Green coffee beans are roasted to an internal temperature of 400 to 500 degrees fahrenheit. The heat releases the beans’ volatile oils and transforms their complex chemical components into starch and sugar, creating the flavors and aromas we identify with coffee.
The lightest treatment is known straightforwardly as light roast (also called cinnamon roast, institutional roast, New England roast or half city roast). This produces coffee with a mild, somewhat acidic flavor, slight body and light brown hue.
Medium roast (also called American roast, breakfast roast or regular roast) yields coffee that is lightly sweet and rich, yet still acidic. The color is medium brown.
City and full city roast are darker, richer with little acidity. Dark-roasted coffee (Viennese, continental, New Orleans roast) is darker in color and has a smoky, sweet taste on the tongue. Darker still are French and Italian roasts. Espresso roasts are the darkest and produce beans that are nearly black. They have a distinctly burned flavor that many coffee drinkers love and others can’t abide.
