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Keeping a Journal
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Airhan |
Posted on 11/18/2013 11:11 AM
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1/2 Pounder Posts: 228 Joined: September 29, 2013 |
I've read that a lot of professional roasters keep journals of all the coffee they cup, I'm thinking about doing the same thing, but without supping because I'm not to great at it. Basically I want to start paying more attention to my coffee, looking for origins and flavors I like, as well as finding patterns. Does anyone here keep a coffee journal? I'd like to know what sort of information you write down, I figure this is a good way to go from "this coffee is delicious" to "this coffee has wonderful raspberry notes with wine-like acidity and a milk chocolate finish". So tell me about your journal/tasting record... Aaron
"Grind it like it did you some great injustice!"D.L.Clark |
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tamarian |
Posted on 11/18/2013 12:39 PM
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1/2 Pounder Posts: 320 Joined: January 21, 2012 |
I use Artisan software, which stores every coffee I roast, along with it's name, weight, roast profile, along with notes and cupping wheel, which I haven't used much, but would like to.
Wa'il. 1 Kg PID'ed gas-fired fluid bed roaster, GS/3MPS, K10F
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Airhan |
Posted on 11/18/2013 1:13 PM
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1/2 Pounder Posts: 228 Joined: September 29, 2013 |
I do have a coffee roaster app on my phone that I can put pictures and tasting notes in, I've found that when I use that though, I never go back to look at it or add anything. Maybe I should force myself to do it a few times so I get in to the habit of reviewing my roasts. Tamarian, can you manually enter all of that data into Artisan? I know it can collect data from PID/audrino/ect. If I could manually enter all of that data I might be inclined to try Artisan Aaron
"Grind it like it did you some great injustice!"D.L.Clark |
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tamarian |
Posted on 11/18/2013 1:42 PM
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1/2 Pounder Posts: 320 Joined: January 21, 2012 |
Yes, it allows for manual device (device: None), where you can write the profile points from your paper log, or just notes for the cupping report. I go back a lot to see how certain beans were roasted, and compre profiles. 300+ logs so far. Wa'il. 1 Kg PID'ed gas-fired fluid bed roaster, GS/3MPS, K10F
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boar_d_laze |
Posted on 11/19/2013 11:03 PM
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1/4 Pounder Posts: 181 Joined: May 28, 2013 |
If you don't take notes it didn't happen. I use the SCAA form for scoring coffee, and keep in notebooks. It's complicated and cumbersome. The best thing about it is that -- because it's the industry stanard, pretty much -- you get a pretty good idea of what other people are talking about when you read their scores. The SCAA has a very good online handbook which describes how to score. The best version of the SCAA scoresheet I've ever seen is the one I used at the roasting class I took at Klatch last week. I don't know if Mike created it or if it's commonly available. In addition to the scoring scales, it has all the common descriptors like "chocolate," "milk chocolate," "almond," etc., so you can circle them and save yourself the agony of actually writing a word. Sweet Maria's and COE forms are also good. Cupping is a PITA as it is. Use whatever form you're comfortable you're using consistently. Although I don't use many words, they're important the few times you want to say something that's not a common descriptor but has a lot of meaning to you, like "Dreamsicle," or "Grandma's pancakes." Pen and paper work better for me than computer, pad or phone. A cupping setup is not a friendly environment for me and electronic equipment. But I'm not everyone. A pen which writes on wet paper, like a Fisher "Space Pen" is a good thing to have. The SCAA form is available online in XLS format. Google "xls scaa cupping scoresheet" and click on the first site with an XLS heading. I'm sorry but I can't link you to the url any better than that. You can use the spreadsheet in Excel, or print it out and use it as a paper form. No descriptors though. There's an iphone app which is supposedly pretty good, but I've never tried it. There's also a "product of the year" Android app, called Cupping Lab. I haven't had a chance to take more than a cursory glance, but at first blush, it doesn't seem as though it's set up for ANY flavor descriptors -- not even "chocolate," or "lemon." Since those are very important to me, I don't think I'll be able to use Cupping Lab. But, again... I'm not you. BDL USRC 1lb Roaster, Chemex+Kone, Espro, Various FPs, Royal Siphon Vacuum, Yama Ice Drip Tower, Bunnzilla, La Cimbali M21 Casa, Ceado E92.
CookFoodGood |
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boar_d_laze |
Posted on 11/20/2013 12:33 AM
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1/4 Pounder Posts: 181 Joined: May 28, 2013 |
Pardon my obtuseness, but you CAN make notes on Cupping Lab. Kind of clunky though. BDL USRC 1lb Roaster, Chemex+Kone, Espro, Various FPs, Royal Siphon Vacuum, Yama Ice Drip Tower, Bunnzilla, La Cimbali M21 Casa, Ceado E92.
CookFoodGood |
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ginny |
Posted on 11/20/2013 5:58 AM
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Founder Posts: 3476 Joined: October 24, 2005 |
http://www.sweetm...oklet.html use this, add pages... -g new from Sweet Maria |
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Airhan |
Posted on 11/20/2013 1:24 PM
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1/2 Pounder Posts: 228 Joined: September 29, 2013 |
BDL, thanks for the links to the cupping sheets, they are definitely intimidating, but I'll print some off and fill them out as best as I can. Ginny, that's a really simple log, I love its simplicity, I might try creating my own notebook rather than buying it though. I also have the android app "coffee roaster" but I don't like having to input all the data. I think I'm going to try paper logs for roasting and tasting. Aaron
"Grind it like it did you some great injustice!"D.L.Clark |
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jedovaty |
Posted on 11/20/2013 2:08 PM
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1/2 Pounder Posts: 225 Joined: October 31, 2011 |
I have been training myself to "cup" scaa style mostly for laughs, but prior to this, I simply taste the coffee brewed the way I am most familiar with to promote consistency and establish a reference point. I keep the empirical data (profiles) on my computer, and I have a little notebook to log qualitative data: a) do I like the result b) am I missing anything in the cup c) flavors I taste That's it. Makes life more simple for me. Sometimes I'll include roast time and length in the notebook, but, that requires more work and I am lazy. Once in a while, if remembered, may include: - anything unique about the roast process (more/less fan, more/less heat, ambient abnormalities) - anything unique about the day (was I in a bad mood, did I close a deal at work, did it start raining mid roast) If the results are worth the effort, I do try to taste double blind. |
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