and fruity and had a caramelized sugar note that reminded me of cotton candy. The cup was light bodied and had strawberry notes, but also some roastiness that reminded me of toasted bread. It got much better as the cup cooled, with the body consolidating to a medium. Sweet caramel base, fresh strawberry fruit especially in the aftertaste, and some lingering baked bread notes. Nice amount of ferment that I liked and added complexity with a slight lactic note, giving a cream/dairy vibe to the cup. Finished sweet with some lingering florals in the aftertaste.
Second Roast
Did this one about a month later and it was a colder October day. I did 155g again, set the machine to 1lb, “B” and P1. Decided not to use the chopstick or prop the door or do anything fancy. First crack started with 10:10 on the timer and slowed down by 9:05. I thought 1C was picking up again at 8:51 and was still going at 8:26. At 8:10 I got a bunch of rapid cracks, which I think was second crack, but I wasn’t sure as there was never really a quiet period once 1C started. I’m sure I rolled into 2C here, though. I was still getting some random cracks at 7:20 and I stopped the roast at 6:55. I got 130g yield, which was 84%. By this time I had my Roast Vision roast tester and it measured a 9, on a scale of 0-35 with smaller numbers being darker roasts. So, yeah, I rolled this coffee right into second crack.
I pulled an espresso ahot about 15 days later and got some roasty notes, but also plum and some grapefruit and an interesting hop-like bitterness that I kind of liked. 22 days off roast I pulled another shot, using 18.4g in, and in 35 seconds I only got 17.6g out, so a true ristretto. There was a lot of carbon notes, but dark chocolate and berry jam and I actually liked this quite a bit, surprisingly.
Third Roast
161g green weight, this time I used “B,” P1 and used the 1/2lb setting. I also added two increments of time so the timer started with 13:30 on it. First crack started with 3:50 left on the timer and I stopped the roast with 1:20 left. I ended up with 139g and a 86% yield, same as the first roast. The first roast which had an 86% yield got there in 13:10 total time. With this roast, I got to my 86% yield in about 1 minute less time.
I did another pourover test on this coffee after a few days of rest, using the same setup as all my pourovers, described above. The dry fragrance was berry jam and Fruit Stripe gum. Aroma was sweet, berries. Light body, floral, lots of berries, higher acidity on my palate, lemon candy acidity. More mellow acidity if I held the coffee in my mouth longer. Cocoa in the second half of the sip and finish. Raspberry jam, blackberries. Dairy like sweetness. Slightly dry finish and aftertaste is alittle astringent-feeling on my tongue. Cooler cup, has less of that lemon candy acidity and the raspberry comes up more. Some pineapple-like sweetness and acidity in the cooler cup.
Overall Impressions
I really liked this coffee. It worked at a variety of roast levels, although I am pretty forgiving to dark roasts where some people really hate them. The first roast seemed to be my best one, and I really enjoyed the third roast, too, but it felt a little “too light” to me and I wish I’d let the roast go just a smidge longer to mellow it out just a hair. As Ethiopian coffees can be difficult to roast, I was quite pleased with myself on this one!