Why medium roast?

[13Gigatons]

I went to the store to buy coffee and it's all medium roast. Maybe one or two items of dark or light roast and no whole bean.

How did medium roast get chosen?

 

[shortylickens]

I dunno.

Off the subject: whats your preference?

 

[sdifox]

maybe because most people buy medium roast? They stock what people buy.

Also, go to a real roaster if you want to buy decent coffee.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Reminds me of how salsa and anything of that nature is always mild or medium. Why is it so hard to get hot?

 

[Cuular]

medium roast exposes more of the flavors in the coffee, and the lighter the roast, the less caffeine gets burned out of it. So more flavor, and more caffeine.

Darker roasts actually sit better on shelves, because there is less of the coffee bean left to go bad and get rancid.

 

[sandorski]

French Roast is best. ;smuggy;

 

[sdifox]

French Roast is best. ;smuggy;

ew

 

[PJFrylar]

Reminds me of how salsa and anything of that nature is always mild or medium. Why is it so hard to get hot?

I don't understand how people even need the mild or medium salsas. It must be weird for the "hot" salsa to be too much. I'm not exactly some spice fiend either. I usually don't venture much past habaneros (though I grew some ghost peppers this summer... i'm not the type to eat them or hotter peppers whole though).

 

[OutHouse]

medium roast exposes more of the flavors in the coffee, and the lighter the roast, the less caffeine gets burned out of it. So more flavor, and more caffeine.

Darker roasts actually sit better on shelves, because there is less of the coffee bean left to go bad and get rancid.

correct. i used to (like most people) think that dark roast is the best. once i started roasting my own coffee and experimenting with different beans and roast times. a medium roast is where its at.

 

[Ken g6]

How did roasted coffee beans get chosen in the first place?

 

[Ayrahvon]

medium roast exposes more of the flavors in the coffee, and the lighter the roast, the less caffeine gets burned out of it. So more flavor, and more caffeine.

Darker roasts actually sit better on shelves, because there is less of the coffee bean left to go bad and get rancid.

I think darker roasts were the 'preferred' roast for a long time. Starbucks has always been a heavy roaster, and I think for large scale roasting - the darker the roast the more consistent/repetitive your flavour profile. If you're at the store and seeing smaller more local roasters, at least in my experience, they tend to lean towards medium roasts for the reasons stated above. You get a lot more complexity of flavour in medium roasts. Of course the way roasts are described (mild, medium, dark) really doesn't lend itself to understanding what the resulted coffee will actually taste like.

Yes, I came out of lurking to respond to coffee posts.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Couldn't have been much of a store if they didn't have any whole bean coffee. I don't think I'd use their selection of coffees to mean much about consumer preferences.

 

[BoomerD]

I went to the store to buy coffee and it's all medium roast. Maybe one or two items of dark or light roast and no whole bean.

How did medium roast get chosen?

Answered above. MOST people prefer a light to medium roast. Better flavor, not as bitter, more caffeine.

Reminds me of how salsa and anything of that nature is always mild or medium. Why is it so hard to get hot?

Same sort of answer. MOST people can’t handle truely HOT salsa or “hot” sauce.

I don't understand how people even need the mild or medium salsas. It must be weird for the "hot" salsa to be too much. I'm not exactly some spice fiend either. I usually don't venture much past habaneros (though I grew some ghost peppers this summer... i'm not the type to eat them or hotter peppers whole though).

Lots of the mild “hot” sauces are too sweet for my liking, and are more like chunky ketchup, IMO.

I bought what was labeled as a Fresno chili plant a few years ago...grew the prettiest peach habs...
I’ve always liked “melt your face, set your hair on fire” hot, but as I get older, jalapenos are about all I can handle on a regular basis. I still grow jalapenos and serranos in the garden. Serranos are great in cooking...chopped up in hash browns for breakfast...mmm.mm.mmmmm!

 

[bbhaag]

Perhaps we are making this to complicated. Bare with me now as I explain. I used to be friends with an artist and one thing he taught me was that odd numbers always draw the eye better and to the center.
So if you have three bags of coffee lined up on a shelf: light, medium, or dark then perhaps it is just human nature to pick the medium because it is in the center.

 

[DigDog]

I used to be a moron prefer dark roast but since i've actually started enjoying coffe i've moved to light roast. Much more flavour and creaminess.

 

[sdifox]

I think darker roasts were the 'preferred' roast for a long time. Starbucks has always been a heavy roaster, and I think for large scale roasting - the darker the roast the more consistent/repetitive your flavour profile. If you're at the store and seeing smaller more local roasters, at least in my experience, they tend to lean towards medium roasts for the reasons stated above. You get a lot more complexity of flavour in medium roasts. Of course the way roasts are described (mild, medium, dark) really doesn't lend itself to understanding what the resulted coffee will actually taste like.

Yes, I came out of lurking to respond to coffee posts.

Lurker! mine!

 

[13Gigatons]

I used to be a moron prefer dark roast but since i've actually started enjoying coffe i've moved to light roast. Much more flavour and creaminess.

Prefer Italian Roast but it's hard to find and when I do it's expensive.

 

[13Gigatons]

Also, go to a real roaster if you want to buy decent coffee.

Where do you recommend?

 

[sdifox]

Where do you recommend?

I don't live in your neck of woods...

 

[Oyeve]

Reminds me of how salsa and anything of that nature is always mild or medium. Why is it so hard to get hot?

Because people who like HOT make their own. Like myself. We leave the mild and medium to the wimps.

 

[lxskllr]

I've had the opposite experience. Seems like the default's dark roast. Same as beer, where the default's IPA. I like dark roast, and I like IPA, but not every single time. French roast is probably my favorite.

 

[quikah]

Where do you recommend?

Just go to any locally owned coffee shop, if it is any good they will roast there own coffee. Otherwise, every grocery store in my area has a large selection of whole bean coffee with a grinder. It is decent.

If none of those works then do this (eventually this could be the best option):

Go to sweetmarias.com and buy green beans, then go to amazon and buy a hot air popcorn popper (or you could buy a real roaster). Put beans in popper and turn it on. Experiment with the roast.

 

[OutHouse]

How did roasted coffee beans get chosen in the first place?

they bounced up and down on the tree saying PICK ME PICK ME!!

 

[OutHouse]

Just go to any locally owned coffee shop, if it is any good they will roast there own coffee. Otherwise, every grocery store in my area has a large selection of whole bean coffee with a grinder. It is decent.

If none of those works then do this (eventually this could be the best option):

Go to sweetmarias.com and buy green beans, then go to amazon and buy a hot air popcorn popper (or you could buy a real roaster). Put beans in popper and turn it on. Experiment with the roast.

you need a air popper from the 80's the old ones have a decent fan on the bottom to circulate the beans way better than a modern air popper.

I want one of these...

 

[zinfamous]

aren't lighter roasts stronger caffeine doses?

I think that's why. Give me the juice, man.