Light v Dark

dfk41

I started my coffee journey 24 years ago. In those days information was fairly scant and decent prosumer equipment even rarer. I have always considered myself to be a dark bean person. Recently, I asked myself why? I have been quite happy with the tastes from many of my medium to medium plus offeings. I used to drink cappuccino srtyle 100% of the time. But, I then journeyed into Americanos with my modded Sage Dual Boiler and started to discover tastes that I had never experienced before. That led me into many years of playing with many different bits of brewing kit, and I never found happiness!

I eventually decided I really wanted to crack this nut, so started thinking about how I could narrow the variables down to as few as possible. I think I have done that with my current set up, so am left with grind and beans to contend with.

So, the point of this post, is to say that for filter I have switched away from blends to Single origins, and am going a lot lighter. I have not tried the light stuff as espresso based yet, but I wondered if others had found their btaste buds going a 180?

DavecUK

dfk41 So, the point of this post, is to say that for filter I have switched away from blends to Single origins, and am going a lot lighter.

I prefer single origins for filter.

Elcarajillo

I do not brew filter coffee very often preferring the fuller body of espresso, with or without milk.
On the occasions I have tried lighter roasts I have always found them disappointing and far too thin for my palate lacking body and taste(weak / thin ??) even as single origins.
As with wine I prefer the thicker juicy more voluptuous varieties .
I am not and have not been a smoker and my palate has not been spoilt as @Davec once questioned😇

LMSC

My palettes for coffee have changed dramatically in the last 2 years. I was always a medium-strong coffee person, hence LMSC.

I can’t stand these roasts anymore unless it is a flat white, which is a rarity in my case. It is all light / medium light, be it filter or espresso. I prefer single origin mostly.

😊

Snikom

I mainly drink medium roast single origins.

I almost always use the same beans in both filter and espresso, This is mainly so I only have one bag of beans on the go at a time although I also like the idea of tasting the difference the two methods deliver.

I dont like a really light roast as they can make some very acidic espresso that really isnt my taste.

The other side of that is that I love really dark espressos but am not that keen on the filter.

HarveyMushman

Hugely depends on preparation method for me.

Espresso - med-dark

Milk based espresso - med-light

Filter - light

I’ve always thought light roasts don’t translate brilliantly well to espresso. I read somewhere, possibly in one of Scott Rao’s roasting books, that lighter roasts benefit from the slower, lengthier extraction method of filter coffee.

MWJB

Struggling to find light filter roasts at all…most seem to be light/med, or medium. Otherwise I’d be sticking to light, it just doesn’t seem possible at he moment.

I find medium & medium dark OK for espresso, light roasts for longer ratio shots. Espresso seems to bring out more acidity, compared to filter, so darker beans can still be interesting (whilst flat/dull as filter).

When people say “dark”, how dark are we talking? Darker than say Illy red/Lavazza Oro?

HarveyMushman

MWJB

You raise an interesting point there.

These days, ‘Light’ usually isn’t all that light and ‘Dark’ isn’t really that dark.

This is maybe where the American system of ‘full city’ etc is a bit clearer.

LMSC

The difficulty of getting light and light / medium is compounded by roasters’ (more of them) a lack of flexibility or refusal to write a few words on the roasts and their take on coffee. They have enough space to write a long story on the farm, though.

Tal

I’m new to coffee and the amount of info available about the farmer is monumentus compared to information about the coffee itself on many websites.

As you say roast level seems very subjective, i.e ones medium roast will be another’s dark roast, or often not mentioned at all.

In that regard I have found Rave helpful at least, roast level is clear, taste notes are clear etc.

Does make ordering quite challenging while you’re learning.

MediumRoastSteam

Tal Does make ordering quite challenging while you’re learning

Foundry Coffee Roasters actually add the roast degree according to the colour. 👍- I’m not sure what scale they use.

dfk41

AS I delve into brewed, I totally agree that SO beans give me something I cannot get from blends. I like the earth full taste of medium/medium dark in milk, and sometimes as americano. I am new to all of this lighter stuff. It probably is not light by a lot of folks standards but this morning I swear I am getting lime from my offering.

Anyway, the bottom line is if this old dinosaur can drink beans as brewed, that at one time he would have turned his nose up at then life cannot be all bad