How to Brew Light Roast Coffee Beans: Yirgacheffe Pour-Over Tutorial and Technique Sharing

FrontStreet Coffee - Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Wolka Washed Brewing Tutorial

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Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Wolka Washed

Region: Yirgacheffe

Altitude: 1800-2100m

Variety: Local heirloom varieties

Processing: Washed

Flavor: Citrus, Lemon, Tea

Light Roast Coffee

Light roast coffee refers to the roast degree from the first crack to before the second crack during the roasting stage, which means from cinnamon to city roast.

Light roasting is mainly intended to enjoy the diverse aromas contained in coffee beans. In other words, it reduces the coffee flavors formed during dark roasting and highlights the inherent characteristics of the raw beans. Therefore, the key to choosing light roast coffee lies in the freshness of the raw beans and the rich aromas they contain. Basically, the more premium the coffee market or raw beans, the more likely you are to encounter light roast coffee.

In light roast coffee, the cellular structure has not yet fully expanded, and the capillaries that assist in coffee extraction have not fully formed. Therefore, the acidity is more prominent. If extracted using conventional methods, it may not fully express the good flavors. Only by adding several variations to the basic extraction method can you produce coffee with richer flavors.

The key to brewing light roast coffee beans is to increase the powder-to-water ratio starting from 1:20, which is called light brewing. Use a coarser grind setting than usual - large eagle and small Fuji recommend around 4.5-5.5. Then brew at high temperature, generally between 92-96 degrees.

The reason for brewing this way is that extremely light-roasted beans have low weight loss, which means they retain more of their original content during the roasting process. If brewed according to the usual 1:12-1:15 ratio, the resulting product is often too concentrated, with solid flavors and poor layer separation, easily leading to unpleasant tasting experiences of strong acidity and harsh astringency.

Therefore, we increase the ratio to allow for complete extraction, with front, middle, and back notes, creating distinct layers. The acidity becomes more varied and no longer harshly prominent, while sweetness and details emerge.

The coarse grind is because extremely light-roasted beans, if ground too finely, can easily release their astringent qualities. Large water flows allow the powder and water to combine properly, letting the flavor details infuse out, which may be more suitable. High temperature is to completely extract the components from the beans!

About FrontStreet Coffee

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