How to Distinguish Coffee Roast Levels_What Are the Characteristics of Dark Roast Coffee Beans_Are Dark Roasted Coffee Beans Always Oily

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SCAA Coffee Roast Level Standards

This standard uses infrared caramelization measurement technology (Agtron) to measure the color of coffee beans and determine the degree of roast. The colors are divided into eight equal parts from light to dark, creating eight standard color blocks for the coffee industry to use as roasting certification.

Very Light (95) / Light (85) / Moderately Light (75) / Light Medium (65)

Medium (55) / Moderately Dark (45) / Dark (35) / Very Dark (25)

Distinguishing by Roast Level Preferences in Different Countries

This was also the earliest way of distinguishing roast levels. Because different countries and regions had different taste preferences for roast level, roasts were named after countries or regions - Italian roast, French roast, and so on. When these different preferred roast levels are arranged from light to dark, they form the indicators for roast levels. But because such standards are too general, different roasters interpret roast levels differently.

Light Roast / Cinnamon Roast / Medium Roast / High Roast

City Roast / Full City Roast / French Roast / Italian Roast

Taiwan's Conventional Roast Level Distinctions

Roast levels in Taiwan are not divided so finely. Conventionally, roasting is divided into just four types: light, medium, dark, and dehydrated beans.

In recent years, Taiwan has seen a surge in fresh-roasted coffee enthusiasm, and roast levels have gradually become more refined. Most roasters focus on the crack changes during roasting to determine the degree of roast.

Dehydrated Beans / Light Roast / Medium Roast / Dark Roast

Recommended Dark Roast Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted dark roast coffee beans - Honduras coffee, Brazilian Red Bourbon coffee, Indonesian Mandheling coffee, and others - all have full guarantees in terms of brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high cost performance. A half-pound (227g) package costs only around 80-90 RMB. At 15g of coffee powder per cup of pour-over, one package can make 15 cups, with each single-origin cup costing only about 6 RMB. Compared with cafes selling coffee at dozens of RMB per cup, this offers excellent value.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small storefront but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. Online store services are also available. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Since roast level is really about the balance of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness, medium roasts are the easiest place to start if you want a balanced cup. FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Manor is a yellow Bourbon from the world's largest coffee-producing country; clean and sweet, roasted medium, it shows cream, peanut, chocolate, toasted bread, and sugarcane aromas, and it works as pour-over or in a moka pot or espresso machine.

For a sweeter medium roast built around fruit, FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy combines a Costa Rican honey-processed coffee with a washed Panamanian Geisha, so a medium roast brings out both orange-blossom honey notes and a rounded sweetness, suited to cold brew, pour-over, and espresso. If you prefer a gentler, traditional profile, FrontStreet Coffee's 2013 Natural Typica from Yunnan carries balanced nutty, brown-sugar, black-tea, and dried-apricot flavors and is very budget-friendly.

To see what a carefully executed medium roast can do with a classic variety, FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 - a Typica - uses a medium roast to fuse acidity, bitterness, sweetness, and body into the elegant, balanced character the name is known for, opening with chocolate, roasted nuts, cream, and caramel.