Our Roaster’s Brew Box is a sensory development tool that’s built to help roasters learn more about brewing and share roasting techniques with baristas and home brewers. In the newest edition, the Colombia Manos Juntas Brew Box, we had an opportunity to pull back the curtain and show how changes to the end of the roast profile completely transform the brew. The Brew Box includes a sample roast of the coffee, so folks can see what we initially loved about it, and three profiles of the coffee designed to highlight different qualities of the green.
In this post, I’ll share brewing recipes for each of the three profiles we feature in the Brew Box. Since the roast curve is different for each coffee, a different brew recipe is created to bring out the best elements of the bean.
I was able to speak directly with our roaster Bryant to gain some additional insight into how the profiles were developed and what he was hoping to create in the final cup. His notes on the profile design helped guide my decisions for the brewing recipes.
One of the joys of getting a new coffee in the roastery is dialing it in. There are two main things I’m thinking about when I begin to dial in: a standard starting recipe and notes from the person who roasted it.
A standard recipe allows me to taste the coffee in the same way a roaster would cup a sample roast to determine the right profile. We cannot profile the brew until we get a base idea of what it tastes like. From here, we gather notes from our brews and make adjustments to find a recipe tailored to highlight things we love about that specific coffee.
I’m also considering notes the roaster has shared about their process. This translates to how I structure the brew recipe. For example, knowing my coffee spent a certain amount of time in the development phase allows me to make a decision to extend my brew time for more sweetness. If I know that the roaster wanted to emphasize acidity in the coffee, I might emphasize that by agitating the brew bed.
A note on technique:
- “Bloom” the first contact of water to ground coffee, done with a slow and gentle pour, after which the coffee expands as the gasses are released.
- “Break pour” refers to a fast, heavy flow pour that breaks the crust formed during the bloom.
STARTING POINT: THE BASE RECIPE I USED TO INITIALLY TASTE EACH OF THESE PROFILES
Standard recipe and parameters:
Dose – 12.5g
Grind – 6.5 on the EK-43
Water Amount- 200ml
Water Temperature – 205° Fahrenheit
Ratio – 1:16
Time Marks:
0:00 – 30g of water to bloom, gentle flow touching all of the coffee.
0:30 – 50g break pour, spiral in and out.
0:45 – 40g pour, spiral in and out.
1:05 – 40g pour, spiral in and out.
1:30 – 40g last pour, spiral in and out.
PROFILE #1
Notes from the roaster:
“This profile is sort of a ‘tried and true’ or ‘gentle approach’ to a natural processed coffee. Lower charge, elongated roast with a lower heat application. My hope was a big body in the cup balanced by deep and juicy fruit notes. Not quite as much acidity, but just rounded, classic, and balanced overall.”
I initially tasted this profile using my standard recipe. I took notes from what I was tasting and had Bryant taste it as well. We agreed that we wanted to experience less tart acidity up front, and the lingering aftertaste needed to be more pronounced.
The second brew resulted in the best cup – deep tropical fruit notes, chocolate and fudge with a velvety finish. With my third brew, I tried for a bigger body by upping my dose by 0.5g but keeping the pour structure the same. In this cup, we lost that tropical sweetness and the balanced acidity throughout. It was replaced by notes of dried fruits with a lingering tartness. The aftertaste of this brew was heavy, almost like fruit juice. We eventually made our way back to the second brew as we thought it captured everything we wanted in the coffee.
Changes I made to the standard recipe:
Using my tasting notes and information from Bryant allowed me to make the necessary changes to my brew and achieve the cup we favored most. Instead of continuing with the 50g break pour and the 3 consecutive 40g pulses, I changed the pour structure to allow for 2 larger break pours and a lighter, rinse pour at the end. This created more agitation at the start of the brew for a fuller, rounder body and a balanced juicy sweetness.
NEW RECIPE:
Dose – 12.5g
Grind – 6.5 on the EK-43
Water Amount- 200ml
Water Temperature – 205° Fahrenheit
Ratio – 1:16
Drain Time – 2:00
Time marks:
0:00 – 30g of water to bloom – gentle flow touching all of the coffee.
0:30 – 70g break pour – 5 circles spiraling in and out.
0:45 – 70g pour – 5 circles spiraling in and out.
1:05 – 30g last pour – 3 circles spiraling in and out.
PROFILE #2
Notes from the roaster:
“I wanted to roast this coffee hot and fast to see if it brought out a brighter cup. I think it created a crisp and high-noted cup and turned some of those round fruit notes into more of a boozy or liqueur-like experience.”
Starting at the beginning here with our standard recipe, Bryant and I collected notes about Profile #2 from the first brew. Everything was balanced, but Bryant suggested getting a more syrupy mouthfeel. For the next brew, I up-dosed by 0.5g. The result was a cup with notes of navel orange, spice, and stone fruit. More peach flavors, like peach skin, with a maple syrup-like finish. This brew captured everything out of the roast – as it cooled, the chocolate was more present. It coated the palate with a pleasant acidity up front. Lots of cherry fruit in our final cup along with fig and Amaro.
New Recipe
Dose – 13 g
Grind – 6.5 on the EK-43
Water Amount- 200ml
Water Temperature – 205° Fahrenheit
Ratio – 1:16
Drain Time – 2:15
Time marks:
0:00 – 30g of water to bloom – gentle flow touching all of the coffee.
0:30 – 50g break pour – 5 circles spiraling in and out.
0:45 – 40g pour – 3 circles spiraling in and out.
1:00 – 40g pour – 3 circles spiraling in and out.
1:25 – 40g last pour – 3 circles spiraling in and out
PROFILE #3
High Charge, Medium Heat (408 in 10:42)
Notes from the roaster:
“The natural process in coffee yields so much fruit. Behind that fruit is a coffee that, if washed, would yield a much different cup, right? What if we pull the best of both worlds? While the low and slow approach yields big fruit, a high charge with more mild heat application could produce something with balance from both worlds. Balanced in flavor, my hope was a crisp or sparkling acidity backed by big fruit notes.”
At this point, I knew what recipe would work best for this profile from all of my previous brews, but I had to work from my starting point. I brewed this on the standard recipe once again and took notes. As I suspected, my standard recipe worked well enough to emphasize everything we wanted out of this roast. In this brew we experienced an apple-like acidity, followed by a white sugar and vanilla bean sweetness. The mouthfeel was velvety, with a bakers chocolate finish. As it cooled, our cup got sweeter and more fruity. Acidity turned to grapefruit, becoming more lively, never souring, just a clean cup.
NEW RECIPE
Dose – 12.5g
Grind – 6.5 on the EK-43
Water Amount- 200ml
Water Temperature – 205° Fahrenheit
Ratio – 1:16
Drain Time – 2:20
Time marks:
0:00 – 30g of water to bloom – gentle flow touching all of the coffee.
0:30 – 50g break pour – 5 circles spiraling in and out.
0:45 – 40g pour – 3 circles spiraling in and out.
1:00 – 40g pour – 3 circles spiraling in and out.
1:25 – 40g last pour – 3 circles spiraling in and out.
FINAL NOTES:
Through this dialogue with Bryant, we were able to solidify a recipe for each coffee that accentuated all of the delicious flavors available in the roast.
Before diving into the roasting world myself, I primarily worked in a café setting dialing-in coffees and training baristas. Dialing-in days consisted of taking a new coffee from the roastery and ensuring it had a great recipe that highlighted everything we collectively loved about it. Using tasting notes from the roaster at the cupping table allowed me to navigate a brew method that suited the coffee, and it was a valuable resource I depended on.
Though it felt like I had a lot of information at the time to work off of, I still spent countless hours really trying to understand the behavior of the coffee. Being able to learn directly from the roaster and understand their intentions with each profile provides a valuable shortcut to the ideal brew recipe.
