The crucial part of preparing beans for consumption and crafting drinks is to roast them. Read about types of coffee roasts in this guide.

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Do you know the original color of a coffee bean?

Not many people know that the original color of a coffee bean is green. It is more common to see brown-to-black beans rather than green ones. But the raw coffee bean has to be roasted in order to be ready for brewing.

Therefore roasting is an incredibly important step in the process of brewing coffee. Moreover, there are several types of coffee roasts. Each of them adds a specific flavor, creating distinctive roast type features.

That is to say, if we take one type of coffee beans and roast it in different ways. As a result, we’ll get totally different drinks.

That is a great thing to know because knowing the types of coffee roasts, we can choose what is best for us. Some people like light body flavor and chose light roast; some prefer heavy body and go for a dark roast.

Types of Coffee Roasts

Let’s figure out what are the fundamental differences between coffee roast.

Light Roast

Light roast creates a very light and delicate taste. With the highest acidity in comparison to other roasts, light roast is less bitter.

Because the roast is very light it is usually used for high-quality beans to preserve the original bean’s delicate flavor and not to destroy it with high temperatures. Light Roast coffee has the highest amount of caffeine compared to other types of coffee roasts.

The temperature for the light roast varies between 385°F and 401°F.

Light roasts profiles and temperatures:

• Cinnamon (385°F)
• New England (401°F)

Medium Roast

Medium roast is the most popular type of coffee roasts, and it is my personal favorite. The distinctive feature of a medium roast is the balance between flavor and acidity. Medium roast coffee is less acidic and has less caffeine than light roast coffee. Also, medium roast has a more delicate flavor than dark roast.

Medium roast coffee has a stronger body than a light roast, yet it is not as burned to bitterness as the dark roast. There is no doubt that with these characteristics, medium roast is the most popular among other types of coffee roasts.

The temperature for the medium roast varies between 410°F and 428°F.

Medium roasts profiles and temperatures:

• American (410°F)
• City (426°F)

Medium-Dark Roast

Medium-dark beans are roasted at a higher temperature compared to medium roast and a have much deeper flavor, stronger body, and dark brown color.

The temperature for the medium-dark roast varies between 437°F and 450°F.

Medium-dark roasts profiles and temperatures:

• Full City (437°F)
• Vienna (446°F)

Dark Roast

Dark-roasted coffee flavor is very smoky, bitter, with earthy notes, full-bodied and heavy. But dark roast beans have the lowest acidity of all roast types. The beans are roasted until the oil begins to surface, the sugars inside the bean caramelize, and the beans turn dark brown, almost black.

Among other types of coffee roasts, dark roast affects the bean most of all. Therefore the original taste is lost in the background of the strong and robust flavor. As a result, dark roast is commonly used for low quality coffee beans to cover the poor flavor with heavy roast.

Among all types of coffee roasts dark roast has the lowest amount of caffeine.

The temperature for the dark roast varies between 460°F and 480°F.

Dark roasts profiles and temperatures:

• French (464°F)
• Italian (473°F)

Final thoughts

Upon choosing between the types of coffee roasts, it is very important to find out what you like and enjoy it.

I’m a medium roast person. Light roast is too light for me, and I lack the flavor, while the dark roast is too strong for me because its bitterness dominates and hides other coffee notes.

What about you? What type of coffee roast do you prefer? Please let me know in the comments.