If you’ve seen specialty coffee packets and wondered what the terms Dark, Medium Dark, Medium, or Light means, I am here to help you solve the mystery behind these words. These are different coffee roast levels. Now, before we jump into the technicalities of roasting and various roasting profiles, what exactly is roasting?
Have you heard the story of Kaldi the goat herder who discovered the coffee berries…. No?
Okay, so one day Kaldi took his goats to graze, and the goats chanced upon red berries and ate them. After eating the beans when the goats were jumping around poor Kaldi thought his goats had been possessed by evil forces. Kaldi rushed to the nearby monastery with the berries claiming the devil had cast a spell on his sheep. The monks at the monastery threw the berries into fire only for a divine aroma to engulf the place. The monks quickly salvaged the berries and made a drink out of them. So, while Kaldi discovered the coffee berries, the monks discovered the art of roasting! In simple words coffee roasting is the process of unravelling the flavors of coffee.
The most obvious thing about roasting is that a Roaster applies heat to the coffee beans. But roasting is not as simple as adding green coffee into the roasting machine and getting brown coffee at the end of a roasting cycle. Different roast levels offer different tastes and textures. Coffee made from Light roasted beans will taste very different from coffee made from Medium Dark beans. But why the difference? Roasting removes the moisture from the beans and caramelizes the natural sugars in coffee, as a result the coffee beans have different taste profiles based on the way they have been roasted.
Generally, light roasted beans are denser compared to the dark roasted coffee beans and have a crisp acidity. Medium roast coffee has a more well-rounded flavor profile and medium acidity. These coffees are balanced and are slightly darker and sweeter. Dark roast coffee has low acidity, heavy body, and deeper flavors. They thrive with chocolatey and nutty flavors. But my personal favorite is the medium dark roast and Love, Kaapi’s coffee beans really lend themselves to a medium-dark roast. Beans roasted to medium dark have a richer, fuller flavor, more body and lesser acidity. If you want to try our medium-dark roasted coffee and be blown away by the flavors, be sure to try Love, Kaapi’s Pure Kaapi and Cold Brew Kaapi.
Coffee roasting is like taking a scientific approach at an art form. This precarious balance is what creates coffee that tastes like a million bucks. So, the next time you pick up a cup of coffee that ticks all the boxes you know you have a talented roaster to thank for.