Coffee is green, with a grassy hay-like smell when we receive it at the Strange Bird Coffee roasting facility. It arrives from the country of origin in big heavy burlap bags and the coffee bean resembles a dried up seed; which is what it is; it is not a bean at all. From there, we weigh out the green unroasted coffee, heat up the coffee roasting machine and add the coffee and begin cooking it. The coffee goes through a myriad of chemical reactions while in the roasting machine and changes colors as it moves through different phases. The color changes from green, to a light yellow; the fragrance becomes pungently hay-like during this stage. Shortly thereafter, the color switches to a light brown. This is when the maillard reaction begins and we start to see something that looks a lot more like the coffee bean we know and love. The smells are now of bread or light toast. As we progress into a medium brown colorway, we are beginning to notice a certain and undeniable coffee scent in the air. We are reaching light roast territory.
We continue on our roasting journey and the bean is getting a bit darker, scents of chocolate and toast are present. We slowly roll into a discerning light-medium roast where any grassy or hay like aromas are no longer present. We are left with a discerning coffee scent and any bits of terroir we may be experiencing from this specific bean*. From there the coffee continues to cook and the brown color gets a bit darker and we have entered the medium roast. Every coffee is different and will present a different aroma, but during this phase, assuming we did everything correctly, we are certainly smelling a clear representation of the coffee currently being roasted; clear aromas of sugar development, sweetness, and sometimes perceived florals (if they are present in the coffee).
As we cook the coffee longer, we begin to enter medium-dark roast territory. We are beginning to leave behind the intrinsic and natural qualities of the coffee behind and imparting roast level; any viable natural sweetness found in the coffee will begin to degrade and we are left with dark chocolate, caramel, and aromas of bitter sweet toast. The roast degree at a medium-dark will also begin to create a slight oily texture on the outside of the coffee bean. Depending on the coffee being roasted, the final result of a medium-dark roasted coffee can still present clear and present terroir, but will often also have abundant elements of the roast degree. Like taking a lovely homemade bread and toasting it to the point where it is slightly burnt on the outside; still lovely but now inflicted with a bit of a burnt taste.
And we continue on our journey, into the depths of dark roast. At this point the coffee is certainly looking a big glossy as the oils from inside the bean are pushed to the surface, the color has moved from a dark brown to a discerning black. The beans are also a lot bigger now, puffed out with less moisture than they started. The aroma is very clearly burnt coffee, burnt toast, dark chocolate and smokey. If we were to keep roasting, we would burn the coffee beyond recognition.
Roasting the coffee is the easy part when it comes to roast level. The difficult part is navigating the confusing and unreliable marketing of roasting companies. Some companies will say their coffee is a medium roast, but you get home, open it up and sure enough it is dark roast. Some folks will market their coffee as light and you open it up and it is closer to a medium roast. It can be frustrating! It is one point of contention I have with the coffee industry at large. Many consumers believe they love a medium roasted coffee, but really they love dark. Or, folks believe they love light roasted coffee, but in fact they love medium. Confusing to say the least. And it can be frustrating when you want to try a new coffee, but you are not certain if the coffee will be roasted the way you prefer.
Our approach to roast levels at Strange Bird Coffee are a bit of preference met with intuition. We do not want to be anchored to needing to keep to a certain roast level, but we also do not want to create an inconsistent product. With our first blend, Wealth Avenue, we are going for a solid medium roast level. This particular roast profile will lend itself to consistency for folks who are looking for a delicious, consistent cup of coffee every time, but who also are not looking for something overtly fancy or too dark.
In the near future, we will offer other blends and single origin coffees. The intention is, our blends will be roasted at a consistent roast level, for consistency and reliability. Most of them will be hitting the medium roast profile, so as not to mask the natural flavors found in the coffee. Whereas our single origin offerings will depend on the particular coffee we source and what we think the best roast profile is to express that specific coffee. That being said, we will probably never roast a dark roast coffee and we will probably never roast a super light roast coffee either. There is a science to roasting coffee and going too light often means you are not developing the natural sugars enough and although you may taste delicious, delicate qualities, you end up with an oftentimes flat, overly green tasting cup with little-to-no developed sugars; I like naturally sweet coffee and intend to roast our coffee to bring out the natural sweetness.
All that is to say, roast levels can influence how a coffee tastes and why you might continue to buy coffee from Strange Bird Coffee (or any other roaster you enjoy). Roast is one of the main attributes of a coffee roaster that you might be drawn to and find yourself drawn back to you time and time again.
At Strange Bird Coffee we will always share the roast level and perceived tasting notes of our coffees. If you have any questions or just want to discuss roast levels, please reach out.
*Wealtha Avenue is a regional blend from Brazil that during the middle phase of Maillard has a very distinct aroma of roasted peanuts and chocolate; like an elevated chocolate peanut butter cup. Whereas a coffee from Ethiopia might begin to present aromas of floral and fruity notes alongside chocolate.