How does the coffee association of america define roast levels?

The eight roast levels used across the coffee industry trace back to the Specialty Coffee Association of America and the Agtron company. Together they built a shared scale: infrared caramelization measurement reads bean color and assigns an Agtron value, giving roasters in different countries a common language for light, medium, dark, and the named levels in between.

The eight levels group into light, medium, medium-dark, and dark, each with its own flavor tendencies. Before the standard existed, roast names were regional and hard to compare across borders, since green beans typically ship from growing regions to consuming countries before roasting. The chart ties Agtron color values to drop time, so roast degree can be described and repeated.

What do the light, medium, and dark roasts commonly seen on coffee bean packaging, along with names like Cinnamon, City, and French, actually base their classifications on? This article starts with the eight-level roast color card developed by the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) and the Agtron company, explaining how Agtron color values correspond to drop time, and groups the eight levels into four major categories—light, medium, medium-dark, and dark—to describe the flavor characteristics of each stage. The article also uses Front Street Coffee's Yirgacheffe Guddina and PWN Golden Mandheling as examples, fully presenting the roasting curve from charge temperature, adjustments to heat and airflow, to first crack development and drop timing, as well as the brewing parameters and flavor descriptions for the V60 and KONO Meimon drippers, making it easy for enthusiasts to build a corresponding understanding of roasting and extraction.

What flavor a cup of coffee ultimately presents depends largely on which stage the green beans have been roasted to. When buying single-origin beans, the packaging often states light, medium, or dark roast; some also feature terms like Cinnamon, City, and French, leaving those new to coffee scratching their heads. This time, Front Street will walk everyone through how to distinguish coffee bean roast levels.

Was there no unified standard for coffee roasting in the early days?

Coffee trees are mostly grown in producing regions between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, and green beans usually have to be shipped to consuming regions before roasting. Different countries and regions have inconsistent understandings of light, medium, and dark roast, making direct comparisons difficult. Because various parties did not recognize each other's definitions of roast level, the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) partnered with the Agtron company, using coffee's Agtron value as a basis so that industry professionals could communicate their roasting experiences in a shared language.

SCAA Roasting Standards

The SCAA uses infrared caramelization measurement technology (Agtron) to detect the color of coffee beans, thereby judging the roast level, and divides colors from light to dark into eight levels, producing eight standard color tiles for the coffee industry to use as a reference for roast identification. The coffee beans currently roasted by Front Street Coffee basically fall between Cinnamon Roast and Medium Roast. Front Street's medium-light roasted coffee beans continue caramelizing for about 1 to 3 minutes after first crack depending on the bean's characteristics, making the overall layers richer while reducing acidity and increasing body; while what Front Street calls medium-dark roast actually corresponds to Medium Roast, and the beans are released near second crack.

Agtron color value #95: Light Roast

Drop time: Dense first crack is about to end

Agtron color value #85: Cinnamon Roast

Drop time: Around the end of first crack

Agtron color value #75: Medium Roast

Drop time: After first crack ends

Agtron color value #65: High Roast

Drop time: The quiet period between first and second crack

Agtron color value #55: City Roast

Drop time: Second crack begins

Agtron color value #45: Full City Roast

Drop time: Before dense second crack

Agtron color value #35: French Roast

Drop time: During dense second crack

Agtron color value #25: Italian Roast

Drop time: Oils begin to seep onto the bean surface

Flavor expression of coffee at different roast levels

The description above may be hard for beginners to understand, so Front Street has summarized the eight roast levels into four categories, making it easy to see at a glance which direction the flavor of beans at different roast levels will go after brewing.

Light Roast (including Light Roast and Cinnamon Roast): After brewing, fruit and floral aromas are prominent, acidity rises noticeably, and the mouthfeel is clean and bright.

Medium Roast (including Medium Roast and High Roast): After brewing, body is pronounced, acidity weakens, and the mouthfeel is full and solid.

Medium-Dark Roast (including City Roast and Full City Roast): After brewing, there is almost no acidity, the coffee is mellow, with a bittersweet-then-sweet mouthfeel.

Dark Roast (including French Roast and Italian Roast): After brewing, the coffee is very mellow, with no acidity, a heavy and solid mouthfeel, and rich oils.

So how does Front Street roast the Cinnamon Roast Yirgacheffe Guddina Cooperative coffee beans and the Medium Roast Indonesian PWN Golden Mandheling coffee beans?

Front Street Coffee — Yirgacheffe Guddina Cooperative Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe Gedeo Zone

Altitude: 1900-2300m

Variety: Heirloom

Processing method: Washed

Grade: G1

For beans like Yirgacheffe, Front Street's roasters often use a light roast to showcase its floral and fruity character. For this washed Guddina, Front Street's roaster extends the bean's dehydration time with low heat.

Charge when the drum temperature rises to 175°C, airflow at 3, heat at 120; turning point at 1'32", when the drum temperature is 140°C keep the heat unchanged and open airflow to 4; at this point the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, and the dehydration stage begins. At 166°C reduce heat to 100, at 176°C reduce heat to 80, and keep airflow unchanged. At 8'28", ugly wrinkles and dark streaks appear on the bean surface, and the toast smell clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack; at this time listen carefully for the sound of the first crack point; at 9'38" first crack begins, adjust airflow to 5 (adjusting heat must be done very carefully, not so low that there is no cracking sound), develop for 1'30" after first crack, and drop at 193.5°C.

How does Front Street Coffee brew the Yirgacheffe Guddina Cooperative coffee beans?

In order to better express this bean's rich floral and fruity aromas and layering, Front Street decided to brew with a V60 dripper. The V60 dripper's spiral rib design not only extends the contact time between coffee grounds and water, but also allows the water flow to concentrate along the spiral ridges toward the center of the dripper, forming pressure on the coffee grounds through the gravity of the falling water, thereby bringing a higher sense of layering.

Water temperature: 91–92°C

Dose: 15g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: Medium-fine grind (80% passing through a No. 20 sieve)

This time a staged brewing method is used: first pour 30g of water and bloom for 30s, at which point the coffee expands into a "hamburger" shape. For the second stage, pour 125g of water in small circles from the center, with a pouring height of 4cm, gently, minimizing agitation of the coffee bed, with the water flow falling at 4g per second. When the water level drops to 1/2 of the coffee bed, begin the third stage of pouring. This stage also gently circles from the center outward until reaching 225g. End extraction after all the coffee liquid in the dripper has dripped through, with a time of 2'01". After extraction is complete, gently swirl, and taste after the coffee liquid is fully uniform.

Brewed flavor of Yirgacheffe Guddina Cooperative coffee beans: Citrus and black tea on the entry, with cream, caramel, and almond appearing as the temperature changes, a noticeably sweet aftertaste, and a clean, lightly sweet mouthfeel.

Front Street Coffee — PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Beans

Region: Sumatra, Aceh, Mount Gayo

Altitude: 1100-1600m

Variety: Ateng

Processing method: Wet-hulled

PWN Golden Mandheling coffee beans use sun-dried processing, with moisture content between 12% and 15%, making them green beans with relatively high moisture. Compared with sun-dried beans, they have a relatively high deviation in moisture, so special attention must be paid during dehydration. Green beans with high moisture content can have the airflow closed immediately after charging, then opened to 3 after 30 seconds of steaming, until the green bean color turns light green or white, then open airflow to 4, and after first crack open to 5 (maximum).

Charge when the drum temperature reaches 200°C, airflow at 3, after 1 minute adjust heat to 160 degrees, airflow unchanged; roast until 5'40", temperature 148 degrees, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete, adjust heat to 140 degrees, airflow to 4; at 9'40", ugly wrinkles and dark streaks appear on the bean surface, and the toast smell clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack; at this time listen carefully for the sound of the first crack point; at 9'54" first crack begins, reduce heat to 60 degrees, open airflow fully (adjusting heat must be done very carefully, not so low that there is no cracking sound), and drop at 204.5 degrees.

How does Front Street Coffee brew the Indonesian PWN Golden Mandheling coffee beans?

In order to highlight the mellow, clean, and richly aromatic characteristics of PWN Golden Mandheling, Front Street uses the KONO Meimon dripper for brewing. The KONO Meimon dripper's "rib" guide grooves extend to the bottom of the hole where the coffee liquid flows out. Because the ribs are at the bottom and are very short, they fit closely with the filter paper, so the flow rate is slower than the V60, making it suitable for brewing coffee where body is meant to be expressed.

Water temperature: 86–88°C

Dose: 15g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: Medium-coarse grind (65% passing through a No. 20 sieve)

After rinsing the filter paper, pour in the ground coffee, gently level the coffee bed; the coffee dose is 15 grams. For the first stage, pour 30 grams of 89°C hot water and bloom for 30 seconds; after blooming, pour the second stage until the total water reaches 125 grams, using a gentle circling pouring method to avoid collapse of the coffee bed, and after pouring let the water slowly filter and extract on its own; when the liquid level drops to one-third, pour the final stage until the total water reaches 225 grams, finishing the pour at around 1 minute 32 seconds, ending extraction at about 2 minutes and removing the dripper.

Brewed flavor of PWN Golden Mandheling: sweet herbs, cinnamon-like spices, orange and pomelo peel notes, mellow and rich sweetness, creamy walnut chocolate. The fruit acidity is restrained and soft, the aroma carries a strong melon sweetness, and as the temperature drops the herbal aroma emerges, with faint spices and a mellow herbal note carrying rich sweetness.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.