What is Light Roast Coffee: Let's Find Out
Avid coffee drinkers all around the world are united by the hot beverage, yet divided by the roast! is The world of specialty coffee is fast changing and so is the way that people think about the dark, medium, and light roast coffee. While, not so long ago, strong dark roast coffee was considered to be the king and a sign of a seasoned coffee drinker, things are not the same in the specialty coffee world anymore. The light roast coffee beans are becoming more and more preferred over the black as night dark roast.
What does dark or light roast coffee mean? Which one has more caffeine? Whether you have been drinking coffee for ages or have just taken to the love for coffee, these disputes about light or dark roast can become overwhelming.
Dark roast coffees are old news and light roast coffee is the new in thing! This has got a lot to do with the changes in the action behind the scenes. The methods of coffee production being used by the farmers have changed over time and the quality of coffee beans is getting better and better. Roasters are now inclining more towards discovering new ways to light roast which can highlight the unique and natural flavours of these high-quality beans.
What is light roast coffee?
The roast level of a coffee is what defines the baseline of what you can expect from the coffee. Coffee roasting is the technique used to augment the aroma and flavour of the coffee cherry beans by heating. As the coffee beans absorb heat in the roasting process, the soft green beans become darker and crunchier. The distinctively aromatic and flavourful beans, thus produced, are what we know as coffee.
In the process of roasting, at around 300 to 350 degrees Fahrenheit the beans crack and expand in size. This is called the first crack. A light roast generally means that the beans have not been roasted beyond the first crack.
Light roast coffees beans are of light brown shade. These beans have a light body with no oil on the surface. There is a well-defined toasty taste and pronounced acidity in these grains. The best light roast coffee beans retain the original flavours from the green beans.
The place where the coffee is grown leaves an imprint on the beans and as a result, you can experience citrus, floral, nutty, chocolate, or fruity notes in the flavour of a coffee that is brewed just right. Karma Kaapi is a specialist in selecting high-quality beans from various coveted estates like Araku Valley estates, Crystal Valley estates, etc. These beans once sourced are roasted in-house with world-class quality standards to create a product selection of most amazing and unique coffee flavours. You can treat your taste buds with a wide variety of light to medium roast specialty coffees available online at www.karmakaapi.com
Does light roast coffee have more caffeine?
People have been debating the caffeine content of dark vs. light roast coffee beans for a long time now. While it has been popularly believed that dark roasts are stronger in flavour and have more caffeine content, the people who learned more about the light roasting process have believed otherwise.
The truth, however, is that whether you take 50 grams of dark roast coffee of 50 grams of a light roast, both will contain roughly the same percentage of caffeine in them. Contrary to the widely believed myth, the caffeine content of the coffee beans remains pretty stable throughout the roasting process.
While the caffeine content in the roast hardly changes, the roasting process does change the density of the coffee beans and that is what makes all the difference. Light roast coffees are denser than the dark roast beans. Each bean of a light roast, owing to the higher density, has slightly more caffeine. This means that one scoop of light roast coffee may give you 70 grams caffeine as compared to a scoop of a dark roast which may yield only 65 grams caffeine.
Is light roast coffee less bitter?
On the scale of bitterness, dark roast coffee definitely measures higher. Traditionally, dark roast is designed to overpower the low-quality flavours like leathery or musky notes. As a result, the roasting process lends the beans a bitter and smoky, sometimes even burnt taste.
On the other hand, Light roast coffee typically has a mellow body and bright flavours. The process of the light roast is aimed at preserving the unique characteristics of the beans and highlighting the predominant notes which the beans inherit from the area of origin. Because of these reasons, a light roast is preferred by the specialty coffee industry.
Is light roast coffee less acidic?
Acidity is one of the most revered but also the most contested attribute of coffee. When you think of acidity, you are probably reminded of tangy, bright, sparkling taste like that of nectarines; however, when it comes to coffee, this is not what acidity is all about. Acidity, in terms of coffee, is more of a mouth-feel. It is the sharpness that coffee leaves in one’s mouth. Light roast coffees are characterized by vibrant and fresh aromas, light body, and an acidic zing! Light roast coffees are more acidic as compared to their medium or dark roast counterparts.
Have you ever noticed that sometimes, the flavour of your coffee is a little too zingy or sour for your taste? It is because of extremely pronounced acidity in your coffee. Acidity is one of the key characteristics of light roast coffees which needs careful and calculated brewing to make a cup of perfectly harmonious amalgamation of flavours. It is for this reason that people dealing in light roast coffees treat the roasting and the brewing process like both a science and an art. If your roaster or your brewer understands coffee well, they will be able to strike just the right balance in bringing out the acidity of your coffee neither leaving it too pronounced nor making it flat.
Who knew that there was so much manual hard work, scientific processing, and precision in the technique that went into the making of a perfect cup of great coffee? To learn more about your favourite beverage, stay tuned to our blogs; we promise a journey that will increase your love and appreciation for your coffee by leaps and bounds.