Pump Espresso Machine

We have spoken about the coffee beans now, so it its time to talk about the coffee roasts themselves. As I’m sure that you know – even I knew this! – coffee beans (or berries) are not eaten in the picked state (not really eaten at all and by all accounts they are quite disgusting), so I should say that they are not used in their picked state, rather they are roasted.

Now I am not going to go into the roasting process in this article, rather I am looking at the effects of this coffee roasting and what that means to us, the coffee drinker.

Roasting a coffee bean basically changes the chemistry of the bean and loses some of the acidity and caffeine that the bean in its unroasted state may have. So the longer the roast, the less acidic and less caffeine the bean has due to the chemical reactions that occur.

(Taken From Wikipedia Coffee roasting grades.png)

This change is what gives coffee its flavours and is why the same coffee bean roasted in a different way can taste vastly different.

There are names for the different types of roasts (which generally relate simply to the length of time they have been roasted) and although they are often given different names depending on your location, I will try and describe below some of the common names for these roasts and what they are used for and who, to some extent uses them.

Light or Cinnamon Roast is by the name, the roast that has seen the least amount of heat for the least time – the bean has changed colour (as can be seen on the photo), but it is quite light. They produce an acidic and very highly caffeintated coffee which is quite bitter. (oh, in case you were wondering there is no cinnamon taste – it is to do with the colour). This roast is generally only found in North America (the Europeans are too sophistacted!).

Then we get the medium roasts sometimes known as the House or American Roast – and again as the name suggests in roasting terms this is the middle of the road – not too much or too little! It is a simple roast often used in American coffee shops especially in drip coffee – it is cheap to produce and therefore cheap to buy (with free refills!).

Then we get to the dark roast sometimes known as the city medium roast. These have less caffeine due to the extra roasting and are less bitter and acidic (are you spotting the theme here!) They will be sweeter than the medium and are the lightest of the roasts that are ever used for an espresso.

French City Roast – darker than a dark roast (but not as dark as the Italian roast!) the beans look very dark (go figure) and are oily as some of the oil from the bean has pushed to the surface. The main problem with this roast is that it can often be burnt and still be used as it is a difficult roast to achieve – this burntness can carry through into the taste.

Finally we then move onto the espresso roast which is sometimes called the Italian or full city roast and sometimes the very dark roast (very imaginative name). Typically only used for espresso this produces a very strong aroma and gives a very decent cup of coffee. This is perhaps (check) the most difficult roast to get right and is likewise the most expensive!

So in summary the darker the bean has become, the sweeter it tastes (due to the caramelisation of the natural sugars), and the less acidic and bitter the taste. Most people will use the darker roasts for espressos to give a sweet coffee with little aftertaste (relatively!).