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You typically see darker roasts with larger roasters because it's still approached like a commodity, and darker roasts are easy to achieve consistency with sinc
by lukeHeuer 10y ago
You typically see darker roasts with larger roasters because it's still approached like a commodity, and darker roasts are easy to achieve consistency with since they don't feature much of the natural flavors of the coffee bean. The whole coffee world was in a bad state until people began taking the stance that certain coffees were better quality, and paying more for them. For the first time it incentivized extra effort from the farmers. Over the last decade or so our understanding of the effects of roasting coffee has grown immensely, and we can objectivley say that there is a specific range before the only thing featured tastes are imparted from the roasting process. Just like it's now common knowledge that you don't burn a good steak if you want to enjoy it for what it is.
I really disagree with the third wave snobbery that the only coffee to be enjoyed is light roast though. There's a pretty wide range that will produce some amazing coffee. Putting them side by side for a cupping is interesting, I personally became more sensitive to roasting too dark after tasting the same beans under different roast profiles, and seeing how quickly the dark range began diminishing complexity, brightness and clarity in my cups. On the other hand, all too frequently I get underdeveloped third wave coffee that is just as unenjoyable as a burnt batch.
- lostlogin 10y ago>darker roasts are easy to achieve. I don't think it's that, I think it's because they last longer on the shelf (light roasts go stale faster) and because dark roasts just taste burnt, meaning you can swap out one bean for another and not notice a difference. So if a cheaper beans becomes available, that will get switched in.
- lukeHeuer 10y agoYou put a period in that sentence where there wasn't one. I said "darker roasts are easy to achieve consistency with", and as you said, to help better facilitate the commodity approach to coffee. Dark roasts are not more shelf stable than lighter roasts though. The oils in dark roasts become rancid substantially more quickly because a darker roast has expanded more, and therefore has more surface area to come in contact with air. Starbucks and other big companies say their coffee is shelf stable for about a year, but the reality is coffee peaks 24-72 hours after roasting. Burnt notes grossly outweigh staleness though. That with the benefits of consistency is great for bigger brands exactly for the other reasons you mention. To add a bit more perspective, green unroasted coffee beans are considered fresh or in season for about 9 months. The more you get away from this in a roast profile the shorter the shelf life.