Coffee Bean Roast Level Classification - Italian Roast Coffee Characteristics? How to Brew Italian Roast Beans?

Coffee Bean Roast Levels Classification: Italian Roast Coffee Characteristics and Brewing Methods

Coffee roasting methods are typically divided into the following eight stages:

Light Roast: Lightest Roast Level

This is the lightest roast level among all roasting stages. Coffee beans show a light cinnamon color, with insufficient flavor and aroma. This state is barely drinkable and generally used for testing purposes rather than tasting.

Cinnamon Roast: Light Roast Level

A common roast level with a cinnamon appearance. The grassy smell has been eliminated, aroma is acceptable, and acidity is strong. This is often used for American-style coffee.

Medium Roast: Medium Roast Level

Medium roast heat, similar to light roast, belongs to American-style roasting. Besides acidity, bitterness also appears, creating a pleasant mouthfeel. With balanced aroma, acidity, and body, it's commonly used for blended coffee roasting.

High Roast: Medium-Dark Roast Level

Belonging to medium-dark roast, slightly stronger than medium roast, with some dark tea color appearing on the surface, and bitterness becomes stronger. Coffee flavor is bitter with acidic notes, with excellent aroma and taste. Most popular among Japanese and Central European coffee lovers (e.g., Blue Mountain Coffee).

City Roast: Medium-Dark Roast Level

The most standard roast level, where bitterness and acidity achieve balance. Often used for French-style coffee (e.g., Brazilian, Colombian).

Full City Roast: Dark Roast Level

Slightly stronger than City Roast, with quite dark color, where bitterness exceeds acidity. Belongs to Central and South American roasting method, extremely suitable for making various iced coffees.

French Roast: Dark Roast Level

Also known as French or European roast, belonging to dark roast category. Color shows dark tea with black tones, acidity is no longer perceptible. Particularly popular in Europe, especially France. As fats have penetrated to the surface, it carries a unique aroma, very suitable for café au lait and Vienna coffee.

Italian Roast: Darkest Roast Level

Also known as Italian roast, roasted to the point before carbonization, with a smoky flavor. Mainly popular in Latin countries, suitable for quick coffee and cappuccino. Mostly used for Espresso series coffees.

French Roast:

Originating from New Orleans, where roasters often use pans to roast coffee beans because the roasted coffee flavor is most complete and intense!

French Roast is Cafe Altura's heaviest roast level coffee, using the finest Arabica variety coffee beans, with green beans sourced from the Sierra Madre mountains of Chiapas, Mexico.

Although it's the heaviest roast, there's not a hint of unpleasant bitterness. Our French roast coffee beans present a very rich dark brown color with shimmering natural oils. We carefully roast to avoid the burnt taste and bitterness caused by over-roasting. The taste is richly layered, without acidity. The sweetness when coffee enters the throat lingers there, then the entire mouth begins to fill with rich milky aroma, extending to the nasal cavity. In this cool winter approaching season, drinking a cup of Cafe Altura French Roast brings a sense of calm and stability.

Careful analysis shows that the foam originates from the coffee's own oil. This coffee oil is the result of green coffee beans being roasted at high temperature until the second crack becomes dense. Usually, such coffee beans, when removed from heat for cooling, have a deep color but haven't yet oozed oil. Due to continuous heat release from the coffee beans themselves, oil gradually appears on the surface bit by bit after cooling. Coffee beans like this have strong aroma dispersion, with rich and powerful fragrance that's hard to resist. Only heavily roasted coffee beans can force out the coffee oil, but relatively, freshness and shelf life will also shorten.

The optimal tasting period for espresso extraction beans is approximately five to seven days after roasting. After the seventh day or up to ten days, the oil quality gradually changes, and an unpleasant greasy smell gradually emerges. At this time, using an espresso machine with nine pounds of steam pressure for extraction, foam will occupy 80% of the extraction cup. The taste when drunk straight is unforgettable. If added with brown sugar to enhance flavor, it's another taste experience. It's recommended to drink more water when consuming this coffee to dilute the extract in your stomach. It's also not recommended to drink this coffee on an empty stomach.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends brewing:

Pour-over or espresso

Pour-over Brewing Parameters:

Water temperature: 83-88°C, water-to-coffee ratio 1:13-14, Fuji grinder setting 4, Kono filter cup. First pour 30g of water for 28-30s bloom.

Depending on the bloom condition and expansion size, decide how long to pour with a fine water stream. After blooming, the coffee grounds will basically still contain some air. During the second pour, foam will be produced. The foam's fineness represents the air content within the coffee grounds. The air content in the coffee grounds determines whether the coffee grounds float on the water surface or settle at the bottom of the filter. More air content means coffee grounds float on water, so use a fine, gentle water stream to disturb the coffee grounds and release the air within.

Pour until reaching 110g water volume, stop at 140g, wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 238g. Avoid the last 5g. Extraction time: 2:00 minutes.

This pour-over method yields higher sweetness and gentle flavor. For reference only; everyone should make fine adjustments according to their preferred taste.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473