There are many choices when it comes to your morning cup of coffee. Do you drink it black? Do you brew it with French Press or pour over? Do you take sugar? Each decision you make effects the taste of your coffee.

One coffee taste decision is made long before you shuffle into your kitchen before the sunrise. This decision effects the taste of your coffee more than any other taste decision.

Do you drink a light roast, dark roast, or somewhere in between? How does the color of the roast effect the taste?

 

Dark Roast

The Starbucks popularity surge is largely responsible for exposing the world to dark roast coffee. The problem is there is a fine line between dark roast coffee and burnt coffee. In my opinion, Starbucks has crossed the line and simply sells burnt coffee. The issue here is the sugars in the coffee. Just like any other food that has natural sugar in it, if you roast or cook it too long the sugars will burn. If the natural sugars in your coffee are burnt, you will dump sugar packets in to mask the burnt taste. Then you are not tasting the coffee itself, but the cane sugar you've dissolved in your cup. Dark roast means you have missed out on the range of flavors that exist in the natural coffee bean.

 

Light Roast

As a push back to Starbucks, many single-origin coffee roasters have gone to the light side. The theory is if the roast is light, you will be able to taste all the flavor notes that are unique to that particular origin. For example, Ethiopia Sidama Nansebo is known for its flavor notes of peach nectar, tart apricot, and orange. If you roast the coffee too long, those flavor notes will be lost.

The unfortunate trend I am seeing is that roasters are roasting it too light. Yes, you will taste flavor notes if you roast on the light side, but, if the roast is too light, the natural sugars will not be released and you will not taste the sweeter flavor notes. If you roast Ethiopia Sidama too lightly, the sweet stone fruit flavor notes will be trapped in the bean and you will brew your coffee without tasting a hint of peach, apricot, or orange.

Also, if you roast too lightly, you will miss out on the sweeter notes, but the earthy or grassy notes will be present. Joe Morrocco at Cafe Imports, a big name in the coffee roasting world, recently tweeted out a plea to coffee roasters to move beyond light roasted coffee. He said, "Please stop being afraid of the dark! Under roasted flavors; green pea, grass, straw, etc., are far more jarring. Be brave." Here he is not saying that the coffee should be dark as in burnt, but it should be dark enough that the natural sugars are released and bring out the sweeter flavor notes. If you don't roast the coffee long enough, only the grassy tones will be tasted in the cup. No one wants to wake up to a steaming hot cup of straw!

 

Medium Roast

In my ten years of roasting Joe By Schmo has always roasted smack dab in the middle of light and dark. Light enough that the flavor notes are still there, but dark enough that the sugars are caramelized so the sweetness and the body of the coffee can come through. Give it try! Whether you are used to a light or dark roast, I think you will find that a medium roast lets you taste the best that the bean has to offer in every cup.

 

What kind of roast are you drinking? Is it light or dark? Comment on our Facebook page and let us know what you prefer and why.