The other odd roast that I did yesterday was based on the team competition at the event I'm teaching at. Normally I don't get put on a team so I don't know if I'd be able to try this at the event, but the competition involves roasting a coffee for drip and roasting the coffee a different way for espresso. I'm thinking that this is likely to be won or lost on the espresso side because drip brews are the bread and butter of the American industry, but espresso...
There are people who say their espresso tastes better when the coffee is significantly aged, weeks or months of rest. Personally, I've always advocated for using fresh coffee as espresso and think that if your espresso is better 3 months after roasting you need to fix your roast or come to terms with the idea that maybe you just don't really like espresso. But at a weekend competition, that kind of rest time is not available, so how do you roast the coffee so you don't need that?
My thought here was to use The Power of Incredible Violence. I know a trick by which it's possible to extend early browning to push up the sweetness, but then blast through first crack with more energy than is normally available, then it's backing off to get some stuff developed into 2nd before ending the roast. Highly unorthodox, not recommended for use in production, but my test batch was pretty good and the novelty of it might make such an approach a winner.
