Light, Medium, Dark and Why the Coffee Is the Point

Light roast. Medium roast. Dark roast.

They’re useful words, but they’re also an oversimplification of way to describe what happens when we roast coffee. Roast level can give you a sense of what to expect, but it doesn’t tell you which roast is “best.” The coffee is a better guide for that. Light, medium, and dark are simply tools we use to get there.

When we roast a coffee, we’re trying to understand what’s already there.  What the farmer grew, what was preserved through processing, and what characteristics the green coffee brings to the roastery. Our job is to find the roast that brings those qualities into the cup.

Sometimes that means roasting light. Sometimes darker. Often, somewhere in between.

Roast Level Is a Starting Point

If you prefer light roast, you may enjoy acidity, fruit, florals, and lighter body. Dark-roast drinkers may prefer lower perceived acidity, greater body and roast character, or a coffee that stands up to milk and sugar. Those preferences are personal and also a good guide.

But roast level doesn’t tell the whole story. Two coffees roasted to the same level can taste completely different, and the same coffee can become a very different experience at different roast levels. 

Light Isn’t Automatically Better but Neither Is Dark.

There are coffees that are spectacular when roasted lightly, with clarity, delicate acidity, florals, fruit, and sweetness. But a coffee can also be roasted too lightly, becoming grassy, grainy, difficult to extract, or lacking sweetness and clarity.  About 15-years ago there was a lot of this kind of light roasted coffee.  Really thin, acidic and grassy. 

Dark roast has its place, too. A well-executed darker roast can be comforting, full-bodied, lower in perceived acidity, and especially good with milk or sugar. It isn’t inherently inferior. It’s simply a different expression of coffee.

The question is whether the roast works with the coffee.

Finding the Sweet Spot

A lot of our coffees fall somewhere in the middle not because medium is universally correct, but because it can be a good place to exhibit the best attributes. We can preserve the character of the coffee while developing the sweetness and body that make it satisfying to drink.

Push a coffee too light and it may be underdeveloped. Push it too dark and you may roast away what made it interesting. Find the right point, and suddenly the coffee sings. That’s what we’re looking for,  a cup of coffee that tastes good.

We’re still learning, too. We continue to explore how lightly we can roast certain coffees because we’re finding some beautiful results. The challenge is knowing where the line is, enough development to create sweetness and structure, without losing the coffee’s inherent character.

Some links to help you navigate your preferences:

Light = Ethiopia Kossa Geshe

Medium = Colombia

Dark = Night Shift