Roasting profiles are the recipes roasters create and then apply to green coffee origins during the roasting process.
A profile is an X and Y-axis graph where we typically look at time and temperature. We plot the time it takes to reach set temperature points unlike cooking food in an oven or on a bbq, with roasting, you can't pull your coffee out, cut it open and assess your progress. You rely solely on the profile to track the roast.
There are typically three phases included in a roast profile: Drying, Maillard Reaction phase, First Crack phase.
Additional to this is the Development Time Ratio (DTR) phase which is a percentage representation of total roast time calculated from first crack to end.
Within each of these phases, coffee is changing. From the onset of the Maillard phase, the coffee sugars, amino acids and proteins start to break down, with flavour developing.
The roasting profile is critical in recording these changes for future adaption. It does this through recording and deciphering information off the single or multiple probes found in the roaster and positioned close to or in the middle of the bean mass.
This finished profile with a roasting log will help the roaster at the next stage of tasting the coffee to identify planned flavours or lack thereof.
The roaster can now critically review the profile and its above phases and identify where they need to manipulate.
Now it's back to roasting the coffee and assessing.
Without roasting profiles, the roaster is simply turning the coffee brown and has no point of reference to time or temperature. The roaster will struggle for consistency in both colours of the roasted coffee and flavour development.
The roaster should strive to, at the minimum, use a reputable roast logging system like Kaffelogic Studio or Cropster. If this is not possible, a piece of paper recording times and temperatures during the roast is suitable. The roasting log is criticle when assessing your coffees' reaction to the profile set for it.
If necessary and after tasting , these logs can be readjusted with the intention of generating better origin flavour.
Because coffee is an organic product and forever changing, roast profiles have to change and adapt.
No two roast profiles are the same. There is no one "perfect" roast profile for a coffee origin or blend. It is subjective to taste.
Enjoy this roasting journey.
Author: Wayne Burrows