What is Light Roast coffee?

The answer: it depends which country you are in! Black Market Roasters takes a look at what light roast coffee is, how it is different and how do you use it?

Light roast coffee simply speaking is the same type of coffee bean which is used for espresso or plunger, though it has a different roast profile. If we look at the standard coffee bean, a roaster will change the time, temperature and air of the roasting conditions to achieve a desired result, such as beans for the espresso machine. It is quite an art to get this right. This is what Black Market Roasters does so well.

Coffee beans for the espresso machine typically are darker roasts, meaning the bean is exposed to more heat which affects the acidity and sugars (explained below). At Black Market Roasters, we alter our roast profile for each and every bean after many, many, many tastings. We do not however roast as far as French Roast.

Light Roast

Used primarily for filter coffees at Black Market Roasters, we only use the highest quality fresh green beans at this roast level. In the cup you will get high acidity and vibrant, sometimes grassy flavours, though if you brew properly, the grassiness will be parted for high floral or notes specific to the region of the beans. We recommend light roast coffee for pourovers, syphon, aeropress, plunger, chemex or any other filter methods. If you truly want to appreciate a single origin coffee, in our opinion this is the way! Oh and light roast is what the Scandinavians put through their espresso machine too! Damn they are good!

Medium Roast

At this point in the roaster, the sugars are almost all caramelized! In many countries, this is the point where they can throw these beans in the espresso machine, like in Melbourne, Australia, North-East USA and parts of Europe. Many other countries will also use the medium roast for filter coffee. At Black Market Roasters, we tailor all our roasting to what suits the bean the best, so when purchasing, just choose, light or dark and tell us how you are brewing the coffee and we will do the rest!

Medium Dark Roast

The acidity starts to make way for a bittersweet, dark choc taste. Most countries will use these for espresso brews as it allows the oils and the perceived sweetness that coffee is renowned for to make its way to the cup. Many of our blends at BeanSurfing are medium/medium-dark roast as the combination with milk in the cup will combine to form a strong, sweet, amazing coffee.

French roast

At this stage the bean is pretty much dead, it is smoky, oily and tastes like carbon. Many of the roasters out there roast like this as they purchase poor quality, cheap beans.

At Black Market Roasters, we do not roast to this level. Choose Your Roast Level:

• Espresso
• Pourover
• Syphon
• Cold-Drip
• AeroPress
• Plunger
• StoveTop
• Cupping
• Chemex
• Turkish

At Black Market Roasters, we roast exotic, sweet single origins from around the world, perfectly suited for filter methods like cold drip and Aeropress. Head over to our Roasting page and we’ll be in touch! Being specialty coffee roasters based in Sydney, we supply wholesale coffee beans, tea, chai and chocolate to cafes weekly.