The Coffee Pageant

            Have you ever found yourself undecided on what to choose among a huge number of choices? Well, this might be the case when you are presented choices with unique characteristics and features. Just like in a beauty pageant where beautiful girls line up wearing an irresistible smile on their face. It’s would really be difficult to judge. Same way that we sometimes feel when we enter a café with a very nice ambience which offers a variety of tempting coffee – we have to stare at the choices for a while and feel like we are in a coffee haven before we can decide on what to get.

            Our choice usually depends on our personal preference (and of course our taste buds play a major role). Each of us has our own criteria and based on that let’s get to know the candidates for our own Best Choice Roasted Coffee Bean.

            The first candidate for Best Choice Roasted Coffee Bean is Cinnamon Roast. It is also known as Light Roast and New England Roast. In this roast, the beans barely enter first crack, resulting in a relatively dry bean with a light brown to cinnamon color. It has a grain like taste, with a sharp, almost sour acidity. Then we have the American Roast which has a medium light brown color. This is the stage where the ‘first crack’ begins and the beans are just medium-roasted that results in a moderate brew with a lively flavor that is not too light or too heavy. Next is the City Roast that has a medium brown color. At this point, the ‘first crack’ stage is finished and the taste can be simply described as the normal coffee taste. Up next is the Full City Roast which has a rich brown color and the beans may show tiny droplets of oil as it enters the ‘second crack’ stage. It has a good balance of sweetness, body and acidity that slightly results to a bittersweet ‘roast taste’. After that we have Vienna Roast with a moderate dark brown color with oil on the beans and the ‘second crack’ is nearly in its completion. Its cup quality is bittersweet with a heavier body. Then here comes French Roast that has typically a deep chocolate-brown color shiny with oil. It produces a full-bodied and stronger coffee taste with less acidity. This roast is often used when making Espresso. Some think that this is the darkest roast but wait until you meet Italian Roast & Spanish Roast. Also known as the Darker French Roast is the Italian Roast. The color ranges from dark brown to black and is oilier looking. It has a stronger burned flavor also used for Espresso. And last but not the least, probably the darkest of them all, the Spanish Roast where beans are nearly black and oil-covered. Flavor compounds are degraded and burnt, bitter taste dominates.

            So which one would you choose? Let me warn you that the choices don’t end there because there are also a variety of coffee origins to choose from and that’s another pageant. Anyway not all pageants can have just one winner, so why not try all of them and enjoy! 

Credits to http://www.student.chula.ac.th/~53373082/images/roasted%20coffee.jpg for the image.