Coffee roasting

Before the coffee bean can be used to make coffee, it has to be roasted.

The roasting process changes the colour of the green coffee beans. First they turn yellow and then brown. The longer they roast, the darker they become. The strongest roasts result in black beans.

At the same time, the heat causes changes in the taste and smell of the beans. Aromatic oils are released that bring out the flavour of coffee.

In the nineteenth century, people roasted their coffee at home on their stoves or over open fires. Nowadays, the commercial coffee roasters use enormous ovens to roast the coffee.

Temperature and time are carefully controlled, sometimes by computers, because just a few seconds can dramatically change the final flavour of the coffee. The roasting can be done in just a minute.

In general, a light roast gives a mild taste, a medium roast produces a well–rounded, rich flavour and aroma and a dark roast gives a strong, distinctive flavour.

Roastiness is one of the three basic properties of coffee commonly checked by coffee tasters in coffee production. The other two are acidity and coffeeness.

Roastiness refers to the degree of roasting applied on the coffee beans. If you call a coffee ‘roasty’ you’re saying it has a bittersweet or smoky taste that it gets from being roasted. Too much roastiness tastes burnt.

Roasting is a critical part of coffee processing as it develops and brings out the full flavour and aroma of the bean. Proper roasting requires the right temperature and the right length of roasting time. Different varieties of beans also involve different levels of roasting.

The different kinds of roast generally fall under these four broad categories:

A light roast gives a mild taste. It is often used with the best quality beans because it respects the original taste.

A typical medium roast will have more body and less acidity than a light roast.

A full roast is darker, full-bodied, with a well-developed aroma.

Dark roasts are stronger, their smoky-sweet flavour can also be bitter.

With over seventy years of accumulated knowledge in coffee-making, NESCAFÉ has long mastered the roasting procedure to perfection.

The expert NESCAFÉ roasters use computer-controlled roasters to ensure consistency in the quality of the roasted beans.

In fact, this process is one of the most fundamental parts in producing the flavourful taste and rich aroma of NESCAFÉ coffees.

One of our darkest roasts is NESCAFÉ BLACK GOLD®. To give it its unique profile, we blend Arabicas with Robustas to give intensity and then dark roast them to achieve the deep, full-bodied strength we’re aiming for. The intense taste has rich, toasted notes that are beautifully balanced with a rounded smoothness.