Roasting Nicaragua yellow honey Finca Cerra de Jesus microlot La Arabia

- maart 21, 2018

Shot from Batch #5, 18g in, 30g out in 21 seconds, LONDINIUM R

With a friend, I managed to procure 7 kg's of Nicaragua yellow honey Finca Cerra de Jesus microlot La Arabia for a little over € 90 (from Hoofdkwartier). Usually I like to buy more volume because it sometimes takes several batches of roasting to "get it right" so for this one I felt I had to focus extra on giving it my best shot.

Profile of Batch #3

At 11.7% the green beans are more moist than my other recently roasted greens so this was of influence. The beans also came out a little lighter than expected in their Tonino color measurement. I usually aim for Tonino 95 and the first batch came out at 103 in a profile of just over 14 minutes. I charged more beans for the next roast, pushing it a little higher in temperature before dropping the beans but the roast took a minute longer and came out a little lighter even.

Batch 3 was just over 15 minutes, a little higher temperature, and when I pulled a shot after a week's rest it was better than #2 but I noted it could have been more mild in taste. I sent 500g to Bob, a friend who is also a home roaster, who has a Bezzera Strega. He likes lighter roasts and he is also honest enough to tell me up front if he dislikes anything about a roast.

He waited a few days longer before trying the beans and was very happy with them, writing it has a note of mandarins without any bitterness.

I just tried the last batch, #5 at Tonino 99, slightly darker than #3 and it is like a blend of Ethiopian and Costa Rica, light, slightly spicy, some creamy quality, pleasant aftertaste too. It needs a finer grind setting than I mostly have which could indicate the beans would benefit from more development even though I don't see in the profile where I would insert more time or energy so I think this was the best I could do with this treat.