How To Adjust The Brewing Method For Coffee Roasting Levels?

Roasted coffee can be roughly divided into the light roast, medium roast, and dark roast. Maybe you will only use one method to make coffee at home, but what is the difference between coffees of different roasts?

In fact, there is no clear industry standard for light, medium, and dark-roasted coffee. Roasters often use their own methods to define different roasting degrees. Generally speaking, light roasted coffee retains more of the original coffee flavor, emphasizing the aromas of flowers and citrus. For coffee with a darker roast, the aromas mentioned above will be replaced by the aromas of chocolate and nuts. If the roasted coffee is very dark, it will have a more obvious bitter taste.

The flavor is not the only difference in coffee roasting. The longer the coffee is exposed to the heat source, the more porous the coffee surface. Therefore, the darker roasted coffee is more soluble, so darker roasted coffee is often used. When making espresso, because the extraction time of espresso is very short, the extraction efficiency of dark roasted beans with higher dissolution efficiency will be higher than that of light roasted beans.

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A good cup of coffee may come from a good extraction rate. When coffee beans are roasted and ground, they will release a lot of compounds when they come into contact with water. These compounds are the first to be extracted from the aroma and acidity of fruits. Then the sugar of the coffee is extracted to create the sweetness, and finally, the bitterness is extracted. So if coffee is not sufficiently extracted, it will have a stinky sour taste because the sugar has not been extracted yet. And if the coffee is over-extracted, it may be too bitter to eat.

Since shallow-roasted coffee beans have fewer holes than dark-roasted beans, the release rate of substances in the coffee beans will be slower. This is why shallow-roasted coffee is often brewed in a slower way, such as hand-brewed coffee. This brewing method allows the water and coffee to have a longer contact time, which is different from the fast-extracted espresso. This also means that if you use the same brewing recipe to brew the same coffee beans of different roasts, you will get a completely different flavor and taste of coffee.

Lightly roasted coffee will exhibit a more complex aroma because it uses a slower extraction method to amplify the aroma characteristics. The extraction time is shorter for darker roasted coffee, so it is more challenging to show the same effect. Otherwise, the bitterness of dark roasted coffee will be extracted.

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When you figure out the logic of the brewing recipe and are about to try to brew a new coffee, how do you adjust the technique to adapt to coffees of different roasts? To compensate for the pore mentioned above difference and extraction rate problems, some variables can be adjusted.

The finer the degree of coffee grinding, the more surface area will be increased, which means the faster the extraction speed. If the coffee you usually brew is a medium roast, you can grind it finely if you want to brew it lightly. In the same way, if you usually brew more light-roasted coffee, you need to grind a little bit coarser when brewing dark-roasted coffee.

If it is a lightly roasted coffee, I will grind it finer; I will grind it coarsely for a darker roast. Because deep-roasted beans are easier to extract bitterness, if the contact time between water and coffee is longer, it will cause excessive extraction.

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There is no absolute correct water temperature for brewing coffee (although the Specialty Coffee Association does have a recommended coffee brewing temperature range: 90¨C96¡ãC). The higher the water temperature, the faster the extraction speed. Some substances will not be extracted at lower temperatures, so the flavor of cold brew coffee will be milder and sweeter because it lacks some of the extracted substances.

Water temperature is one of the easiest factors to adjust the coffee flavor. If you use darker roasted coffee, you can lower the water temperature to prevent over-extraction and cause the coffee to have a bitter taste. If you are brewing lightly roasted coffee, you can use higher-temperature water to speed up the extraction rate.

Usually, darker roasted beans will use lower-temperature water, and lighter roasted beans will use higher-temperature water. Pay special attention here. If you use high-temperature water to brew deep-roasted coffee or use low-temperature water to brew shallow-roasted coffee, the coffee flavor will not be very good in both cases.

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The longer the coffee is in contact with water, the more coffee substances will be extracted. You must pay special attention to the brewing method you choose. For example, espresso coffee must be extracted quickly so that light-roasted coffee may be less suitable Used to make espresso.

When you choose a different brewing method, you will need to adjust the length of the brewing time. For example, hand brewing coffee requires a slower water injection method, while a French filter press requires a longer soaking time.

If it is light-roasted coffee, I will let the coffee soak for a longer time during the first steaming and water injection, which will release more substances from the coffee and give the coffee more aroma and flavor.

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Adjust the brewing factors for different roasts. In addition to the grinding thickness, water temperature, and brewing time mentioned above, some factors will affect the coffee flavor. Still, you need to understand how these factors interact with each other. Influence.

When the coffee beans are stored for a long time, and the flavor decreases, oxidation and exhaust will cause the coffee to lose oil and aromatic compounds, which will cause the coffee to lose its taste, aroma, and flavor. It is usually recommended to buy coffee beans that have been roasted within two weeks, store the coffee in a sealed opaque container, and only grind it during use to avoid rapid oxidation of coffee powder.

If your coffee has been left for a long time, you can adjust the brewing recipe to make up for it. Shallow roasted coffee beans can be ground slightly finer so that the surface area of ??the coffee powder increases and the extraction rate is increased, which can more or less fill the problem of the poor flavor of the beans.

Deep-roasted beans that have been stored for a long time will have more holes so that the dissolution rate will be increased. Therefore, for this kind of beans, you can grind them coarsely or use lower-temperature water to slow down the extraction speed to avoid flushing out. Coffee has a bitter taste.

You can remember some other variables that may affect the final coffee flavor. The water used, the freshness of the beans, the quality of the beans, and the cleanliness of the utensils, these details, and processes will all affect the flavor of the final coffee.

Maybe you have a good recipe found through repeated experiments. Still, when you try to use coffees of different roasts or beans roasted by other roasters, you must readjust the brewing recipe by knowing how to adjust the variable factors (including grinding thickness, brewing time, and water temperature, you can get a good flavor of coffee for the beans of every roast levels.

Get More Resources About Coffee:
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