Lacehim wrote:
It's a bit black looking. Is it supposed to look like that? Certainly doesn't look like any regular roast that I've done in the past. Still an experience all the same eh.
Decaf needs a carefully managed roast. Depending upon the type of decaf (the way it was processed) the moisture levels and bean structure could be quite different. As you would have been starting with a darker looking green, it will in fact look quite dark on the outside when roasted and most likely oil up very quickly. Wait a few days and then grind some, you may be surprised that the ground coffee is not as dark as you would think or a comparative dark roasted non-decaf bean - sometimes decaf can be very deceptive (appearing over roasted and dark in whole bean form). You may have gone a touch too far, but it's a learning experience. As a guide (depending upon roaster type) I tend to pull my decaf roasts about 1 to 1:30 minutes earlier than the equivalent non-decaf charge weight - the decaf bean is obviously much lighter and less dense in it's roasted state possibly due to a greater proportion of moisture loss compared to a non-decaf (that is, I suspect the decaf beans give off a lot more moisture, or dry out, more so than a non-decaf). The reasons I say this - the weight of a certain volume of roasted decaf is marginally lighter, the way it runs (or clogs) the de-stoner, the way to runs through the packing machine and finally it needs more "volume" to fill a bag, e.g. more beans to reach the net weight.
