Do you drink a strong, dark roast coffee? Much of what one finds at the grocery store falls into this category. The problems with a strong, dark roast are that one loses most of the flavor of a good coffee and also serves to disguise low quality coffee. So, is it dark roast or burnt coffee that you are buying at the supermarket? If you like a darker roast but also good coffee, what do you look for?
Why Do We Roast Coffee?
Green coffee beans can remain reasonably fresh for up to three years when properly stored. However, green beans smell a bit like wet grass and are spongy when bitten into. But when we roast coffee beans a series of chemical changes occur that result in the flavors and aromas that we associate with coffee. Although there are several terms used to describe the degree of roasting, they generally fall into four categories, light, medium, medium-dark, and dark. Light roasting is the least time spent and dark roasting is the most time spent on the process.
How Does Roasting Affect Flavor and Aroma of Coffee?
If you have coffee beans with milder flavor you probably want a light roast as it brings out subtle flavors that are not overwhelmed by the bitterness that comes with more roasting. If you are buying gourmet coffee this is a good place to start when you are doing your own roasting. When you go to a medium roast you get a stronger flavor at the expense of losing some of the subtlety of a light roast. This trend continues into dark-medium and dark roasts. On the darker end of the roast spectrum coffee beans caramelize as other flavors disappear. Here is where it can become difficult or impossible to distinguish between a great coffee and a poor coffee due the each being essentially burned.
Will We Be Seeing More Burnt Dark Roast Coffee in the Future?
Great coffee or gourmet coffee is the ideal for anyone who loves coffee. However, gourmet coffee is generally a lot more expensive than average coffee. One place in the world where this rule does not always apply is in Colombia where uniformly excellent arabica coffee at reasonable prices is in ample supply. When you buy a great arabica from Colombia you really do not want to use an excessively dark roast or you will be losing the fantastic flavor and aroma that this coffee brings to your cup. Sadly, the world is changing. The coffee business is competitive and it can be difficult to grow great coffee, organic coffee and make a living. As such there is always pressure on the coffee grower to cut corners, grow robusta instead of arabica, and end up with a coffee of lower quality. This trend is likely to hastened by steady warming of the climate and loss of land suitable for growing arabica coffees, even those cross bred strains that are more resistant to things like coffee leaf rust.
Roasting Your Own Coffee
One way around drinking excessively dark roast, burnt coffee is to buy green coffee beans and roast your own. To do this it works best to find a small coffee roaster near you. Buy enough green coffee for a few weeks or a month, roast only enough for the day, and use this strategy to enjoy a variety of coffees as well!