Hi everyone, I am keen to get the people’s thoughts on Roasting and experiences from those who have been roasting for a while. What were the “aha or eureka!” moments and biggest lessons you had in your first year? I would love to hear your thoughts as i am sure the community would too :) My Coffee Roasting Journey (So Far!)…. I have had a keen interest in coffee for several years and currently work as Head Barista at EspressBros inside Low Key Taprooms in Ashford town centre. Check it out if you have not been before ;) As well as being a Barista, the other area of coffee that intrigues me is Coffee roasting and this has increased over the past few years and recently I took the plunge and decided to investigate this fascinating area of the industry. I started roasting only a few months ago with the Kaffelogic Nano 7 sample roaster and it has been an exciting (and sometimes humbling) steep learning curve. I have been focusing on: • Testing different development percentages to see how they affect sweetness, balance, and fruit-forward notes. • Running cuppings to compare profiles side by side and track how changes in the roast show up in the cup. • Exploring how to highlight florals, berry notes, and chocolatey depth depending on the coffee. • Playing around with end roast temperature and how it affects the taste So far, I have mostly been working with Ethiopian coffees Yirgacheffe, Sidamo and Djimma as well as Kenyan Bora for their fruity and floral clarity, as well as some Mexican SHG with chocolatey citrus notes. It has been interesting to see how even small tweaks in the roast can completely change the expression of those flavours. I would love to start my own micro Roastery soon and this is looking like it could become a reality. I am waiting for a unit to become available, and I have a larger roaster on order, the Aillio Bullet R1 V2 Pro which should be available soon once final safety testing is completed. I am hoping this will give me more control and flexibility as I keep improving and experimenting and produce larger quantities for each roast.

Every now and then I’ll mix a few beans together (the ends of the bag) to make a blend as a chemex or filter brew. I’ve learnt a few things about blending this way. Do you do this?

I've noticed some people spraying water on coffee beans before grinding—what's the purpose of this, and doesn't it make the grounds clump together?

Is this an espresso or a pour-over… or something else entirely… What do you think?

The Upgraded takeout coffee haha :)