Coffee | One Roast at a Time

  • How I’m Learning to Taste Coffee (Without Chasing Tasting Notes)

    One of the quieter pressures I felt early on was tasting. Watching experienced roasters and tasters talk confidently about flavour, citrus, florals, stone fruit, chocolate, I kept wondering whether I was missing something fundamental. I could tell when a coffee tasted good or bad, strong or weak, balanced or sharp, but I couldn’t reliably name…

  • Tasting update – Roasts 11, 12, and 8 (Brazilian naturals)

    Roasts 11 and 12 were tested across OxO Rapid Brew, espresso, and cappuccino. In all methods, both roasts were easy to drink and broadly similar in outcome. Acidity was mild, flavours were balanced, and both cups presented a light, tea-like character. Differences between the two were subtle rather than decisive; the Topazio (Roast 11) may…

  • Method & Assumptions

    Method & Assumptions This page records the underlying assumptions and methods used throughout Coffee | One Roast at a Time. It is not a set of rules, standards, or best practices.It exists to make explicit how decisions are framed, how evidence is treated, and how conclusions are (or are not) drawn. Nothing here is fixed…

  • Green Coffees Used

    Green Coffees Used This page records the green coffees used throughout Coffee | One Roast at a Time. It is not a buying guide or a list of recommendations.It exists to provide factual context for roast notes, experiments, and observations documented elsewhere on the site. The table below acts as an index.The sections that follow…

  • Roast 15 — Honduras Catuai, Natural

    Development contrast Context Roast 15 was planned as a controlled development contrast against Roast 14.The intent was not exploration or optimisation, but to extend development slightly while keeping all other variables stable. This roast exists to answer one question only: Does slightly more development improve body and finish without muting clarity? Roast details System behaviour…

  • Quick Start

    Quick Start isn’t about doing less. It’s about deciding when “good enough” really is good enough. A Good-Enough Roast for Clean Naturals (Gene Café CBR-301) This post exists for people who just want drinkable coffee. Not perfect coffee.Not optimised coffee.Not coffee that requires listening for crack, watching graphs, or making decisions mid-roast. Just coffee that…

  • The Gene Café CBR-301 — What Has Stopped Changing

    The Gene Café CBR-301 — What Has Stopped Changing This page records what has remained consistent across repeated roasts on a single Gene Café CBR-301 setup. It is not a how-to guide, a profile collection, or a set of recommended settings. Nothing here guarantees results. Everything here has earned its place by not changing across…

  • Roast 14 — Honduras Catuai Natural

    Gene Café CBR-301 | Active Exhaust Date: 2026-02-??Batch: 250 gOut: 217 gWeight loss: 13.2%Set temp: 250 °CPreheat: NoneEnd time: ~12:4xCoffee: Honduras, Chinacla (La Paz) — Finca El PuenteProducers: Marysabel Caballero & Moises HerreraVariety: CatuaiProcess: NaturalCrop: 2025 Why this roast matters The key insight behind this roast did not originate here. That turning point occurred with…

  • Roast 7 — Finished, shared, and nothing wasted

    Date: 2026-01-24 Context Roast 7 was a 300 g batch roasted on the Gene Café CBR-301, and it has now been fully consumed. This roast was not created as an experiment or a contrast roast. It emerged as part of the normal rhythm of learning, applying what had already begun to settle from earlier roasts,…

  • Roast 13 — Ethiopia Guji Karume (Natural)

    Roast 13 — Ethiopia Guji Karume (Natural) Date: 2026-02-01 Context This roast was recorded in real time and narrated as it happened, not as an instructional video, but as a “fly on the wall” capture of decision-making under uncertainty. The coffee is an Ethiopian Guji Karume natural. The roaster is a Gene Café CBR-301. The…