Have you tried Tom's decaf beans?  they are great.  I can't tell the
difference in taste between caf and non caf which certainly isn't the case
when you order in a restaurant.  So far have roasted Mexican, Colombian, and
Indonesian
Blend decafs.  They are all terrific.  Thank you Tom!
HW roaster, hand drip through Melitta filter, hand ground with a Zassenhaus
.Most roasts at 6-7 minute range
Larry

 
At 06:42 PM 4/6/00 -0500, Larry Rubin wrote:
<Snip>
     I had an opportunity to try some decaf a week ago, a friend was going 
to visit and she doesn't drink caffineated beverages.  So I order some 
Indonesian Organic Komodo SWP Decaf for her ... I like it so much I'm going 
to try the regular stuff too.
     And like Larry said:  Thanks Tom!
-- Byron

Could you describe the roast. I did a 1/2 cup load
in a HW Precision at 4.5 . I didn't like the result.
Byron Siegel wrote:
<Snip>

Which HW roaster, Gourmet or Precision?
Larry Rubin wrote:
<Snip>

It was an HW Precision and I don't go by setting.  I usually roast until I
see the first bean with oil and then turn on the cooling button.  A 4.5
setting would give you about a 6 min or less roast and I like it a little
darker.  Hope this helps. Larry

 
At 10:26 PM 4/6/00 -0500, Tom wrote:
<Snip>
     Tom, will the new newsletter answer my previous question to you 
regarding when you call the "crack," when you say 2nd crack in your roast 
recommendations do you mean the first and earliest pop, after it reaches a 
fast crack, peak crack ...
-- Byron 

 
At 10:03 PM 4/6/00 -0400, Jeffrey Vandegrift asked:
<Snip>
Hi Jeff,
Organic Komodo SWP Decaf:  225.0 grams Green/183.5 grams Roasted (18.4% 
weight loss)
16:17 - 1st Crack
18:16 - 2nd Crack
19:00 - Stopped Roast (At about 30 seconds into fast 2nd crack)
Light Medium - Dark , Few Oil Patches (more oil developed 
after 2 1/2 days rest)
Espresso (cappa):  Full body, good balance, somewhat earthy (Organic 
Sumatra Gayo Mountain), and a subtle lingering tangy aftertaste.
-- Byron 

<Snip>
Thanks! Now I will send that $200 gambling debt I owe you (just kidding)...
But sometimes I do think that the homeroasting decaf drinker probanbly
experiences a greater leap in quality than those who drink regular, mainly
because decaf quality is so poor in commercial coffee, because decaf needs
more care in handling and good processing, and in fact most in the coffee
trade give LESS care and pay less attention to decaf quality!
But decarfs are tricky to roast too. If you think of every coffee as having
a roast degree "window" in which they are excellent by less-subjective
standards , than decaf has a narrower window than many regular coffees.
Many pro roasters talk a lot about how easy it is to over roast the decafs,
especially the Swiss Water ones. SWPs look so dark when they roast, you
cant judge color. And they pass from first to second crack so quickly in
any roaster...
Color-wise, a nice, medium roast for an SWP will show (under good strong
light) a darker strip of chaff in the fold in the bean and a bean color
several shades lighter. If you look at it and the bean surface color
matches the chaff strip, its a bit dark (which may be fine, but is a on the
heavier end of Full City, no longer a medium or City roast).
The new newsletter being sent out today talks about degree of roast and the
ways of gauging it, and why I rely heacily of on the "cracks" in our coffee
descriptions to communicate roast preferences...
BTW, I will be assisting at the SCAA Roast Fundamentals Seminar moderated
by my pal Scott Reed on Friday if anyone is going (?), and will also be
manning the SCAA Technical Standards booth on Sunday for 3 hours.
Tom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
             * Sweet Maria's Home Coffee Roasting Supplies *
                  Tom and Maria * info
                   web:http://www.sweetmarias.com

Tom,
If, after roasting, I grind the beans and try to compare to the Agtron color chips
in Davids' book, do I get a good indication of roast color?  In other words, is
the darker color only on the surface, or is it changed throughout the bean?
I, too, have noticed that the decaf beans seem to go to 2nd crack more quickly.
In fact, I have a hard time hearing 1st crack at all with (at least) the PNG SWP
beans.
=Spencer
<Snip>

Spencer,
It will probably be a while before Tom has a chance to answer you questions,
so I'll give it a try.  You asked:
<Snip>
color chips
<Snip>
words, is
<Snip>
bean?>
I'm sure you have noticed that the color is considerably lighter after you
have ground the beans.  this should answer your question about surface
color.  Due to printing irregularities, the colors in the book are not
accurate,
but you may use them as a relative standard, once you get a little roasting
experience.
<Snip>
quickly.
<Snip>
PNG SWP
<Snip>
Decaf beans have somewhat less moisture content than non processed beans.
Therefore, less energy is expended in expelling moisture.  You can expect to
experience shorter overall roast times with decaf beans.  Sometimes it is
difficult to distinguish between 1st and 2nd cracks,  which often arrive
surprisingly soon.  Listen carefully and watch the roast color.   Be very
quick to dump and cool.
 In my experience, decaf beans produce a better tasting brew when taken to a
slightly darker roast, especially those using a chemical extraction process.
The higher temperatures reached during the 2nd crack should incinerate any
residual chemical artifacts in those decaf beans.

You may want to roast beyond the first sign of oil as the oil is near the
surface on DeCaf beans and will show up sooner than normal beans.  As I
understand it, the bean could still be soft at this stage and you want to the
bean to crisp. You should be able to break the bean apart with your fingers
(ouch!) and the inside of the bean should be judged for color, that is it
should be even throughout and to the color you find best. I roasted a batch of
decaf last week on a Diedrich IR-12 and finished with a glossy glassy looking
bean. When ground, the grounds were towards the dark color--about normal for a
drip coffee.
Larry Rubin wrote:
<Snip>
--
------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard (Dick) Heggs
Beautiful Okanagan Valley of British Columbia.
Homeroasting P(Mark I),espresso, drip--since 1997-established 1938http://members.home.net/espressomio/