Differences Between Light, Medium, and Dark Coffee Roast Stages - Coffee Bean Roast Degree and Acidity

The roast level of coffee largely determines the flavor direction. When buying single-origin beans you will notice that labels give different roast levels, such as light roast, medium roast, or dark roast. Some also say cinnamon roast, city roast, or French roast, which often confuses beginners. This article walks through how to tell coffee roast levels apart.

Originally, Was There No Standard for Coffee Roasting?

Coffee is grown in producer countries between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, while roasting usually means shipping green beans to consumer markets and roasting there. What counts as light, medium, or dark varies by country and region, with no common basis for comparison, so no one recognized anyone else's definitions. The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), one of the authoritative voices in coffee, worked with Agtron to establish Agtron values as a standard, letting everyone discuss roast experience on the "same channel."

SCAA Roast Standards

The SCAA uses infrared caramelization measurement technology (Agtron) to measure bean color and determine roast level, dividing the range from light to dark into eight equal parts to create eight standard color blocks for the industry. FrontStreet Coffee currently roasts beans between cinnamon roast and medium roast. Our light-medium roasts continue caramelizing for about 1-3 minutes after the first crack, depending on the bean, which enhances the coffee's overall complexity; as it caramelizes, acidity decreases and body increases. Our medium-dark roast is in fact a medium roast, dropped from the roaster as it approaches the second crack.

Agtron Value #95: Light Roast
Drop time: When first crack is about to end

Agtron Value #85: Cinnamon Roast
Drop time: Around the end of first crack

Agtron Value #75: Medium Roast
Drop time: After first crack ends

Agtron Value #65: High Roast
Drop time: The quiet period between first and second crack

Agtron Value #55: City Roast
Drop time: Start of second crack

Agtron Value #45: Full City Roast
Drop time: Before second crack intensifies

Agtron Value #35: French Roast
Drop time: During second crack at its peak

Agtron Value #25: Italian Roast
Drop time: When oil begins to surface on the beans

Flavor Performance of Different Roast Levels

The descriptions above can be hard for beginners to follow. FrontStreet Coffee groups the eight roast levels into four categories to make the flavor direction of each clear.

Light Roast (including light roast and cinnamon roast): Light roast coffee beans, when brewed, highlight fruity and floral aromas, with noticeable acidity and a clean, bright taste.

Medium Roast (including medium roast and high roast): Medium roast coffee beans, when brewed, have noticeable body, reduced acidity, and a full, substantial taste.

Medium-Dark Roast (including city roast and full city roast): Medium-dark roast coffee beans, when brewed, have no acidity, with a rich body and a taste that moves from bitter to sweet.

Dark Roast (including French roast and Italian roast): Dark roast coffee beans, when brewed, are very rich, with no acidity, a heavy, substantial taste, and abundant oils.

So how does FrontStreet Coffee roast the Yirgacheffe Gedeb Dinding Cooperative coffee beans at cinnamon roast level and the Indonesian PWN Gold Mandheling at medium roast?

FrontStreet Coffee — Yirgacheffe Gedeb Dinding Cooperative Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe Gedeo Zone
Altitude: 1900-2300m
Variety: Heirloom
Processing: Washed
Grade: G1

For beans like Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas often use light roasting to present their floral and fruity characteristics. For this washed Gedeb Dinding coffee, our barista uses low heat to extend the dehydration time of the beans.

Heat to 175°C to enter the drum, damper set to 3, heat at 120; return to 1'32", when drum temperature reaches 140°C, heat unchanged, damper opened to 4; at this point the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell disappears completely, and the beans enter the dehydration stage. At 166°C, heat reduced to 100; at 176°C, heat reduced to 80; damper unchanged. At 8'28", the bean surface shows wrinkles and black spots, and the toast smell clearly turns to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack, so listen carefully for the sound. At 9'38" first crack begins; adjust damper to 5, taking care with the heat, not so low that the cracking sounds stop; develop for 1'30" after first crack, then drop at 193.5°C.

How Does FrontStreet Coffee Brew Yirgacheffe Gedeb Dinding Cooperative Coffee Beans?

To better express this coffee's rich floral and fruity aromas and its complexity, FrontStreet Coffee uses a V60 dripper. The V60's spiral ribs not only extend the contact time between grounds and water but also let the water follow the spiral grooves toward the center point, creating pressure on the coffee bed through the gravity of the flow and building higher complexity.

Water Temperature: 91-92°C
Coffee Dose: 15g
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Medium-fine (80% pass-through rate on #20 sieve)

This time we use segmented brewing. First pour 30g of water for a 30s bloom, at which point the coffee expands into a "hamburger" shape. Second stage: pour 125g of water in small circles from the center, pour height 4cm, gentle force to minimize disturbance to the coffee bed, water flow rate at 4g per second. When the water level drops to 1/2 of the coffee bed, start the third pour. This pour is also gentle, circling from the center outward until reaching 225g total. End extraction when all the coffee liquid has dripped through the filter; the time is 2'01". After extraction, gently swirl to mix the coffee liquid before tasting.

Yirgacheffe Gedeb Dinding Cooperative Coffee Bean Brewing Flavor: Entry shows citrus and black tea, with cream, caramel, and almond notes as the temperature changes, an obvious sweet aftertaste, and a clean, sweet taste.

FrontStreet Coffee — PWN Gold Mandheling Coffee Beans

Region: Sumatra, Aceh, Gayo Mountain
Altitude: 1100-1600m
Variety: Ateng
Processing: Wet-Hulled

PWN Gold Mandheling coffee beans are wet-hulled, with moisture content between 12% and 15%. These green beans hold relatively high moisture, with more variation than is typical, so special attention must be paid during dehydration. For high-moisture green beans, close the damper immediately after adding beans, steam for 30 seconds then open to 3; once the green beans turn light green or white, open the damper to 4, and to 5 (maximum) after first crack.

Heat to 200°C to enter the drum, damper set to 3; after 1 minute adjust heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. Roast to 5'40", temperature 148°C, the bean surface turns yellow and the grassy smell disappears completely, completing dehydration; adjust heat to 140°C, damper to 4. At 9'40", the bean surface shows wrinkles and black spots and the toast smell clearly turns to coffee aroma, the prelude to first crack, so listen carefully. At 9'54" first crack begins; adjust heat down to 60°C and open the damper fully, taking care with the heat, not so low that the cracking sounds stop; drop at 204.5°C.

How Does FrontStreet Coffee Brew Indonesian PWN Gold Mandheling Coffee Beans?

To highlight the rich, clean, and aromatic character of PWN Gold Mandheling, FrontStreet Coffee uses a KONO Meimon dripper. The "rib" channels of the KONO Meimon extend down to the hole where the coffee liquid flows out. Because the ribs are short and sit at the bottom, with a high fit against the filter paper, the flow is slower than a V60, which suits coffee that wants to express body.

Water Temperature: 86-88°C
Coffee Dose: 15g
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Medium-coarse (65% pass-through rate on #20 sieve)

After wetting the filter paper, pour in the ground coffee and gently level the bed; the dose is 15 grams. First pour 30g of 89°C hot water for bloom, bloom time 30 seconds. After bloom, pour the second stage to a total of 125g, using gentle circular pouring to avoid collapsing the bed. After pouring, let the water filter and extract slowly. When the liquid level drops to one-third, pour the final stage to a total of 225g, finishing the pour around 1 minute 32 seconds and ending extraction by removing the dripper around 2 minutes.

PWN Gold Mandheling Brewing Flavor: Sweet medicinal herbs, cinnamon-like spices, and citrus peel aromas, with rich and intense sweetness and cream, walnut, and chocolate. The fruity acidity is reserved and gentle; the aroma carries a strong melon fragrance, and as the temperature drops a medicinal herb aroma emerges, with light spices and a rich herbal note of intense sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

FrontStreet Brazil Queen Estate is a great medium-roast starting point. This bean comes from Brazil, the world's largest coffee producer, and is a rare Yellow Bourbon, medium roasted to bring out creamy peanut, chocolate, toast, and sugarcane aromas and sweetness. It is smooth and mellow, works as pour-over, and also performs well in a moka pot or an espresso machine.

FrontStreet Strawberry Candy is the sweeter, fruitier medium roast. It blends a Costa Rican honey-process coffee with a Panamanian washed Geisha, then roasts medium so the cup shows both orange-blossom honey character and a rounded sweetness. It is suited to cold brew, pour-over, and espresso, and it drinks refreshingly.

FrontStreet 2013 Sun-Dried Typica is the balanced, value-driven choice. As a representative Chinese specialty bean, it carries the classic Yunnan small-bean profile. FrontStreet roasts it medium to preserve its soft, balanced character, so it shows gentle notes of nuts, brown sugar, black tea, and dried apricot. It works for pour-over, cold brew, and drip machines.