I agree that cream, sugar, milk, ice, chocolate, caramel, and other additives disguises the flavor of coffee; I think that's pretty hard to dispute. That's what

I agree that cream, sugar, milk, ice, chocolate, caramel, and other additives disguises the flavor of coffee; I think that's pretty hard to dispute. That's what a lot of people want — usually people in front of me in line at the coffee shop. I don't agree that light roasts are the only way to taste the real flavor of coffee. Both the bean and the roast are components of the flavor, and the lighter roasts just push the slider more toward the side of tasting the bean, at the expense of the roast. Often, for my taste, the result is too acidic and sour, and often really inconsistent. The reason to roast coffee to different levels is because it brings out different flavors at every level. The right level of roasting will depend on the person, and certainly on the bean: there is no One True Way that results in "the flavor of coffee". That's why some roasters are better than others, and why roasting machines don't just have one big button that says "light roast".