Coffee Bean Roasting 101: Part 2 Roast levels

Roast levels

American: Not a very commonly used term, but should you ever come across it, you’ll know what it is. The coffee bean is cinnamon in color (and will often bare the name of Cinnamon Roast). The bean is slightly lighter in color, with an underdeveloped flavor, and very little body.

City: The roast is stopped right at the end of First Crack. Lighter body, highlighted acidity, and many origin characteristics remain.

City+: The roast is taken beyond First Crack, but is cooled before reaching Second Crack. The bean has lightly more body, slightly less acidity, with still many origin characteristics remaining.

Full City: The roast is taken to the verge of Second Crack. Body begins to increase at the cost of acidity, and origin flavors begin to become diminished, and a sweetness is introduced thanks to caramelization of sugars.

Full City+: The roast is taken just into Second Crack. Acidity and origin flavor are decreasing as body and sweetness are increasing. This stage of roast is very popular for Northern Italian Espresso.

Vienna: (also known as Continental, or Light French). The roast is taken well into Second Crack, and the beans may begin to be coated in a very thin layer of oil. (Oil will increase over time as the beans rest and degas) Origin characteristics become dominated by Roast flavors, while body increases. Also very popular for Espresso close to the Northern Italian tradition.

French Roast: (also known as Italian roast) The roast is taken towards the end of Second Crack. Flavor is diminished, body is thinned, and a charcoal flavor dominates. Unfortunately, this is typical of American espresso and most of our population’s perspective of what is considered to be gourmet.

Agtron System (Roast Level Indicator). This is an important tool adopted by the SCAA and coffee professionals alike. Its value is in creating a “standard” that is uniform across the board and not open to differing interpretations of terms such as “city – full city,” etc. There is a push by true “Specialty” coffee professionals to move the industry towards this standardization.