Roast battle! (i cant taste anything)

One of the other staff, Yoshi, and myself began our experiences with roasting at the same time. He is spending his days off in the library reading about coffee and has come to find roasting as particularly interesting. So, together we roast samples of the same coffee in the same amount, one after the other. We call this Roast Battle. Each day is a different coffee, and after cupping with the boss, we declare a winner.

Battle, begin!



Today's battle was roasting Ethiopia Sidamo, a coffee I am very familiar with from Counter Culture, but I was curious as to how this selection would taste in comparison.

My coffee was roasted a little lightly, and Yoshi's was pretty much right on. Izaki was out of the shop today, so he will not be cupping until tomorrow to have the final say as to who wins this battle. I predict Yoshi, although I feel like something was missing in the cup, as if the coffee had more than the berry notes to offer. During roasting the beans' aroma was powerfully beautiful. Every day I am amazed at how much coffee can offer in aroma, and for me the aroma is more powerful than taste.

I have probably been feeling this way because I am having difficulty linking my senses of smell and taste. Taste by tongue is really just the five basic types, and coffees at honey all have strong characteristics of sweet and acidic. I thought I was still missing something, like why dont I taste pistachio or strawberry like Yuko tastes in this coffee? But I guess its because I am not combining my smell and taste sensory systems... If you think you have more information or ideas about this, please comment. I'm curious.