Comments on: Wake Up and Smell the Medium Roast http://pjmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/ Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:22:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: laurita http://pjmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8055 laurita Tue, 17 Apr 2007 01:53:20 +0000 http://dev.pajamasmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8055 the one reason i had started seeking out dark roast was because i read that it reduced the acidity of coffee, which i thought had been causing me gastrointestinal discomfort. i have since decided it was the instant oatmeal i was eating for breakfast that was actually the culprit! medium roast is def the way to go for taste... but i'm not sure i'll be shouting 'not the effing french roast!' the one reason i had started seeking out dark roast was because i read that it reduced the acidity of coffee, which i thought had been causing me gastrointestinal discomfort. i have since decided it was the instant oatmeal i was eating for breakfast that was actually the culprit! medium roast is def the way to go for taste… but i’m not sure i’ll be shouting ‘not the effing french roast!’

]]> By: Allison http://pjmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8054 Allison Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:34:24 +0000 http://dev.pajamasmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8054 I feel like I'm in a caffeinated version of "Sideways." French Roast is the Merlot of coffee? I feel like I’m in a caffeinated version of “Sideways.”

French Roast is the Merlot of coffee?

]]> By: nancy http://pjmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8053 nancy Mon, 16 Apr 2007 19:53:26 +0000 http://dev.pajamasmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8053 Brian - Some coffees, when properly roasted, will have a mild flavor; the Mexican Chiapas comes to mind, as does a Guatelama Antigua Serano. I think what you might mean, though, is a light roast. Coffee beans, before they are roasted, are green and very hard; if you don't roast them enough, they won't lose enough density/moisture to grind well or taste good, at all. Also, under-roasted coffee tastes grassy. I asked my husband (the roaster; our company is Ristretto Roasters, here in Portland, OR) about light roasts, and he said, "There's all sorts of terminology -- 'cinnamon' and 'city-roast' and 'full city,' and none of it's very useful." I think, also, the balance has recently been so skewed dark, that what is sometimes considered a "light roast" is what we call a medium. Brian – Some coffees, when properly roasted, will have a mild flavor; the Mexican Chiapas comes to mind, as does a Guatelama Antigua Serano.

I think what you might mean, though, is a light roast. Coffee beans, before they are roasted, are green and very hard; if you don’t roast them enough, they won’t lose enough density/moisture to grind well or taste good, at all. Also, under-roasted coffee tastes grassy.

I asked my husband (the roaster; our company is Ristretto Roasters, here in Portland, OR) about light roasts, and he said, “There’s all sorts of terminology — ‘cinnamon’ and ‘city-roast’ and ‘full city,’ and none of it’s very useful.” I think, also, the balance has recently been so skewed dark, that what is sometimes considered a “light roast” is what we call a medium.

]]> By: Brian H http://pjmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8052 Brian H Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:12:20 +0000 http://dev.pajamasmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8052 What is mild roast? What is mild roast?

]]> By: Noga http://pjmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8051 Noga Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:22:35 +0000 http://dev.pajamasmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8051 I feel somewhat vindicated in my choice of coffee taste which has always inclined towards "medium-roast". Real manly men, like Johnny Bravo, seem to attach a certain significance to their liking a coffee that is dark-roast. As though a preference for drinking a coffee dark, bitter, sugarless and milkless is somehow indicative of a certain tough virility as well as continental connaisseurship... Well, I never had any pretensions for European elegance. It's all a myth, anyway. I have always liked my coffee medium roast and I have a preference for the way the Italians roast their coffee beans. But I always welcome new flavours, as long as they are not "dark roast". I am a coffee multiculturalist moderate: curious and respectful. I feel somewhat vindicated in my choice of coffee taste which has always inclined towards “medium-roast”. Real manly men, like Johnny Bravo, seem to attach a certain significance to their liking a coffee that is dark-roast. As though a preference for drinking a coffee dark, bitter, sugarless and milkless is somehow indicative of a certain tough virility as well as continental connaisseurship…

Well, I never had any pretensions for European elegance. It’s all a myth, anyway. I have always liked my coffee medium roast and I have a preference for the way the Italians roast their coffee beans. But I always welcome new flavours, as long as they are not “dark roast”. I am a coffee multiculturalist moderate: curious and respectful.

]]> By: swag http://pjmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8050 swag Sun, 15 Apr 2007 08:37:09 +0000 http://dev.pajamasmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8050 Everybody loves to dis robusta as if it were the foulest thing on earth. It often is. But unfortunately, there's a lot of good robusta, specialty coffee robusta -- particularly from places like India and some from Uganda -- that are handled as well as some of the best arabica beans around. And when added as an element in a blend for espresso, for example, they can help produce excellent crema, aroma, and round out the flavor spectrum in the cup. Everybody loves to dis robusta as if it were the foulest thing on earth. It often is. But unfortunately, there’s a lot of good robusta, specialty coffee robusta — particularly from places like India and some from Uganda — that are handled as well as some of the best arabica beans around. And when added as an element in a blend for espresso, for example, they can help produce excellent crema, aroma, and round out the flavor spectrum in the cup.

]]> By: Martin Lindeskog http://pjmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8049 Martin Lindeskog Sat, 14 Apr 2007 23:29:48 +0000 http://dev.pajamasmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8049 The coffee we use at Blue Chip Caf√© is made of several different types of beans from Central America and a Robusta variety from India. As a barista in training, I second AskMom's request for a follow-up post on the "art and science of steaming milk." For more on coffee, please read my post, <a href="http://egoist.blogspot.com/2007/02/coffee-and-chile.html" rel="nofollow">COFFEE AND CHILE</a>. The coffee we use at Blue Chip Caf√© is made of several different types of beans from Central America and a Robusta variety from India. As a barista in training, I second AskMom’s request for a follow-up post on the “art and science of steaming milk.” For more on coffee, please read my post, COFFEE AND CHILE.

]]> By: AskMom http://pjmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8048 AskMom Sat, 14 Apr 2007 20:30:42 +0000 http://dev.pajamasmedia.com/blog/wake-up-and-smell-the-medium-roast/#comment-8048 Even at Starbucks, or "Charbucks" as my Dunkin' Donuts addicted friend calls it, you can get good single origin coffees in a medium roast. And several Baristas there have been heard telling customers the honest truth about "French Roast" - that it's the rejected beans of whatever variety, burned beyond recognition. I personally have found specific coffees to approve of in almost every chain. If you know how to ask, you can find a drinkable cup just about anywhere. And the way to start is to realize, as Nancy says, that flavor in a coffee cup either came with the beans or doesn't belong there at all. For a follow-up piece, maybe Nancy can write about the art and science of steaming milk. If she's too busy, I volunteer. Even in enlightened Seattle, you get bubbles as often as foam, and that really ought to be a hanging offense. Even at Starbucks, or “Charbucks” as my Dunkin’ Donuts addicted friend calls it, you can get good single origin coffees in a medium roast. And several Baristas there have been heard telling customers the honest truth about “French Roast” – that it’s the rejected beans of whatever variety, burned beyond recognition.

I personally have found specific coffees to approve of in almost every chain. If you know how to ask, you can find a drinkable cup just about anywhere. And the way to start is to realize, as Nancy says, that flavor in a coffee cup either came with the beans or doesn’t belong there at all.

For a follow-up piece, maybe Nancy can write about the art and science of steaming milk. If she’s too busy, I volunteer. Even in enlightened Seattle, you get bubbles as often as foam, and that really ought to be a hanging offense.

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