Why We Roast Some Coffees Light

6 minute read • Coffee Roasting

One of the things I love about roasting coffee is that every coffee shows up with its own personality.

Some are rich and chocolatey.

Some are nutty and smooth.

Others are bright, fruity, and a little unexpected.

And despite what the internet may occasionally lead you to believe, my job as a coffee roaster isn't to decide that one roast level is better than another.

It's to figure out what I want to bring out of the coffee sitting in front of me.

Light Roast Isn't Better Coffee

There's a funny thing happening in specialty coffee.

Somewhere along the way, light roast became almost synonymous with "better" coffee.

I don't really buy that.

I love a good light roast.

I also love a rich, chocolatey dark roast.

And there's an awful lot of really good coffee living somewhere in between.

Roasting darker isn't necessarily covering up the coffee. Done well, additional roast development can create wonderful caramelized, chocolatey, nutty, and rich flavors.

But every step further into the roast also changes what's already there.

And sometimes what's already there is exactly what I don't want to lose.

Then This Coffee Showed Up

That's what happened with our latest Papua New Guinea coffee.

It comes from the Milne Bay area of Papua New Guinea, and when I started working with it, it was pretty obvious this wasn't going to be one of our typical coffees.

There was a brightness to it.

A tropical fruit character.

A sweetness.

And underneath all of that, this really interesting malty quality that gave the coffee some depth.

I didn't want to roast all of that away.

So we did something we don't do very often at Hidden River.

We kept it light.

Not because light roast is somehow more sophisticated.

Not because that's what specialty coffee is "supposed" to be.

We roasted it light because that's where this particular coffee tasted right.

That's the whole idea.

A Roast Level Should Have a Reason

Think about roasting coffee a little like cooking.

You wouldn't cook every ingredient exactly the same way simply because you'd decided one cooking temperature was superior.

You'd consider what you're starting with and what you're trying to accomplish.

Coffee isn't all that different.

As the beans move through the roasting process, heat creates an enormous amount of change. Sugars develop. Acids change. Aromas form. The coffee moves from something that smells remarkably like a plant into something recognizable as the coffee we know and love.

The further we take that process, the more the roast itself begins contributing to the final flavor.

That's not necessarily good or bad.

It's a tool.

With some coffees, I want more of that roast character.

With others, I want the character of the coffee itself to stay front and center.

The trick is knowing when to stop.

So What Does a Light Roast Actually Taste Like?

This is where things get interesting.

A light roast doesn't have one particular flavor.

Neither does a medium or dark roast.

Origin, growing conditions, processing, the coffee itself, and how we roast it all contribute to what eventually ends up in your cup.

Our Papua New Guinea, for example, ended up giving us:

Tropical Fruit • Malt • Honey

with a bright and lively character.

And no, before anyone asks, we didn't put tropical fruit or honey in the coffee. 😁

Those are tasting notes.

They're simply familiar flavors and aromas we use to describe what we're experiencing in the cup.

That's probably a conversation worthy of an entire Journal entry of its own.

What If I Usually Drink Dark Roast?

Try it.

Seriously.

You may love it.

You may decide you're still a dark-roast person.

Either answer is perfectly acceptable.

One of my favorite things about coffee is how different it can be. You don't have to choose a team and stay there for the rest of your life.

I can thoroughly enjoy a dark, rich cup of coffee one morning and want something bright and fruity the next.

That's part of the fun.

It's also one of the reasons I wanted to release this particular coffee.

It's different from much of what we normally roast at Hidden River.

We brought in a limited amount as part of our Roaster's Reserve, and once it's gone, it's gone.

But whether you try this one or not, here's what I hope you take away from all of this:

Don't choose coffee because somebody told you light roast is better.

Don't choose dark roast because somebody told you it's stronger.

And don't worry too much about drinking coffee the "right" way.

Drink coffee you enjoy.

Want to taste what I mean?
Our Papua New Guinea Roaster’s Reserve is a limited-release light roast with notes of tropical fruit, malt, and honey—and a bright, lively cup.

→ Try Papua New Guinea

My job is simply to roast it in a way that gives you the best chance of doing exactly that.

Find Your Hidden River.

— Brandon