The Dark Side of Coffee Roasting

Close your eyes, and imagine taking a sip of thick espresso. What flavours would you hope are dancing on your tongue? Dark chocolate? Caramel? <br /><br />How about lemon? What if the coffee is so acidic, you may as well be sucking on lemon juice? This acidity is often the result of roasting a coffee quite lightly, and specialty coffee loves this acidity. <br /><br />But the weird thing is specialty coffee isn't obsessed with acidity because they necessarily enjoy acidic flavours. It goes waaaaaay deeper. So deep in fact it's caused massive Twitter brawls where a celebrity food columnist even sparred with a gang of self-proclaimed coffee punks. <br /><br />Scott takes Jools on a coffee roasting journey, starting at the darker times in coffee, and how it evolved into the light roasts of today by speaking with Sonja Bjork Grant (Icelandic roaster and World Barista Judge) and Nick Mabey (co-owner of Assembly Coffee Roasters).<br /><br />At the end, we ask the question: were the coffee punks right to be so focused on lightly roasted coffee? <br /><br />—<br /><br />Join our Patreon to support the show: <a href="https://bit.ly/3vrispx" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/3vrispx</a> <br /><br />Follow Nick Mabey (<a href="https://bit.ly/3Mwpu4m)" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/3Mwpu4m)</a>, Assembly Coffee (<a href="https://bit.ly/3sM618c)" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/3sM618c)</a>, Sonja Bjork Grant (<a href="https://bit.ly/3tFMqpz)" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/3tFMqpz)</a>, Jakub Klucznik (<a href="https://bit.ly/3Knl3Hh)" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/3Knl3Hh)</a> and Saint Espresso (<a href="https://bit.ly/3IPaxsc)" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/3IPaxsc)</a> on Instagram.<br /><br />Learn more about the Siemens EQ700 fully automatic espresso machine: <a href="https://bit.ly/3Ia8yy5" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/3Ia8yy5</a><br /><br />Find your perfect roast with the Ikawa Home: <a href="https://bit.ly/3IdYVPc" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/3IdYVPc</a><br /><br />Join us at the London Coffee Festival! Send us an email