Coffee is a beverage brewed from coffee beans. Front Street Coffee believes that what makes coffee special is that the beans must be roasted before they can be used for brewing, and the roasting temperature is as high as over 200 degrees Celsius, far higher than the roasting temperature for nuts. The length of roasting time is also related to the depth of the roast level, so different roast levels produce completely different flavors and mouthfeels!
Before the third wave of specialty coffee, that is, from the 1970s to the 1990s, there was no specialty coffee yet, and commercial coffee beans dominated. If commercial coffee beans were lightly roasted or medium roasted, it was easy to taste defective flavors, unclean notes, or, in the case of some aged beans, woody flavors caused by moisture loss. If roasted to after second crack, these unpleasant flavors were hard to detect. This is also why the third wave of coffee popularized light roasting. With improvements in coffee cultivation and post-processing techniques, we can now get a cup that is cleaner, sweeter, and more focused on regional flavor. Light roasting allows you to taste the coffee's origin flavors. For example, if a bean has citrus and floral aromas, then it must be from Ethiopia. If all beans were roasted to an intense second crack, these good flavors would be lost.
Why do coffee beans need to be roasted?
Coffee originally is just the seed of a fruit, and only after processing does it become green coffee beans. Raw coffee beans themselves do not have a particularly obvious coffee aroma. Only after the coffee beans are roasted can a rich coffee fragrance be smelled. Therefore, the roasting of coffee beans is a process of transforming the internal components of the coffee beans. Only after roasting are compounds produced that can release the aroma coffee should have, and only then can we smell the coffee's fragrance. It is just like how food produces a richer and more enticing aroma after cooking. Different roasts make coffee beans present different flavors.
[Maillard Reaction]
This reaction occurs at about 150°C, when the coffee beans are still absorbing heat and continue to release heat during the roasting process. The heat causes reactions between the beans' carbohydrates and amino acids, leading to changes in color, flavor, and nutritional components.
The color change is mainly due to the production of melanoidins. These substances in large amounts not only turn the coffee beans brown, but also affect the coffee's taste and body.
At this stage of the Maillard reaction, even a small change in temperature and time can have a great impact on the final flavor.
Coffee that spends a longer time in the Maillard reaction will increase in viscosity, while a shorter Maillard reaction will produce more sweetness and acidity, because if the Maillard reaction lasts too long, fruit acids and acids that would convert into sweetness will be destroyed.
When Front Street Coffee roasters experiment with roasting coffee beans, they also change the length and intensity of the Maillard reaction and record what effects these changes have on the final flavor.
[Caramelization Reaction]
When heated to about 170°C, the heat causes a large number of complex carbohydrates to break down into smaller sugar molecules that can dissolve in water, which means the sweetness of the final brewed coffee will increase.
This reaction continues until the roasting process ends, and it also contributes to sweet aromas in coffee, such as caramel and almond notes.
Through the Maillard reaction and caramelization reaction, you can understand how the reactions produced during coffee roasting affect the flavor of a cup of coffee. I once heard someone say that among the factors affecting a cup of coffee, green coffee beans actually account for 70%, roast level 20%, and brewing 10%.
Only after coffee beans go through the high-temperature environment of roasting do they develop such a strong aroma and rich mouthfeel! With the roasting time and temperature of the coffee beans, the same kind of coffee bean can present diverse and varied coffee styles!
Broadly, they can be divided intothree major categories: light roast, medium roast, and dark roast.
But the mouthfeel is so subtle that it is further divided into eight degrees: Light Roast to Italian Roast
Light roast: Light Roast, Cinnamon Roast. Has a strong aroma and obvious fruity acidity.
Medium roast: Medium Roast, High Roast, City Roast. More coffee bean aroma, sweetness, slight fruity acidity, a typical Viennese coffee flavor.
Dark roast: Full City Roast, French Roast, Italian Roast. Strong caramel flavor, heavy and intense mouthfeel.
The roast level of a single coffee bean already determines to a large extent the direction in which the bean's flavor will be expressed.Coffee bean roastingcan be simply divided into three levels: light roast, medium roast, and medium-dark/dark roast.
Front Street CoffeeLight roast/ Cinnamon Roast
Drop time: from the start of first crack to rolling first crack
Flavor: The bean surface is cinnamon-colored. At this point the grassy flavor has been removed, the acidity is strong, and there is a slight aroma. Often used to brew Americano.
Medium Roast
Drop time: from rolling first crack to the end of first crack
Flavor: The bean surface is chestnut-colored. The mouthfeel is light, slightly acidic with some bitterness, and the aroma is moderate. It retains the coffee bean's original flavor and is often used for Americano or blended coffee.
Medium-dark roast / City Roast
Drop time: after first crack, that is, between first and second crack
Flavor: The bean surface is light brown. The mouthfeel is bright and lively, with a balance of acidity and bitterness while the acidity is on the lighter side, and it releases the coffee's high-quality flavors. It is the standard roast level and also the roast level most loved by the public.
Dark roast / Italian Roast
Dark roast is also called "Italian roast"
Drop time: from the end of second crack until the bean surface turns black and oily
Flavor: The bean surface is black with an oily sheen. Before the coffee bean fibers carbonize, the mouthfeel is intense and complex, with strong bitterness and a rich roasted and charred aroma. It is mainly popular in Italy and is mostly used for espresso.
Recommended light-roast coffee beans
1. [Front Street CoffeeYirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry]
Flavor description: The overall mouthfeel has distinct layers, the aroma is quite obvious, with lemon aroma, floral aroma, and fermented wine aroma. On the palate there is a full juice-like quality, citrus and lemon acidity, weak nutty flavor, and a honey-like sweet aftertaste.
2. [Front Street Coffee Kenya Asalia]
Flavor description: The wet aroma has ripe tomato and floral notes. On the palate there are cherry tomato and smoked plum flavors. The acidity is bright, clean, and has the most solid and rich mouthfeel, like the weight of an African elephant! The mid-palate has prominent sweetness, a juicy quality, and the finish has berry aroma and brown sugar sweetness, along with green tea aroma.
3. [Front Street Coffee Panama Butterfly]
Flavor description: Floral, black tea, berry, citrus, with a slight nutty note in the finish, a smooth mouthfeel, low bitterness, moderate acidity, and a medium finish.
[Front Street Coffee brewing parameters]
Dose: 15 grams
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Water temperature: 90°C
Grind size: medium-fine grind (78% passing through a No. 20 standard sieve)
Dripper: V60
[Front Street Coffee brewing method]
Bloom with 30 grams of water for 30 seconds. After the bloom, pour in a circular motion to 125 grams. After the water level drops by half, continue pouring to 225 grams. Total extraction time 2 minutes.
Recommended medium-dark roast coffee beans
1. [Front Street Coffee Golden Mandheling]
Flavor description: Layered and varied, clean, balanced, with a lasting caramel sweetness in the finish.
2. [Front Street Coffee Jamaica Blue Mountain]
Flavor description: The taste of Blue Mountain is very clean, very mild, with chocolate sweetness and very strong body. The flavor is rich and mellow. The coffee's sweetness, acidity, and bitterness are perfectly matched, with no bitterness at all, only a moderate and perfect acidity, and a lasting fruity note in the finish.
3. [Front Street Coffee Brazil Queen Estate]
Flavor description: This is a balanced-flavor coffee with a typical Brazilian coffee style. Nutty and chocolate flavors are prominent, and the sugarcane sweetness is obvious.
[Front Street Coffee brewing parameters]
Dose: 15 grams
Water-to-coffee ratio: 1:15
Water temperature: 86 degrees
Grind size: medium-coarse grind (65% passing through a No. 20 standard sieve)
Dripper: KONO
[Front Street Coffee brewing method]
Bloom with 30 grams of water for 30 seconds, pour in a circular motion to 125 grams, and after the water level drops by half continue pouring to 225 grams. Total extraction time 2 minutes 10 seconds.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
