The colors of roasting

Let's start from the premise that there are no specific and strict rules in the world of Coffee; there are styles, trends, and/or useful tips that, if applied throughout the entire supply chain, can benefit the beverage.

What are called "rules" are basically suggestions based on experience, study, and research, but we know that coffee is a living raw material and cannot be confined to a narrow range that applies to everyone.

After this preamble, in these lines we will see how the color of the Roasting affects the final beverage (both positively and negatively).

Definition of Color:

The color that the Coffee bean takes on during the roasting cycle thanks to the pigments present and the action of heat on the bean itself. In practice, during roasting, chemical reactions occur as a result of applying heat for cooking (similar to what happens to all foods when cooked) which are classified as Maillard reactions (or caramelization, which is the effect). Generally, sugars caramelize (complex ones like carbohydrates, or simple ones like sucrose, fructose, glucose, maltose, etc.), pigmentation involves some substances present in coffee such as tannins, and in the third part of the Maillard reaction, Melanoidins are formed, also with a brown color. Coffee behaves a bit like cookies in the oven; once I put them in and start heating, they slowly begin to color, first a yellowish color, then an intense yellow, shifting to a light brown until they turn dark brown. If we continued to apply heat, the result would be a complete blackening (like when we forget cookies in the oven and only remember when the kitchen is full of smoke and they are burnt and must be thrown away).

What changes in coffee during all these shades of brown?

Coffee needs to be roasted, there’s no doubt about that, but the level of color we reach is the key to defining its flavor and many other aspects. Raw (it has a color ranging from bluish to light brown passing through green and yellowish), coffee contains substances that potentially give acidity, sweetness, aromas, and body to the beverage, but these substances need to "express themselves" (they don’t when raw). To do this, they must surpass certain temperatures and phases during roasting, until they are "matured" or created by pyrolysis (fusion thanks to heat) and ready to be extracted in the cup. On the other hand, excessive application of heat, both in amount and time, causes negative effects, decomposing and destroying these "good" substances, creating others with negative flavors and tastes (burnt, smoky, etc.).

So what is the right color?

It’s impossible to establish with absolute certainty a rule that applies to all coffees worldwide. Too many variables in the raw material (coffee beans from Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya…?) or based on local cultures (are we in Norway, China, the United States, Italy, Spain…?), but also depending on different extraction methods—Espresso and filter, for example, have very different contact times between coffee and water, so they require different roasting methods.

Conclusion:

We can say with certainty that too much is too much, in both directions; whether too light or too dark is always negative. But be careful not to base your choices (before tasting the coffee) solely and exclusively on color; it’s not the only thing that can negatively or positively affect the coffee you will drink. What to do now? Now you know what to look for; in our shop, you can find all the single-origin Specialty coffees roasted Light or Medium for every need.

Discover the differences between roasting levels in our selection: from coffees with a floral and light profile to those with more intense roasting notes, passing through chocolate profiles. Find your favorite roasting style among our specialty coffees.