Specialty Coffee is a combination of origination of the soil nutrients, the Coffee plant, the weather and environment, proper storage and processing of the cherries, getting the green coffee beans shipped to distributors and they finally arrive in batches of quality tiered bags at the Coffee Roasting house. Coffee roasters then select the green beans, and the roasting process begins from light brown to dark brown. How you will enjoy your cup of coffee is an accumulation of all these elements and yet, there is still art in the roasting process which will be covered below.
It is all about listening to the “crack stages” and roast levels on temperatures and cooling. The flavor of the coffee, caffeine content,
The Light Roast
Coffee roasting dries out the green bean, this process is to preserve the beans’ natural aromas and flavors. However, the length of the roast and its temperatures dry out the green bean through stages. The first is a light roast, which represents the preferred choice of the Specialty coffee-drinking community, which delivers usually a brighter flavor profile over darker roasts. With a dry, not oily texture, these beans typically reach about 350-400 degrees Farenheight and barely reach the first-crack stage of the roast. If you are after the Origin Flavors, this is the roast that might give you the best aromas and flavors.
The Medium Roast
With a longer roasting time, the brightness of the aromas moves to the sweet caramelization of the bean giving it the first full crack and never reaching its second crack stage, all the while the green bean reaches temperatures of 400-430 degrees Farenheight. Names used by roasters for the Medium roasted coffee are usually referred to as City Roast, American Roast, or Breakfast Roast. Some Roasters can push the limits to a medium-dark roast by listening to the beans and their second crack.
The Dark Roast
When reaching this stage of roasting, the green bean gives way to the roaster’s discretion where the green bean’s naturally-occurring aromas and flavors are diminished by heat and duration of the roasting process. A dark roast coffee will have a full-bodied flavor, with low acidity with an oily dark brown appearance. These green beans reach the second crack stage of the roasting process. The temperatures reached in a dark roasted bean usually is 430-450 degrees Farenheight. With varying degrees of Dark Roasts, you will find names such as Full City Roasts and Vienna Roasts that will describe them.
Darker than Dark Roasts
When you take dark roast coffee beans further, you end up with New Orleans Roast, Italian Roast, French Roast, and Continental Roast where the origin attributes are roasted to the point of not being able to retain their features. The beans are highly oily, the surface of the bean looks glossy in appearance, and the coffee tastes are typically “ashy”. Specialty Coffees usually do not reach this level of roasting for the mere fact that the “Specialty” has been roasted out of the bean.
The Roaster’s skills
Sight and Sound takes a big part in the method and judgment when it comes to Roasting the green beans. When it comes to sight, the Roaster will be able to indicate the beans progress in the roasting process. Visually you check for oil, gloss, color, and surface texture and the Roaster can determine the stage with uncanny precision in this manner. When it comes to sound, it is the cracking of the beans that give you a secondary confirmation of the stage and process of the roast. The beans reach higher temperatures based on the duration of the roast and the longer they stay in the roaster, the darker they get and encounter its second crack.
Conclusion: Roasting Coffee is almost an art form. Understanding the origins of the green bean is only part of the science, the season, and environmental changes can also shift the crops’ yields and quality. This is why controlling quality from the origins of the green bean is so important. Given that Specialty Coffee is focused on the lighter roasts to represent and offer you, the coffee drinker the full aromas of the beans potential, here at Ricco Coffee we offer freshly sealed, oxygen purged packaging freshly roasted 82points-90points green beans to an exquisite roast that you can enjoy with your family and friends. If you have any questions about our roasts, feel free to reach out to us.
