How many times have you gone to a coffeeshop that makes you choose the roast you want, only to send you into a slight panic of having no idea what the hell is going on?
Well, no longer. Next time you’re going to be able to pick yourself the PERFECT roast for you.
Coffee is grown throughout the world in the “Coffee Belt”. The Coffee Belt is an imaginary belt around the world that runs with the equator where the weather conditions allow for the growing of coffee beans. While there are many different countries where coffee can be grown, we can break it up into 3 main regions- Latin America, Africa, and Asia. You’ll find Hawaiian and Australian coffee as well, but they are most similar to Asian.
The most popular roasts comes out of Latin America. Columbia & Guatemala are two that you probably see very often, and for good reason. Latin American blends are light, balanced, and mild tasting- they’re my favorite. African blends tend to be more acidic, but fruitier and a bit more “wine-like”. Asian coffee is typically bolder and heavier (full bodied), but has very little acidity and much more sweetness. This coffee can sometimes taste a bit chocolatey.
The roast type simply refers to how long a bean is roasted. Coffee beans start out green, and roasting for different lengths yields different flavors.
Light roasts allow you to taste the differences in the regions more. Dark roasts lose a lot of the characteristics of their regions due to the long roasting process. As a coffee snob, I prefer a light roast because you can truly taste the difference when drinking it black. Medium roasts are the most popular roast in the US, but dark roasts are more popular in many other countries (since dark roasts are used to make espresso)
Do you have a coffee of choice? Or is coffee just coffee to you? I always opt for a Latin American, Light Roast, because I’m all about black coffee!
