There are four main types of coffee roasts: light, medium, medium-dark, and dark. Under these four categories, you also have subcategory types of coffee roasts, from French to city, cinnamon, and more. There are, in fact, hundreds of types of coffee roasts. Coffee’s aroma and flavour are influenced in a big way by the roasting process. How long a coffee bean is roasted will impact the body, acidity, and flavour.
The longer a coffee bean is roasted, the more the heat pulls out the caffeine and acidity. Therefore, light coffee roasters have the most caffeine by volume and acidity.
Here are the common types of coffee roasts and what to expect from each.
Type #1: Light Coffee Roast
A light roast means the coffee bean has been roasted for the last time. The beans reach an internal temperature of 356 – 401 degrees Fahrenheit under a light roast. These beans tend not to be very oily as they have not been roasted at a high enough temperature to get that effect.
Due to the roast’s lightness, very little chemical change occurred inside the bean, meaning that the taste profile can throw someone not used to light roasts. The bean’s original flavour is more prominent, and a taste of citrus or lemon often accompanies the high acidity.
Type #2: Medium Coffee Roast
A medium-roasted coffee is where the bean has reached an internal temperature of 410 – 428 degrees Fahrenheit. The first crack of the bean has occurred, and a medium roast means it’s just before the second time the bean cracks open. There is a little more body with a medium coffee roast and less acidity.
The average coffee that we are used to in North America is a medium roast. These tend to have the most balanced flavours, with the more popular medium roasts being house blend, breakfast roast, American roast, and city roast.
Type #3: Medium-Dark Coffee Roast
A medium-dark coffee roast ensures the bean has reached an internal temperature of 437 – 446 degrees Fahrenheit. The bean is roasted during or after the second crack with medium-dark. You’ll start seeing the oils on the beans’ surface at this stage. Medium-dark flavours are richer and fuller, with more body and less acidity.
Type #4: Dark Coffee Roast
A dark coffee roast cooks that coffee bean up to 464 – 482 degrees Fahrenheit. Dark roast has visible oil covering the bean. Tasting the bean’s original flavour is rare as the temperature has been turned up to such an extreme degree. Dark roasts usually have a sweeter flavour than other roasts because of the natural sugars in the bean caramelize.
This roast has the richest flavour and is a full body, with most agreeing that it has an almost buttery-like finish. The darkest roast in the world is considered a French roast with a smoky flavour. Like medium roasts in North America, dark roasts are preferred in Europe.
Type #5: High-Quality Coffee Roasts
When you pick a natural coffee bean, it is green and has no aroma beyond an earthy smell. There’s the roasting process to convert a natural bean into something you can make coffee from. This is how their colour darkens. Beans crack as they are roasted, first at around 401 degrees Fahrenheit and then a second time at around 437 degrees Fahrenheit.
High-quality coffee beans are never roasted above a temperature of 482 degrees Fahrenheit, which is when the beans start to thin out and essentially burn. Why there are so many variations in coffee roasts has everything to do with the temperature set, what kind of bean it is, and how long it is allowed to roast.
Type #6: Specialized Coffee Roasts
Here are some specialized coffee roasts you can try:
Cinnamon roast
Cinnamon roast is the earliest roast where coffee is drinkable. Beans are pulled from a cinnamon roast at the first cracking sound. The result is high acidity, a sour and citrusy coffee that tastes slightly more floral and grassy than most other coffees.
Blonde roast
Blonde roast is lightly toasted to just before the first crack. The coffee is slightly tanned, matte in texture, and sour and acidic. The natural-occurring compounds in a coffee bean remain with a blonde roast.
American roast
American roast is a light-medium roast that brings the coffee bean to a rich chocolatey brown colour. No oils have yet been brought to the surface, and the coffee’s authentic flavour easily comes through.
New Orleans roast
New Orleans roast lightens a French roast to a medium-dark tone. It is similar to a city roast but embodies the flavour of dark coffee, except it does not contain the burnt or bitter taste or the greasy, heavy feel that some find with dark roasts.
