The Difference Between Coffee Roasts: Light Medium and Dark Roasts
This article will explore not only the difference between coffee roasts, but also the reason as to why you may prefer a certain shade of roasting.
How do you like your coffee roasted, light medium or dark? If this is a question that bemuses you then you are not alone. What is the difference between coffee roasts and how do they affect the flavor of what’s in your cup.
The premise is simple, for coffee to be edible (most of the time) it has to be roasted to extract the natural flavors and aromas present in the coffee bean. It’s like any live plant or animal product, it has to be cooked or is at least better when it is cooked. In the coffee world this is called roasting not cooking.
Coffee roasts are pretty popular term that the average person likes to throw around quite alot when buying coffee, especially coffee that is brewed at home. This is with good reason as well. It’s because the further the coffee is roasted, the further the tastes gets from the original coffee plants natural flavors. Think of roasting coffee beans like cooking a rare piece of steak, the more you cook it the less it tastes like well a cow. Some people prefer their steak well done and some prefer it rare. The same is true with coffee, everybody has different palletes and would agree that the difference between coffee roasts is linked to that pallete.
To the average coffee drinker the roast is one most distinguising features. It brings either the strength andcaffeination of the light roast or the smokier and lightly caffeienations of the dark roast.
For a purists coffee lover it is a much different story. The roast is just a means of presentation just as in a great cut of meat the degree of cooking is just a means of presentation to the palette. The answer to this question: the difference between coffee roasts, will have a unique answer for every reader as outlined above.
Light Roasts
- Color- From a purely astetic point of veiw the most striking difference between different roasts in the lack or lack there of in color. As you can imagine as described in their names, the lighter roasts will have a lighter color unmistakably brown or a light brown in color.
- Flavor- The main disgunising feature of the light roast is its very unoily texture. This leaves the drink itself with a lighter body in regards to taste.
- Caffeine Content — Due to a less processed method of flavor extraction (AKA roasting), the level of caffeine is actually much higher contrarty to popular belief.
- Temperature — The only real difference in processing between roasts is the temperature in which the coffee bean reaches. Which for the lighter roasts is 180°C — 205°C (356°F — 401°F).
Medium Roasts
Color- From a purely astetic point of veiw the most striking difference between different roasts in the lack or lack there of in color. As you can imagine as described in their names, the lighter roasts will have a lighter color unmistakably brown or a light brown in color.
- Flavor- Like the lighter roast the medium roast indeed doesn’t have much of an oily texture. However in the case of the meduim roast it leaves a greater balance between aroma, acitiy and body. Leaving it one of the most popular forms of roasting out there. For this reason it is often deemed the ‘regular roast’.
- Caffeine Content — As you might have guessed the caffeine content of medium somewhere between a light and a dark roast.
- Temperature — Medium roasts raise to an internal temperature of about 225°C (437°F) or 230°C (446°F).
Dark Roasts
- Color- If you like your coffee as black as possible than this is the roast for you. Most dark roasts vary from very dark brown to a tar like black color.
- Flavor — The flavor of the coffee bean is furtherist from its orignal flavors. This results in a manufactured burnt or smoky flavor. Often the quality of the coffee bean is a huge factor in deciding the roast of a coffee bean. For example a naturally rich in flavor bean might be lightly or medium roasted as to not kill all of the plants natural potency and vice versa.
- The results in a cup of coffee with a much smaller caffeiene content and as a result is often marketed as the “After dinner roast”.
- Temperautre- To get to these soaring levels of roasting the internal temperature of the bean must reach 240°C (464°F). Care must be taken however to not exceed these kinds of temperatures otherwise the result could be a mush of charcoal flavored coffee.
Know you know exactly what the differences are between coffee roasts. So I guess the question begs again, how do you like your coffee roasted? Comments,fact corrections and feedback is always welcomed. Happy roasting!
