Coffee enthusiasts worldwide are known to have their own specific tastes and preferences when it comes to their cup of caffeine booster. But, how are such different stages of a roast achieved? How do the beans achieve such levels of flavor? The answer lies behind its roasting.
The type of roasting in a coffee allows the roasters to bring out the naturally ingrained aroma from the beans.
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Why is Coffee Roasted?
Coffee is a favorite drink to many of us. It is the most popular one after tea. Coffee is made out of coffee beans. Roasting brings out the ultimate flavor within green coffee beans. It does not let down the qualities, and benefits get any lower.
Roasting neither compromises the taste of coffee. Instead, it causes chemical changes and explodes as the coffee beans are rapidly brought to a very high temperature. Basically, 2 things happened after roasting. First, some beans diminish, disappear, transform, and combine to form new substances.
Methods of Roasting Coffee
Roasters follow 2 standard methods of roasting: drum and hot-air roasting.
Drum roasting is a lesser-known practice compared to Hot Air Roasting. A small roaster exposes small batches of coffee to some 230 degrees for 12 minutes in this method. A slow roasting eventually eliminates the acidic flavors from all the coffee beans. On the other hand, where drum roasting is a time-consuming process with pretty few outputs, Hot air roasting comes to the solution.
Another name for Hot air roasting is industrial roasting. Here a large batch of coffee gets heated at a very high temperature in the current hot air. The processing takes 3 minutes. Though, industrially roasted beans are usually more acidic in taste.
Types of Roasted Coffee Beans
We often get 4 categories of roasted coffee beans. The categories are divided as per the colors. The color depends on the level of heat the beans go through. Geographical and national individuality influences the choice of roasted beans. As we move from light to dark, the acidic flavor tends to diminish. Roasted beans fall into 4 categories depending on individual color.
Light Roasts
Light roasts are when coffee beans are heated enough to have the internal temperature of 205 degrees. Under this temperature, the first crack happens. It is a popping sound that occurs as each bean expands. Next, a chemical reaction inside the green beans releases carbon dioxide with water vapor. This further results in expansion. In the light roast process, beans are not heated after the 1st crack.
They are light brown in color, and people use these beans to make milder varieties of coffee. The taste is like toasted grain. These beans contain the highest concentrate of acidic flavors. The amount of caffeine is also high in light roast beans. There is no case such as oily surface, as they are heated for a short time.
Medium Roasts
It takes an internal temperature of 410°F-428°F to make the medium roasted coffee. The beans are
heated till the first crack’s end and before the second crack occurs. You will get to see oil on the bean’s surface due to the high temperature they go through. Medium-roasted beans are nutty, cocoa-type malty ones. The color is slightly dark brown and larger in shape as compared to light roasts.
They have more balance when it comes to smell, flavor, and acidity. The surface is not oily either. The caffeine concentration is also much less. One of the most preferred selections of roasted coffee beans, the medium roast is American roast due to its demand in the US.
Ultra Dark Roasts
As the name suggest, this is the highest level of roast done to the coffee beans. The beans are roasted to turn perfect brown color in this process, presenting us with a shiny, oily surface. Although, in the case of ultra-dark roasted coffee beans, the super dark roast overwhelms any natural flavor previously present in the beans, what’s left is the flavor of the roast itself.
In terms of its flavor, the dark roast typically gives us the feeling of an ultra-strong brew. The beans’ composition comprises a heavy body and low acid, leaving behind a deep, sweet flavor on the tastebuds.
It’s not in the Color!
There’s a common myth around coffee beans where the masses assume that the higher the roast of beans, the better it will determine its caffeine concentration. However, that’s not the case!
In reality, there’s no considerable difference in the caffeine content of different coffee beans. The difference only stays in terms of a slightly higher concentration of caffeine!
