You’ve probably heard of coffee roasting levels like light roast, medium roast, and dark roast. But did you know that each roasting level not only affects the color and flavor of coffee beans but also impacts caffeine content and other chemical compounds? In this article, let’s explore with Hello 5 Coffee the detailed information about coffee roasting levels, from how they are performed to the distinctive characteristics of each level.
Why Do We Need to Roast Coffee?
Coffee roasting is an important process to awaken the hidden aromas within the beans. During storage and preservation, green coffee beans are soft, porous, and have a grassy smell, making them unsuitable for immediate brewing. Instead, the beans need to undergo the roasting process before grinding and brewing to ensure the final product is aromatic and has distinctive flavors.
The roasting process uses heat to create chemical changes in coffee beans, helping flavors reach their ideal state. After roasting, beans become drier and crispier due to moisture removal, ready for grinding into powder and brewing.
Popular Coffee Roasting Levels
Coffee is mainly roasted according to these 4 basic levels:
Light Roast
Light Roast, also called Cinnamon, is the roasting level where coffee is removed from the roaster right after the first “crack” appears (when coffee beans begin to make light popping sounds), usually when temperature reaches around 195°C to 205°C. At this light roasting level, coffee beans still maintain high acidity, with flavors that haven’t fully developed but are extremely delicate, leaning toward sweet and sour tastes with less bitterness, mixed with fruity or bean-like aromas. In other words, the original characteristics of coffee beans are not overly altered after roasting.
Some coffee types commonly light roasted include: Ethiopia, Kenya, Hawaii, and Jamaica, etc.
Medium Roast
Medium roast is the stage between two cracks during the roasting process. At this point, oil sheen appears on the bean surface, acidity gradually decreases, creating perfect balance between sourness, sweetness, and bitterness. Additionally, the appeal comes from special flavors with hints of chocolate and ripe fruit aromas. Most coffee types achieve perfect flavor at the Medium roast level.
Medium-Dark Roast
Medium Dark Roast is the stage when coffee beans begin to produce the second crack sound. At this point, the oil secretion process occurs at temperatures from 205°C to 232°C. Roasted coffee carries characteristic bitter and rich flavors, with significantly reduced sourness and sweetness, replaced by spicy notes and intense caramel aroma. The complex flavor profile of Medium Dark Roast coffee is very powerful, making it an ideal choice for coffee enthusiasts who love deep, profound coffee.
Dark Roast
Dark Roast is the caramelization stage, starting when the second crack appears, with coffee beans roasted at temperatures from 230°C to 240°C, lasting 30 to 60 seconds afterward. At this point, oil amount on bean surfaces increases significantly, weight decreases, and color gradually turns black. When the caramelization stage ends, beans will transition to a burnt state.
With this roasting level, brewed coffee typically has high bitterness, characterized by smoky aromas. Coffee’s sweetness and sourness are almost completely lost, with deeper and stronger flavors. Dark roast is not suitable for Arabica beans, mainly used for Robusta, especially when brewing with Vietnamese drip filter.
Dark Roast level can cause many coffee beans to lose their distinctive flavors. Therefore, you should carefully consider choosing roasting profiles and decide on accurate roasting levels before performing the roasting process. Dark roast has been the preference of Vietnamese consumers from past to present. In Vietnam, most people have become familiar with black coffee taste – dark – bitter, and by default, that’s what good coffee should be. This is also why dark roasting is applied to most commercial coffee types in Vietnam.
Dark Roast level can cause many coffee beans to lose their distinctive flavors. Therefore, you should carefully consider choosing roasting profiles and decide on accurate roasting levels before performing the roasting process.
Read more: Top 5 Best Coffee Roasters in Vietnam
Coffee Roasting Levels and Suitable Brewing Methods
Each coffee roasting level will suit different brewing methods. You can refer to the suggestions below:
- Light roast: Suitable for drip, chemex, pour over brewing.
- Medium roast: Suitable for syphon, french press, drip, aeropress brewing.
- Medium-dark roast: Suitable for traditional Vietnamese drip filter, espresso, moka pot, ibrik brewing.
- Dark roast: Suitable for drip filter, espresso, moka pot, ibrik brewing but with deeper and more bitter flavors compared to medium-dark roast.
Coffee Enjoyment Trends by Roasting Levels
In recent years, coffee preferences of Vietnamese people and the world have changed significantly. If previously coffee was mainly associated with simple enjoyment habits, today roasting levels have become important factors determining the experience.
Young people and Specialty Coffee enthusiasts often prefer light and medium roasting levels. At these levels, coffee beans retain many original characteristics, with clean sourness, fruit and floral aromas, and delicate balance between sweet – sour – bitter. For them, a cup of coffee is not just for staying alert, but also a journey to discover unique flavors of each growing region and coffee variety.
Meanwhile, those who prefer traditional Vietnamese coffee prioritize dark roast. Strong bitterness, less sourness, richness along with characteristic smoky aroma make dark roast a familiar choice. Especially when combined with condensed milk or sugar, it creates the Vietnamese iced milk coffee – an icon associated with Vietnamese coffee culture through many generations.
At Hello 5 Coffee, we provide complete roasting levels from light roast, medium roast to dark roast, meeting diverse needs of coffee lovers. Whether you’re a Specialty Coffee enthusiast who likes clean and sour flavors, or someone attached to traditional rich drip coffee, Hello 5 Coffee has suitable products.
We commit that each roasting batch is strictly controlled to ensure stable quality, preserving the original flavors of Vietnamese coffee beans. Each cup of coffee from Hello 5 Coffee not only provides alertness but also offers flavor experiences that match your taste, with authentic quality, specially made for those who truly love coffee.
⇒ Discover Hello 5 Coffee’s roasted coffee collection now to find the roasting level that suits your taste preferences!
Thus, the above article has comprehensively summarized all coffee roasting levels, characteristics, and distinctive flavors of each type. We hope this article has provided readers with useful information. Goodbye and see you again in upcoming topics.
