Roasting

A new bean's first roast

Starting a new coffee: what to expect from its first roast on your roaster, what to watch, and what to change for the next one.

The first roast of a new coffee is the one you know least about. Roastwarden helps on both sides of it: before it, what to expect (first crack's temperature and time on your profile, how wide the window is, what the bean's process means for marking it); after it, what to change for the second roast, in seconds or °C you can act on.

How it reads a new bean

Your roaster's own history counts more than the bean's description. No study predicts first crack from process, density or moisture well, and one roast of a coffee tells more than any of them. So the expected first crack comes from your roasts here (this profile's, else every roast on the roaster), and the bean's process only widens the window. The guide never changes a profile or a plan by itself, and never reads your tasting notes: it gives lines, and you decide.

What it uses is already on the bean: its process, whether it is a peaberry, the supplier's roast recommendation and espresso advice, and density and moisture when you entered them.

Before the first roast

The bean's page (Beans → the bean) shows First roast while the bean has no finished roast on the roaster, with a profile picker. When the next planned roast is a new bean, the Roast page's set-up step shows its first line, the rest behind the "?". The lines:

When	What it says
always	start from your usual profile for the roast's purpose: the process doesn't change the start
always	first crack expected near a BT, about a time on the profile, ± 3 °C for a washed coffee, ± 4 °C for a natural, honey, wet-hulled or unknown process
natural, honey, wet-hulled	naturals often crack quietly, with stray pops first: mark first crack at the first run of pops
the profile drops by time	a first crack off by that much changes development as much: drop by development for a first roast? The Drop by development… button opens the profile, where you set Auto DROP to development (replay)
wet-hulled, density below 650 g/L or moisture above 12 %	expect slower drying, about 30 s more to first crack and 1–2 points more weight loss at the same colour
the supplier gives advice	the supplier's roast level and espresso advice, quoted

After a roast, for the next one

History → the roast shows Next roast of this bean while the bean has fewer than three finished roasts on the profile; from the third, the profile's own history judges it. The lines:

First crack: where it came against the profile's mark; the next roast of the bean expects it there.
Development: by time or by hand, how far to move the drop to keep the profile's development; by development, nothing to move.
Out of range: development or weight loss outside the expected range, with a change in steps of 15 s (roast guidance). One change at a time: when the drop is to move, the development line gives no second number.
Late first crack: after 80 % of the roast, a hint that development is likely short.
Wet-hulled: a reminder that these lose 1–2 points more weight at the same colour.
If it tastes…, under the lines: sour or grassy, add 15–30 s of development or a higher drop; flat or bready, shorten development; dark tips, a gentler start.

Limits

It does not predict which way a process moves first crack (the sources disagree), does not map a supplier's level names (City, Full City) to roast levels, and does not use the green coffee's age or suggest rest days (the roasted coffee's rest window covers that: roasted coffee).

From the command line

roast bean guide <bean> [--profile P] [--roaster R] gives the lines before a first roast, or with --after <roast> those after it; roast review prints "Next roast of this bean" too (roast analysis).