Are you a light roast person or a dark roast person?
For most of us, it probably depends on the situation. For example, and (to give you a short answer), a light roast is better suited for an after-dinner coffee, while a dark roast is better suited as your morning brew.
We have all kinds of roasts for sale at Coffee Max: Light, dark and everything in between. Any coffee bean can be roasted dark or light, so why do we roast our beans the way we do?
Here’s a coffee roaster’s perspective on light roast vs dark roast, and why it’s important to distinguish the two.
Light Roast
A light roast is perfect for coffees where you want to bring out the flavour.
That’s why we tend to roast our single origin coffees lighter. Single-origin coffees are all about highlighting the flavour and what makes those particular beans unique.
Lighter roasts favour the flavour over strength, so tend to have lower caffeine content.
Our lightest roast is Caribbean Queen. Roasting these beans lighter makes for a soft, luxurious flavour that you can enjoy at any time of the day.
Dark Roast
I like to think of darker roasted coffee as “more European” because the European standard tends to be a stronger, more intense flavour profile.
The darker the roast, the stronger the coffee, so a dark roast isn’t one I recommend having late in the day if you plan to sleep that night!
Our darkest roasts are Mocha Gold and Vulcan Cinders, blends guaranteed to give you that kick to wake you up in the morning.
All of our other coffees are medium or espresso roast.
There’s a Fine Line Between Light and Dark
When roasting coffee beans, there’s only a 3-minute difference between a light and dark roast.
The coffee roasting process lasts 11-14 minutes: An 11-minute roast will give you a lighter roast, while a 14-minute roast provides a darker roast.
You can almost compare coffee roasting to cooking popcorn – it’s the crack when roasting that causes the bean to increase in size, which happens at about 190 degrees. That pop is where the magic happens as the coffee beans turn from their original green to their instantly recognisable brown.
Featured Light Roasts:
Featured Medium Roasts:
Featured Dark Roasts:
Shop all our coffees here.
