Coffee Dark Roast
As we all know, coffee beans have to be roasted before you can ground them and brew your coffee. The coffee bean does not have its familiar brown color when its picked; it is actually green. It is not until the coffee beans are roasted that they begin to change color. To make a dark roast, you simply keep roasting for a longer time (and sometimes at a higher temperature) than you would when making lighter roasts.
When coffee beans are roasted all the sugars and fats within the bean are released, creating aroma-filled coffee oil that covers the beans. The green bean first turns yellow, and then keeps changing into a tan and then a brown color. A dark roast is achieved when the coffee bean has a rich, deep brown color, and the moisture has escaped the bean to form the oily surface. Making a good dark roast coffee is a difficult task, as the difference between a perfect dark roast and a plate of burnt, charcoal-like coffee beans can be quite subtle.
The taste of Coffee Dark Roast is of course significantly different from a lighter roast. A dark roasted coffee typically has a deep, full flavor with a slight charcoal undertone. The lighter the roast, the more of the beans original taste remains. This means that in lighter roasts it is possible to distinguish which country the bean is from, as the climate and environment create different taste. In a darker roast, the taste and aroma produced from the roasting process becomes dominant and shadows the other tastes. On a side note, this is one reason why coffee dark roast is the most sold coffee: in a dark roast you dont experience any particular difference in taste between coffee beans of different quality.
There are several names for the various degrees of roasting. Examples of lighter roasts are Cinnamon roast, or half city. Dark roast are for example French roast, or the darkest of all: Spanish roast. In the Spanish roast the charcoal undertone is more obvious than any other dark roasts.
Aside from its great taste, coffee dark roast is also easier on your stomach. Because of the chemical changes that occur in the coffee during the high temperature of the roasting, a dark roast coffee does not make your stomach produce as much stomach acids as it does when you are drinking a lighter roast.
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