Training staff is a big part of my job at Coffea. On their first day, I try to always ask new hires what they know about coffee and espresso, and they usually give pretty similar answers, especially if they've worked in coffee before. Almost without fail, we stumble upon a few common misconceptions. They often have to do with very absolute statements (x is better than y), which are seldom safe in the world of coffee.
We'll try to address them one by one over the next few blog posts, starting with one of the most common:
Misconception #1 “The best coffees are always dark roasts.”
I would guess that a substantial majority of coffee drinkers, when asked, would say that they prefer dark roasts. I fell into this group before I worked in coffee, but my opinion changed pretty quick once I tried a few good lighter roasts.
The world's best coffees contain quite an array of interesting flavors and aromas, created through careful growing, harvesting, and processing in origin. We try to roast each coffee in such a way that these qualities are preserved and developed, creating an enjoyable and interesting cup. Almost without exception, roasting light is the best way to do this.
Once you move past a light stage in the roaster, the more the qualities unique to each coffee are lost. Sometimes other interesting flavors are created, like cinnamon and chocolate, but there is always a point that is far too dark, when smoky, ashy notes overwhelm the delicate nuances light roasting would preserve. We taste a lot of coffees at Coffea, and I have yet to taste a single one that could benefit from roasting very dark.
Take a mediocre bean, and, at any degree of roast, it isn't going to taste very special, but with a unique, characterful coffee (like any on our menu), light roasting allows the true flavors to shine. If we took our Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, for example, and roasted it even ten degrees darker, the incredible fruity, floral aroma would be lost. If we roasted it really dark, like oily dark, none of the interesting attributes unique to that coffee would be preserved.
Smoky, ashy flavor profiles are quite easy to achieve (step one: roast until really dark, step two: stop), but they are far less interesting than all of the fun things we can find, like black currants, apricot, cocoa, and jasmine. Come cup with us if you don't believe me.