If you are a coffee lover then you’ll have listened to medium-level roast and the dark roast of coffee beans. Or if you are not a big fan of coffee but you have seen different brands advertising their coffee as the light, medium, and dark roast of coffee beans. If you are here then you don’t know the difference between dark and medium roast coffee beans.
If we talk in simple words the coffee beans are roasted for the maximum time then it’ll be dark and for less time it will be medium. The taste of the medium coffee is pretty good but the dark roasted has some strong taste. The medium roasted beans coffee has some more flavors of the coffee but dark coffee doesn’t have that much flavor of coffee beans.
How Coffee beans are Roasted
The flavor which comes in our coffee is due to the roasting of the coffee beans. Mostly the coffee beans are roasted by the large brands in their factories. But there are some intense coffee lovers do the roasting process in their home.
There are two types of coffee roasters
Drum roasters
Roasters that heats the coffee beans within the drum by turning them into the air repeatedly are drum roasters
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Hot-air roasters
The roasters that blow hot air between these coffee beans and constantly twist them are called hot air roasters.
But the purpose of both roasters is to roast the coffee beans and make them tasteful that all coffee lovers love. Most of the brands prefer to ground the beans by themself and they also sold whole roasted coffee beans bag which people can ground by themself. After roasting and grounding the coffee beans it is ready to boost up our daily life with energy.
Dark roast coffee vs. medium roast coffee
The original taste of the coffee beans is not what we enjoy as coffee lovers and they are full of acidity. Roasting the beans adds some taste to them and reduces the acidity of the beans. Then it becomes that coffee which is the permanent partner of our morning routine.
In medium roast, some of the flavor of the original coffee and a little bit of acidity is retained. The people who are addicted to the higher brands of coffee prefer to go with the medium roasted or even lightly roasted coffee beans.
The dark roast reduces the amount of acidity in the coffee beans and gives the coffee a stronger taste. We have talked to the may coffee lovers and they prefer the taste of dark roasted coffee beans due to their stronger and bolder taste. When you mix dark roasted coffee with cream and or milk it tastes great.
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Caffeine
The people are confused in determining the caffeine levels in the dark or light roasted coffee. Some think that light coffee has more amount coffee while others believe that dark has more amount of caffeine.
But according to the experts, there is very little difference in caffeine in light roast coffee and dark roast coffee. The roasting of coffee beans does not change the caffeine levels in them.
Medium and dark coffee beans are equal in the amount of caffeine and would boost your morning with the same energy.
Some people have misconceptions that medium roasted beans are high in caffeine levels and will give them an extra shot of energy but according to experts they both are the same and don’t give you an extra-high level of caffeine dosage.
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Stages
The roasting process starts when you put all the coffee beans in the roaster and start giving them heat. In this stage, the coffee beans start absorbing the heat, and their color change to white or pale sometimes.
In the second stage, many changes are happening with the beans their color starts to get dark. In the second stage aroma of the coffee beans starts to spread in the air and the beans are going through the Maillard reaction
The third step is also called the light roast step if you stop the roasting process after this step then the beans would be lightly roasted. In this step, the beans are roasted and they start to break from the middle and become a bit puffy. The sound of coffee beans splitting from the beans is audible in this stage.
This is the last step of heating the coffee beans and in this step, they start to crack again same as the popcorn. The bean which we get after this stage is called the dark coffee beans. The internal oils of the coffee beans start to creep out from the inner shell of the bean through the second crack. The bean we get after this process is dark brown and has less acidity.
Chemicals
Many chemical reactions take place as you start to heat the coffee beans for the roasting process. There are very important two chemical reactions that take place at the time of roasting which is called Maillard reaction and the other is called caramelization.
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Maillard reaction
This is the reaction in which the different tastes of the amino acids are created by amino acids and reducing of sugars.
Caramelization
If you love the sweet and nutty flavor of your daily coffee then that taste is due to this chemical reaction that happens in the roasting process.
Physical reactions
When you put coffee beans in the roasters two reactions take place in it. At first, it starts to change its color to white and yellow and the first crack appears in the coffee beans which are called lightly roasted coffee beans.
The other reaction takes place after some time which is the second crack in the coffee beans and the color of the beans turns dark. In this, the oil covers the surface of the coffee beans. You have a perfect dark roasted coffee bean. The dark roasted beans have low acidity and a stronger flavor.
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Why the dark roasted beans are shiny
Most people wonder that how a dry bean got a shiny surface after the roasted process but they don’t know that there are oils in the coffee beans. When the coffee beans are heated they crack through that crack the oil creeps out of the beans and covers the whole surface of the bean and which gives the dark roasted bean a shiny and brighter look. There is no issue with it because they are all-natural oils that make your coffee’s flavor more good and strong.
Conclusion
If we talk about the flavors so, the medium one has a good aroma and flavors but the acidity levels are also good while, on the other hand, the dark coffee beans are mostly treated as the strong flavor coffee and it has low acidity levels.
If we ask which one is better this might be a tougher question because the taste is a very subjective thing. Everybody has some different taste buds. So, someone can like the medium one, and others can like dark roasted coffee.
If you like stronger taste coffee then dark roasted is for you and if you like the light flavor coffee then the medium one is for you. The amount of caffeine is same for the both roasted coffee so, there is no comparison everyone has their personal choice and taste.
FAQ’s