School of Dark Roasting - Wilson’s Coffee and Tea (more photos)
Last time I met up with Neal Wilson it was to review his coffeehouse and roasting operation. While interviewing him, he mentioned that he was among those who still believed there is such a thing as a good dark roast. As this statement run contrary to my own 3rd-Wave indoctrination, I deiced to do a follow up visit to learn from Neal about the School of Dark Roasting.
Let me start out by saying that I have great respect for Neal as a teaching the SCAA Educational Pathways program, as well as the leadership he offers in the Coffee Roasters guild and his work on the coffee roasting profiling software Typica. It should also be noted that Neal has a great love for a broad range coffee types and roast levels, not just dark roasts. It should also be noted that Neal does not start out seeking to dark roast, but rather lets each bean speak for itself, rather than forcing a roast profile on.
Just as there are some regions of origin that shine for light roasts, there are also some regions that shine for dark roasts. These are mainly southeast Asia and Central and South America, such as Sulawesi, Sumatra, Papua New Guinea, Costa Rica, Brazil, Columbia, and Peru just to name a few. Although not a fast and hard rule, the better quality beans for dark roasts can also be found at higher altitudes and shade grow.
In terms of flavor notes, the dark roasts fall in the blue and purple range on the older SCAA flavor wheel. These include such positives notes as smoky, spicy, clove, ceder, piney, pepper, and black current.
For this education session on the School of Dark Roasting, we went ran through 3 rounds of cupping. The first round of cupping had a wide range of origins, each roasted to a different level, from light to dark. The second two rounds of cupping all had the same Papua New Guinea Kunjin mill. In the 2rd round of cupping there was a wider range of times and temperatures for each of the samples. With the 3rd round the the samples we cupped were in a much tighter range of time and temperature. We ended our dark roasting taste test by pulling two dark roasted SO-Espresso shots, Sumatran and a Guatemalan.
In the end, I really loved exploring the darker roasts in theory through the teachings, computer roast profiles, around the cupping table, and at the espresso bar. I found Neal to be knowledgeable, passionate, and detailed regarding everything evolved.
While i may not be as passionate as Neal for the dark roasts, as a result of this education session I am gaining a greater appreciation for and taste for darker roasted coffee. Not only have some of my negative views on dark roasting changed, I actually want to learn more in this area.
Wanted to thank Neal Wilson for challenging me to break out of my 3rd-Wave indoctrination and taking the time and effort to teach me more about the school of dark roasting. I found him to be a great coffee roaster, coffee taster, and coffee educator.
