Choosing Your Roast

One of the most popular questions we get here at Humble Beginnings is "what is your favorite roast"?

While we certainly understand the nature of the question, it is extremely difficult to answer without a very thorough explanation. 

In general, coffee can be classified into 3 roast levels: light, medium, and dark. The first thing to understand about these roast levels are the characteristics of each, the expected flavor/ experience associated with each, then pairing that knowledge with your personal palette preference. So lets dive right in...

• A light roast can be best described as fruity, floral, acidic, and...well...light bodied. People who prefer lighter roasts tend to also enjoy citrus fruits such as orange and grapefruit, but also floral experiences common in IPA's. It is often compared to juice (not in taste, but in-mouth experience). 
• A medium roast is best described as balanced, smooth, and semi-sweet. People who prefer medium roasts usually like more of a milk chocolatey/ nutty flavor but also appreciate berry-like fruits.
• A dark roast is bold and full-bodied. Many of the sugars have been roasted out by this point, giving it a more bitter experience, but the flavors are very rich, giving it an earthy, syrupy, dark chocolatey flavor. Best for those who add cream to their coffee.

There are so many more complexities to coffee which will dictate individual preferences, but if you already know where your palette fits into this equation, hopefully it'll help guide your future coffee purchases. 

We do our best to accurately capture the flavor profiles one should expect for each coffee, but it truly comes down to the subjective experience. If you have any input, we'd love to see your comments below!