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My friend Malcolm has this funny way of getting me into new things. First it was beer tasting, then it was wine tasting, then it was scotch tasting (do you notice a theme?). He likely would have gotten me into cigar smoking were it not for the fact that I had quit smoking after having spent over 10 years with the habit (my wife doth protest this particular vice). So now it is my turn to influence him, he liked the idea of roasting his own coffee so he decided to give it a try.
He obtained some Brazilian Mogiana green beans and decided that Saturday morning he would roast them at 400 deg/f in the oven on a cookie sheet. I have not tried the oven roasting method so I was particularly interested in his results. The only advice that I offered him was to take the battery out of his smoke detector and then I waited to learn how it went.
The following day I took my son out on a Daddy-Son Date and when I returned home I had a 20 second message on my answering machine. Click **** HERE **** to listen to the message.
Brazil
I roasted 2oz of this bean (yielding 1.5oz of ground coffee) Full-City+ to make a 12 cup pot of coffee. And what a great pot it was!
This cup was nutty and earthy as before (Search "Mogiana") but much fuller this time. The darker roast works well with this bean as it makes a very rich cup that begs you to have more. I have not been rating coffees on the second time around but with the Mogiana I make an exception and give this roast an 8 when it was once a 5.
Costa Rica
As I have seated myself and am preparing to write this review I ask that you would bear with me a bit while I go get another cup of this Tarrazu.
O.K., I have returned. Thank you for waiting.
As a Full-City+ roast I find this cup to be very pleasing. The aroma is strong and spreads around the house like a fine linen blanket that invites you to snuggle in while it brews. Very smooth with a strong fragrant scent.
The flavor is very earthy, and (as someone else describes it) pleasingly straightforward. Straightforward is a great term that describes the flavor in this cup because other adjectives do not seem to identify the quality here. It really is a flavor that has to be experienced to be understood. I read that the Tarrazu is a classical bean that is known for its fruity and nutty attribute but I am afraid that the nut is lost on me - all I taste is the pleasing fruitiness that seems to make this cup "straightforward".
From 1 to 10 I rate this coffee a 6.
Brazil
Nutty and Earthy! Here is a great example of what Nut and Earth taste like in coffee. There is a bit of a wine attribute on the finish of this flavor but it is slight enough to leave you asking if it is really there. The dominant flavor is that of Nut with a fine compliment of Earth tone that balances off the taste.
The aroma is strong with a sweetend earth flavor which is pleasing but not fascinating.
The overall experience is good because this Brazilian bean is the best example of Nut that I have had so far. The flavor does not beg me to drink more but at the same time I like it enough to suggest it to you and to pour myself another cup.
From 1 to 10 I rate this coffee a 5.
Zimbabwe
At city, to full-city, this is a very pleasing and surprising cup. You know that it is a good cup when you take a sip and say "wow" and you look for your wife to try it.
The coffee has a dominant floral quality that hits you with a definite floral sweetness right off. There is a nutty quality to this brew which is only slightly noticeable upon the finish.
The aroma did not stand out as one of distinction - smelled like coffee. I will comment later about how it tasted over ice.
From 1 to 10 I rate this coffee a 6.
Colombia
The aroma of this cup smells as a cup of coffee is expected to smell. It smells nostalgic of grandma's house when coffee was still made with a percolator and you awoke to the smell of coffee wafting through the house. There seems to be a lot of smell for such a lightly roasted bean.
There is a dominant nutty flavor, in this cup, that finishes with a nice fruity and spicy note. The flavor is very good but I do not think it is anything more special than a cup of Maxwell House dark roast.
From 1 to 10 I rate this coffee a 2.
My friend Malcolm has this funny way of getting me into new things. First it was beer tasting, then it was wine tasting, then it was scotch tasting (do you notice a theme?). He likely would have gotten me into cigar smoking were it not for the fact that I had quit smoking after having spent over 10 years with the habit (my wife doth protest this particular vice). So now it is my turn to influence him, he liked the idea of roasting his own coffee so he decided to give it a try.
Red 
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