It was twenty years ago today
Nothing to do with Sgt. Pepper, but all to do with home coffee roasting.
My first home roast was on 7th November 2003. I had given up smoking around 3 1/2 months earlier, and had been retrenched for the second time a month earlier so had some time on my hands to take up something new.
My first roast was of a Sumatran Mandheling, 80 grams in a popcorn popper. The roast was too dark because I hadn’t been able to identify the cracks as the beans heat up and make cracking sounds - firstly as the water in the beans heats and expands, and secondly as the coffee oils do likewise. This gives rise to the expressions ‘first crack’ and ‘second crack’ in coffee roasting parlance. As a generalisation all roasts should pass first crack. My ideal roast is somewhere between the completion of first crack and very early second crack depending on the intended brewing method. For plunger/moka pot/Aeropress/Swiss Gold one cup filter anything just after first crack is fine. For espresso machine extraction, anything around the first snaps of second crack (or just before) is where I aim.