When I want a cup of coffee, I’m looking for comfort in a cup, that cozy feeling when the coffee hits the spot, along with a little sweet chocolatey note, and a hint of bitterness and acid.
Light roasts relly don’t do any of that for me at all. What experience do you have when drinking it? What parts do you enjoy?
I’ve got a mokka pot and an aeropress and I’m willing to give it a try.
Light roasts relly don’t do any of that for me at all
Sounds like light roasts aren’t for you, mate, and that’s perfectly fine!
For light roasts, I tend to brew light (less grounds or more water), which captures the subtle floral or fruity notes of the beans. It’s always more acidic, though, of which I am not a fan. My tongue eventually gets used to the acidity, and I don’t notice it as much. However, I have to be in the mood to let my tongue adjust (this doesn’t usually occur in the mornings when, I, like you, am looking for comfort in a cup).
I just like coffee. I drink it black, light, dark, medium, don’t care. Different flavors, different tastes.
I’d say it’s like comparing Granny Smith to gala to… Other types of apples. If you don’t enjoy a light roast, don’t worry.
Coffees good
Simple as .
I enjoy tasting the coffee itself and not the roast. I love all the flavors and aromas. I especially love when there’s a nice sort of fruity, citrusy note.
I find that a lighter roast conveys more notes and aromas than a darker one tends to, feels like there’s more to explore and more substance to different varieties this way.
Also, less roastimg means more caffeine survives the process!
I like both. With milk.
Light roast is especially good as espresso. My usual coffee is Cuban style, either from the cafe up the street, cafe con leche with espresso from the big machine or at home moka pot and milk - in both cases made with this dark roast:
https://navieracoffee.com/collections/frontpage/products/cafe-naviera-cafeteria-blend-2-lb
But even the Starbucks latte is good if they do the “blonde” one and you get 2x the espresso.
Make it strong and you will probably get it. Or not, and you will still learn something.
Light roast with milk sounds like some kind of exquisite blasphemy
It’s for people who hate coffee.
But delicious. Only done as espresso.
And yes I am not a black coffee person but do love coffee. As my friend says - people who love chocolate usually don’t like straight up squares of unsweetened baking chocolate but nobody doubts their love for chocolate.
I’m a medium roast enjoyer. I’ve tried dark roasts and light roasts. Neither do the job. Right now my daily driver coffee is maxwell house breakfast blend that I buy in bulk in the big tins. On special occasions like holidays I will buy some pouch coffee. I like to get Volcanica brand from Amazon they make some really good coffee. I think I tried their Peruvian coffee and it was nice.
I’ve tried blue horse kona and I just don’t like kona. I know a lot of other people think kona is great coffee but it’s not for me.
Sumatran coffee is okay. I went through a phase were I drank a lot of that. But it’s considered a premium coffee sold in pouches here in the USA and I needed to buy cheap coffee to feed my addiction and I gravitated to a medium roast breakfast blend.
Medium seems to be the most generally consistent and reliable coffee that covers all bases and presents the best of both worlds
Basically: “Yes.”
Personally, it is like any other food and taste. How I like coffee depends on the moment of the day and what I feel like and what I crave. Sometimes I want a cozy Italian style breakfast so I get a dark roast cappuccino, other times I want something funky during the day to cheer me up, and a light roast V60 totally does the job. I tend to prefer light roasts overall when I get to my trusted specialty coffee place, mainly because light roasts feel more varied to me so they’re better for trying new flavours
As someone who’s just starting to get into light roasts, I love how interesting coffees can taste when they’re that light. Once a coffee gets roasted medium to dark, it loses a lot of what makes it unique. I’m currently drinking a really lightly roasted single origin high altitude Ethiopian coffee and it’s so unique and interesting to drink. It tastes like strawberry and is juicy and vibrant. It’s fascinating that coffee can taste like that.
Ooh, you’ve just convinced me to try some good light roasts.
I hope you find something you enjoy!
I hate you for changing my mind!
I will corrupt everyone eventually.
It sounds really interesting, but I guess i’m probably kind of in it for that “hit” that darker coffee gives. Do you get that hit as well with light, or do you simply taste these interesting notes and find it sort of sophisticatedly stimulating?
What hit? Drink robusta if you want a caffeine hit and more bitter flavors. If you want a flavor profile you cannot go past 400 degrees or so, else it all converges.
I’m not entirely sure what you mean, but I will say I definitely find very light roasts to be more of a sophisticated drinking experience. That doesn’t mean you need to be a snob to enjoy it, though. And I do still enjoy medium roasts too, as a matter of fact I’m currently sipping a medium roast while writing this out, but that’s why I’ve been enjoying light roast so much lately.
What’s the name of that coffee because it sounds amazing?
I wrote about it here.
The benefits of a light roast all depend on the qualities of the bean. Poor tasting beans become their best with darker roasts. Its the best way to make crap coffee drinkable. It does this by mostly by the maillaird reaction and the carmelization of sugars. Makes the cup sweeter and pleasing. The problem is you lose a lot of the more delicate flavours with the heat.
Light roasts let a lot of the delicate floral, fruity flavours shine through without getting destroyed by the heat. If you want to taste jasmine, peach, blueberry, cocoa and others, a light roast shows you what the coffee is capable of.
Most beans aren’t worthy of light roasts. Medium and dark brings out their unimpressive best and its the default for commodity grocery store coffee.
Great beans have more potential, and only light roasts let it shine through. Ethiopian, some kenyan and Burundi etc & Jamaican blue mountain are some of the most consistently rewarding for light roasts. Brasilian coffee is one of the most consistent for medium roasts, IMHO, and everything else is less common amd goes to medium dark roasts. That is not to say every region can’t produce special cups, but that comes out in the cupping and grading process.
One last quick comment about processing. Growers can dry their beans using a variety of methods. Dry, washed and fermented and others are being invented all the time. They too will impact the potential for flavours. It all comes out in the cuppings.
Very interesting, I think me and my girlfriend would enjoy trying out some quality beans. We’re both city roast enjoyers so we’d have fun with a different project.
That’s really the best way to get grounded. Until you find what you love, buy smaller bags of different origins and roasts until you you discover what you love most.
Good roasters should limit their light roasts to beans that deserve it, but that a guideline not a rule.
deleted by creator
most dark roasts taste very similar
you get a much larger variety with light roast
Moka pot and light roast are not friends. Down that path lies only misery.
For me I like the light roast from pour over. I like the fruity notes and lack of bitterness.
I don’t want to add sugar or creamer to it.
I like the fruity acidity paired with the light sweetness of light roasted coffees. It makes them very interesting to drink. I like my coffee to have a more complex flavor instead of something “strong”.
I think you have the best chance of experiencing this either with the aeropress or a pour-over. Fast espresso shots also captures these flavors
Man there just isn’t anything about “fruity acidity” that makes sense for when it comes to coffee, now in a pineapple on the other hand
It has more caffeine for one and I also feel like I can taste the distinct notes easier with light roast. Not an expert by any means, if I’m mistaken, apologies.
The caffeine difference due to roast levels is mostly disproven afaik. Roasting destroys caffeine but light roasts are more heavy so if you brew by weight, that equals out. Also, caffeine content tends to vary a lot by variety and type. Robusta beans have a lot more caffeine than arabica. So if you drink a traditional italian dark roast espresso, that still can have more espresso than a light roast specialty espresso. James hoffman made a video once about that where he ordered different espressos at different coffee shops, both specialty and traditional chains, and tested the caffeine levels and they were all over the place
huh! I’ve been perpetuating that idea. I found James on youtube but can’t find that specific video. Could I trouble you for a link?
in the meantime this other one from him seems relevant enough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etnMr8oUSDo
i can only find this short: https://youtube.com/shorts/_HvsxuM7ljs?is=LrdqT_RRpIW8nCVw which is a clip of the whole video. It seems to be of similar age but i cannot find it as well
Interesting, thanks!
The thing about caffeine is that as it just increases we just increase tolerance, right?
It’s the combination of acidity and grassy floral flavors. It feels refreshing. It’s an additional element of mental pickup alongside caffeine itself.
On that note I feel like the overlap between light roast enjoyers and IPA enjoyers is basically a circle. Some of us like those kinds of tastes.
the overlap between light roast enjoyers and IPA enjoyers is basically a circle.
Oh hey it’s me
Yeah, light roasts generally have brighter and more complex flavours, which is what I’ve come to enjoy most out of a good coffee
I can still enjoy a dark coffee the same way I can still enjoy a Guinness, but if I’m choosing, I’ll be picking the more complex drink with a greater gamut of variation between different ones
Haha, this threat is somewhat dejecting. I hate IPAs
For now
Oh no
On that note I feel like the overlap between light roast enjoyers and IPA enjoyers is basically a circle.
That’s interesting. Why do you think that to be the case?
I admit it doesn’t square with my own experience, but I wouldn’t want to just write it off.
It’s my feeling they fall into the same category of tastes. Acidic bitter grass and fruit with a lot variation and complexity.
Yes we usually call light roast not bitter but that’s only in comparison with the dark roast, which lacks other mentioned flavors.
I grew up with coffee constantly being consumed all hours of the day, and my family always drank a lighter roast, which I find almost impossible to find anywhere, it seems everyone wants a dark or medium roast, when I got into making coffee properly at home I bought dark an med, and was surprised I hated it. eventual figured out light roast was what I was looking for. to me is just coffee, that’s what coffee always was. I was born in the 80s in a Latin American home so I don’t know how much that has to do with it but it could be a factor. I get the concept of wanting more intense flavors and I love chocolate and any chocolate flavor added to coffee I also love, and I love wines with that dark chocolate note, but I just want that familial taste in coffee.
Very interesting. What kind of brewing method did they use?
luckily I have pretty serious memory loss from medical problems and I don’t recall any such detail. it must of been a typical home drip brewing pot. pretty sure.
Hate to hear it buddy
think tea drinkers. its just a more subtle thing. if you drink a lot of something with subtle flavors, it should make sense
that said, i like my coffee dense
