The Art and Craft of Coffee (9 page)

Coffee Roasts Defined

There are several standard popular (commercial) coffee roasts. No matter where you buy your beans, whether it’s a large, well-known chain or a boutique micro-roastery shop, you should find the same familiar terms. There are some regional variations and some companies have created their own order and names. But this list can serve as a useful guide for the roasts you will most likely encounter.

Cinnamon/New England (1)

This light, popular roast defines coffee found at donut shops and in breakfast nooks. But before you dismiss it as a commodity or supermarket roast, consider that the very best beans from some of the country’s highest-end roasters are roasted light. Because this roast is so revealing, even the slightest flavor defect—a sour note that a darker roast might smooth out, for example—becomes apparent.

High acidity, slightly less body than the City roast, and no caramel notes typify this roast, which allows the clearest portrait of an origin’s genetic flavor footprint and should sparkle in the cup. Single origins are easiest to identify when roasted to this light roast. A frequent side effect of this roast is less body or mouth feel.

City/Full City (2)

City and Full City roasts are one or two shades deeper and darker than a Cinnamon/New England roast but still have no pronounced roast flavor. The extra roasting time develops sugars and provides caramel notes with little loss of acidity in the best-quality beans. The majority of specialty coffee is roasted to City or Full City roast.

Vienna (3)

Named for the coffeehouses in the famous Austrian metropolis, Vienna roast is just a shade darker than Full City. Visually, you should start to see sweating in the form of tiny oil droplets on still-brown beans. In the mouth, the caramel notes should predominate, though not at the loss of varietal uniqueness. In other words, a Sumatran coffee roasted to a Vienna should still taste like a Sumatran coffee but a very syrupy one.

Espresso (4)

As the name suggests, Espresso roast, which is darker than a Vienna roast, is the most common Italian classic espresso roast. Any lighter roast than this will likely make espresso taste bitter due to the high-pressure extraction method an espresso maker uses, which seems to highlight acidity. This roast, for which beans are often roasted slightly longer and at lower temperatures, has very balanced flavors.

Italian (5)

This roast has more pronounced oil and bittersweet notes, which add complexity at the cost of acidity. Much of the world considers Italian roast the standard espresso roast as it’s just slightly darker than the Espresso roast but with more oil spots on the beans’ surface.

French (6)

The classic French roast has a pronounced roasted note. It’s almost like super-dark bread baked with a dark crust, where you can taste the darkness in every bite. It’s beyond caramel. It has spicy charcoal notes, much like food cooked on a grill. Beans roasted French roast are often shiny because their oils have surfaced and coated their exterior.

< These roasted bean samples illustrate the range of commonly available roasts. Roast “doneness” is as important an element in your coffee cup as any other factor.

Home Roasting Techniques

Home roasting has the allure of easy entry. All you need is a hot air corn popper (something many people already have) and the ability to purchase (or talk your local roasting shop into providing) a sample of green beans. Then it’s a matter of tossing them into the corn popper and starting the machine. Just like that, you can roast coffee.

One reason few people roast coffee at home for long is cost. Yes, you can purchase green beans at lower prices than roasted beans. But any savings disappears the moment you realize that you lose 10 percent weight if you roast light, more as you go darker. One failed roast batch wipes out any potential thrift, and every home-roast practitioner knows the inevitability of such failures.

That said, the thrill of the beans’ aroma as they start to crackle, and those times when, after picking exactly the right moment to stop the roast, you see beans you brought to perfection…Ah. That’s the moment you understand why few who take up home roasting can stop completely. It’s hard not to get hooked. It has the long-lasting hobbyist appeal of a pastime that favors constant experiments. Some will be successful, but there may be more than a few undrinkable disasters. Plus, it’s also fun.

After you have more information about home roasting, judge for yourself.

Getting Started with Home Roasting

If you want to roast at home, you need a good facility. Consider the following:

Space

Choose a space that allows you to spread out. Roasting requires fast action. When the beans are about to finish, you don’t want to be looking around for your tools. Cleanup is also a factor. Beans shed their skins, called chaff, during roasting. Some beans have very little, some have a lot. Choose a space that you can easily sweep or vacuum.

PLAYING WITH FIRE: ROASTING GUIDE TO SAFETY

Although roasting is undeniably fun, keep in mind that beans roast at extremely high temperatures. Fires are a problem in the industry. Commercial roasting facilities, where machinery is at least as rugged as the best home units, still have roasting fires. Keep a fire extinguisher handy. If using a thermometer to measure internal bean temperature, know that it’s difficult to measure these temperatures accurately. Always err on the side of common sense, especially with darker roasts because these beans can catch fire more easily.

< Roasting beans at home allows you total control of your coffee process, and there are few aromas as intoxicating as that of justroasted beans.

Yield/Batch Size

Every coffee roaster produces the best coffee when you make its recommended batch capacity. In other words, follow directions about batch capability scrupulously. Don’t exceed or halve. If you plan to sample various coffees, buy a small roaster such as those by Hearthware. They are easy, capable machines that smoke less than larger machines.

Smoke

All home roasting involves some smoke and aroma. Home roaster marketing literature compares roasting coffee to baking bread. That’s not so. The early roasting stages smell less than wonderful and the later stages are smoky. Except for the Nesco, all roasters exhibit at least enough smoke to require ventilation near the roasting area.

Hearthware makes a vent you can pretty easily adapt and install in your home. Some home roasters position their roasting space to feed a bathroom vent or open a window and drape the vent outside. That could work, though it’s not ideal. The garage is also an option. However, garages in many places get cold in the winter and warm/hot in the summer. Aside from the temperature affecting our own comfort—and how dedicated are you if you care about that?—it definitely affects roasting quality.

Weather

Even if you roast inside, you may notice that weather and climate affect your coffee. Like bakers, you will become attuned to the weather. And like your professional counterparts, you’ll learn to adjust. Home roasting equipment is notoriously temperature-sensitive. An average coffee brewer will still heat water properly if the temperature drops. Not a home roasting machine. If the weather gets too cold, the roaster won’t heat up properly. This means you may not be able to roast outdoors in January. Humidity also affects home roasters negatively, but more subtly. Your home roaster should still work if the humidity changes, but it’s something to which you should pay attention.

Voltage

Did you know that your electric company’s voltage fluctuates between 105 and 125 volts? If you’re like me, you probably don’t normally care. But now you have a reason to care. This fluctuation may mean little to most of your appliances, but to your home electric coffee roaster, it likely means the difference between hitting first crack and getting your roast right or ruining your roast and tossing it (likely into the compost heap).

END THE ROAST EARLY

Some roasting continues beyond the roasting process, for hours or even a day longer. Experience will teach you whether to end the roast slightly earlier to accommodate this effect. Paradoxically, some roasters actually seem to roast darker and then the beans lighten after roasting. How do you know what will happen? You’ll only know by experience.

The Well-Equipped Home Roasting Kit

The following tools and implements should be part of any home roasting kit:

A home roaster to roast your beans. Your choices (among others) include a manual home roaster with a crank, an air popcorn popper, or a consumer electric drum or electric fluid air roaster. (See page 60 for an extensive tutorial about selecting a home roaster.)

Green whole bean coffee to roast

Roasting log to note time, temperature, and amount and type of beans used. Once you find a particular coffee’s perfect flavor, you will want to replicate it.

A thermometer to measure the beans’ temperature. Get a digital, instant-read thermometer (and if not instant, one that works quite fast) or one with a thin, flexible probe attached to a digital console. The tip of the thermometer needs to access the roasting beans’ center. Note, inserting a thermometer is for the expert roaster only.