Do you ever wonder why there is Roast Profile in coffee? What is light, medium, dark roast ? Why is it on the label and how would it help us to choose the right taste or the preferred taste that we want? Here we go !!
Why do we need to Roast Coffee Bean?
Originally the colour of Coffee Bean is green ( surprise! ) because it contain moisture in it, and it is raw, dense and it has all the ingredients (flavor) that we are looking for in a great cup of coffee. ROASTING is the medium that will bond everything together.
For the better understanding about ROASTING is just like a raw beef ribeye. It has all the juicy, flavor, fat, muscle and texture ( by saying this I’m hungry ). This ribeye will taste great but it needs to be grilled to your preferred temperature like medium rare, medium, well done and so on. It’s that simple.
Lighter Roast
As this name says it all, the bean is exposed to heat for a shorter period of time compare to medium or dark roast. As a result, naturally will be much denser than dark roast and contain more moisture, this will retain the most original flavor of the bean. Usually roasters will only do light roast coffee because they want to highlight and introduce the original flavor from the producer / farmer. The profile usually is like below:
- Usually higher acidity
- Fruity and juicy taste profile
- Lighter body, due to not enough roast time to develop caramelized and oil
- Higher bean quality
- Emphasized the coffee origin flavor
- More caffeine
Darker Roast
Darker roast coffee beans are exposed to heat for a longer period of time, hence it is less dense due to the loss of moisture. As the bean roasted for longer and darker, the fruity taste and complexity of the bean will disappear and be replaced by a stronger, bolder intense roast and caramelized coffee with a heavier body. If you are those that like nutty, roast, bold and rich coffee taste, this darker roast will be what you are looking for. The profile usually is like below:
- Usually Bold, Rich, Intense taste
- Caramelized, oily and heavier body
- Very low or no acidity/fruity taste note
- Chocolaty , bittersweet taste
- Lower caffeine
So the question will be which one is better? Light roast or dark roast? What will be your preference? If you are adventurous and would love to try out fruity tastes like grapefruit, pineapple and banana in your cup of coffee, Lighter roast beans will be your choice. If you are someone that dislikes sour acidity taste? Medium dark and above are definitely for you.
So, Lighter Roast or Darker Roast?