The ten stages of coffee roasting

Both home and commercial coffee roasters have identified ten levels of roast that beans can (but not necessarily should) go through. Which levels you reach will be up to you: when you roast your own coffee

 Green: The beans will retain their virgin green essence, even as they start to heat.

Yellow: The colour will become yellowish, and the beans will emit a grassy odour.

 Steam: Steam will rise from the beans. This is the water inside the beans evaporating.

 First Crack (Cinnamon Roast): Here’s where the real roasting begins. Sugars inside the beans caramelise, and a cracking sound is heard, like the sound of popcorn popping.

 City Roast: Following the first crack, the beans have reached City Roast, the minimum level of roast acceptable for most people’s grinding and brewing tastes.

 City Plus Roast: With further caramelisation of sugars and the migration of oils, the beans swell in size and reach City Plus Roast. This is a popular and common level of roast to use.

 Full City Roast: Beyond the limits of City Plus is the Full City, an even darker roast that takes the beans to the verge of a second cracking.

 Second Crack (Full City Plus Roast): The beans undergo a second, more violent cracking and enter Full City Plus. This roast will reveal even more layers of intensity to the flavour.

 Dark Roast (French Roast): The smoke will become pungent, the sugars will burn as much as they can without ruining the flavour, and the beans overall structure will break down. This is the utmost limit of roasting within the confines of good flavour.

 Burn: If you haven’t stopped roasting by this point, the smell will go from pungent to terrible, and the beans will burn.

 Also, it is important to note that some charts include more or less roast distinctions than the ones we have above. We simply included the ones that mark distinctive parts of the roasting process, rather than including every minute distinction.

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