Different roasting degrees of coffee beans lead to completely different flavor directions. Starting from coffee history, this article describes how deep-roasting pioneer Alfred Peet used heavy roasting to change the face of American coffee, and how George Howell opened up another flavor path on the East Coast with light roasting. The article systematically sorts out the differences between deep roasting and light roasting in color, weight loss ratio, and flavor expression, and points out that deep roasting brings sweetness and body, while light roasting highlights bright fruit acidity and regional character. Whichever you prefer, as long as there are no negative tastes such as bitterness or saltiness, whether coffee is good or bad ultimately comes down to personal preference. Front Street Coffee recommends a variety of beans with different roasting degrees for enthusiasts to choose according to their taste.
From the perspective of roasting degree, coffee beans are usually classified as deep-roasted after entering the second crack; while from the密集 period of the first crack to before the arrival of the second crack, they fall within the range of light roast to medium-dark roast. As roasting continues to deepen, the color of the beans also becomes closer and closer to black.
Let's talk about deep roasting first. When mentioning deep roasting, one cannot fail to mention the iconic figure in the coffee world—Alfred Peet. In the 1960s, Mr. Peet vigorously promoted heavy-roasted coffee. At that time, many roasters, in order to keep costs down, hurriedly shipped beans after roasting them only to the middle of the first crack. At this stage, the beans lost about 10% to 15% of their weight due to roasting, which is about 10% less than with heavy roasting. In other words, in order to save that 10% in costs, they did not hesitate to sell consumers coffee beans whose flavors had not yet fully developed. This is not to say that light roasting itself is bad, but rather to criticize the practice of caring only about saving money and not about flavor.
After the end of World War II, coffee consumption in the United States rose year by year. At that time, roasters, in order to expand profits, roasted beans lighter and lighter: first, to save labor hours and fuel; second, to reduce the weight loss ratio of roasted beans. Some beans at the time were only roasted to the very beginning of the first crack before being released, with a weight loss ratio of less than 9%; while deep-roasted beans released after the second crack had a weight loss ratio as high as 18%, meaning light-roasted beans brought at least 10% more profit than deep-roasted beans. This was the early unscrupulous operators' trick of making money through light roasting, and some even went further by mixing in large quantities of coarse natural sun-dried beans. One can imagine how bad the coffee tasted then, no wonder it was mocked as "dishwater coffee." But consumers had long grown accustomed to the half-cooked sour, astringent, and bitter taste, and in order to make it palatable, they had no choice but to dilute it with more water, so thin, watery coffee became the popular taste at the time. As long as it had caffeine to refresh them, they did not care at all whether the coffee was like sour, foul swill. This must be blamed on the U.S. military, which during the war, for convenience of storage, issued to frontline officers and soldiers either extremely light-roasted coffee or instant coffee. After these people retired and entered society, they quite naturally brought the overly diluted, weak coffee taste into the workplace. In the one or two decades after the war, major American roasting companies Folgers and Hills Bros vigorously promoted large cans of extremely light-roasted coffee beans or ground coffee. Over time, the public simply did not know what fresh coffee tasted like, had long been used to stale coffee, and even felt it tasted good after desperately adding sugar and creamer. The flooding of bad coffee was an aftereffect left by the postwar period, and a similar phenomenon also existed in Europe, because the public devoted all their energy to reconstruction, so who had the leisure to be particular about food and drink. This was the result of the American roasting industry at the time only seeking to sit back and enjoy exorbitant profits, without the moral courage to criticize that disguised light-roasting trend of "raking in money."
Precisely because of this, Mr. Peet founded Peet's Coffee & Tea in San Francisco on the West Coast of the United States in 1966, insisting on using only 100% Arabica beans and absolutely never selling coffee beans roasted before the second crack. As long as deep-roasted beans are roasted and brewed properly, they can produce excellent coffee that is quite sweet, rich in flavor, and full-bodied, completely different from the bitter and astringent coffee in people's impressions. "Peet's Coffee" disdained the most popular half-cooked light-roasted beans at the time and instead took the deep-roasting route. Whether single-origin or blended beans, they all had to be roasted to the middle-to-late stage of the second crack before being released, and they switched to using hard Arabica beans with greater fire resistance in their formulas. In other words, at "Peet's Coffee" you absolutely could not drink light-roasted beans from before the second crack or Robusta beans.
Mr. Peet also taught everyone the correct brewing method. He brewed at twice the concentration of the weak coffee prevailing at the time, that is, using 30 grams of freshly ground coffee powder and a French press to brew 360 milliliters of coffee, breaking the old bad habit of using 10 to 15 grams to brew 360 milliliters of weak coffee. Most people drinking "Peet's Coffee" for the first time would cry out: "Wow, are you trying to poison me? So strong!" Then, after the coffee "blossomed and released its aroma" in the mouth and they experienced a shocking education for the taste buds, they all changed their tune and said: "Wow, strong in a satisfying way, pungent in a refreshing way, sweet and soothing to the throat!" Those who knew their stuff were mostly European immigrants in the early days, who had finally found nectar-like coffee in America. Interestingly, hippies who had not bathed for days liked to gather at "Peet's Coffee," sitting or lying down, as if they had come here to receive an aromatic bath of heavy-roasted beans. Hippies hanging around the shop in groups was a major feature of "Peet's Coffee." Although the shop had both stench and fragrance, everyone who walked into "Peet's Coffee" could not help but take a deep breath and experience a world of strange odors in which stench contained fragrance and fragrance contained stench, including the unique burnt aroma, wine aroma, coffee essential oil aroma, and banana oil aroma of heavy-roasted beans, as well as the unique stinky sock smell and body odor of hippies. It could truly be called a blending of fragrance and stench, a mix of a hundred smells!
Later, Starbucks founders Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker, and Zev Sieg also decided to open a coffee shop because they fell in love with Mr. Peet's coffee, and at the beginning they even received Peet's assistance. Not only did Peet provide coffee beans roasted by Peet for Starbucks to sell, but even the initial shop furnishings were similar to Peet's Coffee. It can also be said that without Peet in the beginning, there would be no Starbucks today. Now everyone knows Mr. Peet's significant influence on you and me! Here I offer the highest respect to Mr. Peet for his contributions to coffee!
Now let's talk about light roasting, and we must also mention George Howell. He lived in San Francisco from 1968 to 1974, and it was then that he became fascinated with Peet's coffee. Later, Howell moved to Boston, but could not find fresh roasted coffee similar to Peet's. Since he could not buy it, he would sell it himself, so in 1975 he founded Coffee Connection.
But after all, a legendary figure is a legendary figure, and Peet's heavy-roasting method was not so easy to imitate (it is said to be related to Peet's self-modified roasting machine). Therefore, Howell, in a fit of pique, went the opposite way and switched to light roasting. Who would have thought that under the "correct" method, the bright fruity acidity of light-roasted coffee beans was quite charming, and the flavor differences among coffee beans from different regions were obvious. From then on, Howell adopted the light-roasting method, which became widely popular on the East Coast of the United States, standing in opposition to Peet's heavy roasting on the West Coast.
(Later Coffee Connection was acquired by Starbucks, and within two years all its signs were replaced with Starbucks, and its originally consistent light roast was also changed to Starbucks' signature heavy roast.)
Actually, after saying so much, the point is very simple:
Deep roast—sweet, rich in flavor, full-bodied;
Light roast—bright fruity acidity, with the unique flavors of coffee beans from different regions clearly evident.
Similarly, some people like deep roast, and a group of people like light roast. Whether deep roast or light roast, each has its own unique flavor. As long as there are no bad tastes (such as bitterness, astringency, saltiness, and other less pleasant flavors), which one is better entirely depends on personal taste and preference. Therefore, the blogger often says that whether coffee tastes good is often a matter of personal preference, while whether coffee is good or bad is judged fairly in people's hearts.
Front Street Coffee suggests that if you want to experience the sweetness and body of deep roasting, you can choose Front Street Classic Italian Blend beans; if you prefer the bright fruity acidity of light roasting, you might try Front Street Yirgacheffe or Front Street Huakui. Different roasting degrees each have their followers, and finding the cup you like is what matters most.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
