Colombian Pitalito

West_Village

Hey guys,

Been a behmor roaster for about 8 months. Just got my hands on some columbian Pitalito. I've never roasted any columbian nor Brazilian on the behmor before but have roasted a Peru bean. Any tips/profiles I should use which will get the best out of the beans? I drink espresso and milk based as opposed to pour over so would assume taking them 2nd as minimum would be appropriate?

Do you roast it the same way you would the Peru? I normally do a manual mode in P1 till FC then P3 till first snips of 2nd then pull it. That normally gets me pretty close to how I like drinking the Peru.

Any tips would be great!

deegee

I haven't roasted any of the Pitalito recently, but my rather rusty memory is telling me that they were similar to most of the other Colombians I have tried. Perhaps I've been lucky, but I've never had a Colombian I didn't like. I have a Behmor, but I still do most of my roasting in a modified popper, so my profiles would not be of much help to you. However, after many roasts, I found that I like my Colombians best when I stop the heat at the first snaps of 2C, and cool them quickly. I like Peruvians done the same, or just a little longer. So if you like your Peruvians roasted the way you have described, then the same method would be a good way to start on the Pitalito's. Then you could try going a tad darker (or lighter) with the next batch - if you feel that you need to.

askthecoffeeguy

Ive roasted a bunch of Colombian coffees on the Behmor I find that they like a like a longer slower profile whichfir me means P4 till first crack then I do a temperature drop at the end of first crack and let it coast to the first snips of second then pull the roast Don't really take any of my coffees into 2nd crack now if I can avoid it as I find that they might tastes great for the first 4 or 5 days they do tend to deteriorate in flavour quite quickly after that I almost always do a full 500g roast on manual settings and push the manual timer out to max settings to give me more options with my roast Hope that helps Pat

askthecoffeeguy

Plus I tend to fund the Colombia beans quite overwhelming on their own so I usually only use them for bout 10 to 20 per cent of my blends unless I'm roasting for filter

West_Village

Awesome tips guys I'll certainly take them into consideration! What do you find Colombians are blended well with? The Pitalito has a fairly high acidity so I'd like to hedge that with a indo or PNG. What other beans do you use columbian a with Pat? I don't mean to be asking for any trade secrets . Most so some complimentary beans to roast with it. Do you treat them like Ethiopians in terms of their high acidity ?

deegee

As Pat has mentioned, some Colombians can be a bit potent as an S/O, but if you want to, you can tame them by blending with a milder bean. I have used them in various ratios with a Peruvian, and with a couple of Indian beans. They go well with Tiger Mountain and Elephant Hills. I suspect that almost any bean that's a bit bland on it's own could be given a lift with a good Colombian. i have had a Colombian that was good in milk coffee on it's own, and another that was great as an espresso, but sadly neither of them are currently available from suppliers who sell to home roasters. Not sure how the Pitalto's would go with an Indo or a PNG but if you roast separately and post blend, you won't waste a whole batch if they don't play well together. Of the two I think I would try the PNG, but that's probably because the Indo's I've tried were also strong flavoured, albeit different from a Colombian.

West_Village

Thanks, I'll give them a go with the Peru as I have some Peru dregs left. Maybe a 75/25 split between the Peru and columbian as a pre roast blend. I'll report back when she is drinkable. In terms of being "potent" as a SO is that due to the acidity? Or the flavour characteristics?

askthecoffeeguy

I'm doing a roast right now with 40% Kenya 40% PNG and 20% Columbia it's one of my favourite blend combinations and I love getting a little colour on it without pushing it into second crack Ive been serving it to my guests all day at a little birthday celebration I'm having at home and it's wowed my guests so much so that I've run out of coffee thus the fresh roast and I'll also be using it to make espresso martinis tonight !

askthecoffeeguy

I also 'burp' the roaster when I hit first crack (open the door for a moment to let some heat out and increase the drum speed at the same time to reduce the direct heat on the bean - after end of rolling first crack I do a temperature drop and coast on P1 for about 2 mins then I'm done !

askthecoffeeguy

Correction coasted for one minute after end of 1st crack the pulled the roast and 1st puff off smoke indicating onset of 2nd crack initiated cool down cycle and opened the door in the Behmor to speed up cool down a bit

West_Village

Very nice! Is it your bday? If so happy bday! That sounds like a great tasting blend ! I've got the behmor locked and loaded for a roast tonight currently with a 70/30 Peru Columbia. I've never bought nor roasted any Kenyans . I'm starting to think I need to get me some greens! Typically are Kenyans more citrusy ?

deegee

West Village wrote:

In terms of being "potent" as a SO is that due to the acidity? Or the flavour characteristics?

I'm a very poor judge of acidity in coffee, so I'm referring only to the depth/strength of flavour. Personally i like a good Colombian in milk drinks, but some of my family or friends will sometimes say they are "nice - but a bit strong". The last two Colombians I had were great, but are now almost all gone, but I would happily drink either of them as an S/O or the major component in a blend, not just a small percentage.

West_Village

So I just completed the roast . I'll report back in a few days with how it drinks however for those with a behmor I applied the following. Charge: 325grams (75% Peru,25% columbian Pitalito) P1 B profile , 400g weight selected @ FC I cut power for 30 secs After 30 secs I went back up to 50% till end of roast Stopped roast about 3:10sec after FC started Looks to be medium roast (perhaps on the lighter side which I wasn't aiming for) I'll see how it tastes in a few days and report back

askthecoffeeguy

Sounds good I'm back on the roaster again with the same blend Ive had a festival at my place in the hills behind noosa for the last five days to celebrate my 50th with 30 mates camped out in the back yard (it's a big back yard ) and Ive been through 500g of beans in the last two days alone ! Anyway the roast is tasting great but definitely benefits from having a bit of age on it 4 to 7 days post roast and it seems to hit it's sweet spot I've also found with Colombian beans that they can be a bit sour earlier on so getting a bit of age on them.can help a lot especially if you're drinking them as a single origin P

West_Village

Day 6 of resting my Peru/columbian roast. Just finishing off my other blend 50/50 (PNG/Ethiopian) pulled just this side of 2C which has knocked my socks off! I thought she might have been a bit to light but it's been spectacular . Can't wait to crack into my first columbian blend over the weekend!

askthecoffeeguy

yep I'm loving mine as well still fresh as a daisy but drinking like a dream - shame Ive had to bench my rancilio epoca (I'm keeping it in the shed coz I get jack of hauling it up and two flights of stairs three times a week to cater for the markets ) - my sunbeam cafe series 'backup' machine doesn't really do it justice ! the Sunbeam has excellent shot quality but the milk production is rubbish - I have managed to trick it up a bit and I can get a great tasting coffee from it but it's hard work compared to the epoca Pat

West_Village

Oh no I can only imagine the weight of the epocA. My new unico splendor is in repairs this week for a new vacuum release valve also so been using my breville barista express as the backup . Do you think 8-10 days is to long in terms of letting the columbian settle from an acidity point of view? I'm worried I didn't take it dark enough as I pulled it before second crack ( not majorly early) I still got about 3:10 sec of development of a 350g charge in the behmor . But it didn't hit 2C. I tried cutting power for 30secs completely at FC before hitting P3 and pulling about 3 mins after FC

askthecoffeeguy

I'd be happily drinking it 4 days post roast but I'd probably fine the grind and down dose to compensate for freshness

West_Village

Ive got another roast on the ready for the behmor this weekend. This time a 50/25/25 PNG/columbian Pitalito/Ethiopian longberry. Not sure what to expect to be honest. I'll keep your tips regarding roast freshness up my sleeve! Thanks

Lwowiak

Hi WV, Curious how your blend will go. I have never tried such a combo. I am careful with Colombians as some are very acidic with lemon and grapefruit overtones. I have a red bourbon honey processed Colombian which has been excellent as a SO espresso. It took me a few goes to get it right, but it was worth the effort. It is also very nice roasted lighter for filter coffee. Another favourite of mine is a Red Honey processed Costa Rica coffee (CoopeTarrazu TE). This has been very easy to roast (similar to the Colombian), and is excellent on its own. I have added Indos and others to it, by way of an experiment, but it was perfect as a Single Origin. Let us know how it turns out.