Microwave - am I crazy?

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Hello, everybody!
I'm  Russian, living Thailand and chocolate has always been my passion. Though I'm a newbie and here is not much industry about that, Thai people just don't understand cocoa taste (unless it's half sugar and milk).
So this website is my treasure now.

I'm trying to recognize flavors currently - and it's so difficult for me, I can't find all those notes which John describes about his beans. But I'm learning and learn to roast.

I found out that in microwave you can observe changes that happens with beans very fast. Of course it won't tell you how much to roast a bigger batch in an oven - but it's so good to observe changings happening with beans during roasting - how smell develops from sour, baking and burning. How flavor develops. So I use it like finding necessary flavor (for test i used just 3-5 beans) and then already regulte oven roasting.

Has anyone tried that before?

P.S.: I"ve also found some research on that: grasasyaceites.revistas.csic.es/index.php/grasasyaceites/article/viewArticle/1347

[Sebastian]

Priviet Segmed, kak dzilla?

The problem with microwaves is that the magnetrons and shaping tubes vary SO much by each unit, that the energy dispersal patterns result in essentially each microwave being unique. Which makes it very hard to obtain an even roast. You'll find that most of them have concentric 'rings' of energy and very little to no energy. Makes it very difficult to control, and almost impossible to achieve consistent, reproducible results.

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Yes, I noticed that it's hard to get a consistent result every time. But I just use it for a couple of beans to check how they change - it just takes less time to realize which stages it passes - and then to reach needed stage in an oven. At least that's the way how I'm learning now.