What Is a Coffee Profile? (Solved & Explained!)

A coffee profile is the defined parameters of how a particular bean tastes via its roasting process. This involves a combination of several factors like density, taste, processing and hardness. This tells potential roasters what methods and techniques to use to get the most out of any particular variety of green bean.

Therefore, when someone refers to a coffee profile, they’re actually referring to the roasting process performed on the raw, green beans. These develop in such a way as to emphasize the flavors, hints and notes present within a brewed cup.

How Do Roasters Devise a Coffee Profile?

The possibilities for a roast profile are near endless in just one bean since there are over 300 components a roaster can choose to bring out. They can opt to make it sweet or acidic, floral or citrusy and chocolaty or woody, among many others.

What Are the Most Common Coffee Profiles?

According to the National Coffee Association, the following list of roast profiles is the four standard ways in which roasters and consumers can identify a coffee. However, roasters may add their own names to the roast classification for marketing and promoting their special technique.

Light Roast

Often having a tan, taupe or light brown color, this is ideal for mild varieties. There’s no oil on the surface because they don’t roast long enough for these to come out. These stay true to the original flavor of the bean, revealing the taste of nuts, seeds or grains with hints of fruit, spices and brown sugar.

Medium Roast

The medium roast color ranges between milk chocolate and cocoa. The flavor is stronger with scant oiliness. Acidity has balance with a taste like honey, roasted fruit and caramel .Another name for this roast type is “American Roast” because it’s most preferred in the US.

Medium-Dark Roast

Medium-dark has a rich chocolate color that provides a bitter yet sweet aftertaste. These often have smoky flavors and a decent layer of oil. There’s usually a taste of bourbon, vanilla, tobacco, cocoa and leather.

Dark Roast

The near black and oily appearance of a dark roast is unmistakable. Usually best for espresso, it has low acidity from its near-charred process. These have a robust and bitter flavor; much of the natural aromatics get lost during roasting. But, the remaining characteristics are dark chocolate, rye, cigar tobacco and ash.

What Is the General Process of Roasting?

The various stages of roasting can vary between roasters, but the process generally goes as follows:

1. Charge Temperature: The initial temperature set on the roasting oven to adding the beans; similar to preheating a kitchen oven.
2. Turning Point: After loading the beans into the roaster, the temperature suddenly drops. The cooler beans absorb the roaster’s heat. The turning point is what measures the temperature before it reheats to desired levels. This is a delicate step because it can easily scorch the beans.
3. Cracking: Green coffee beans are naturally moist and come with sugars and chemical compounds that contribute to a popping noise once they reach a specific temperature. The chemical reactions of the heat with these substances are “cracks.” The first crack usually indicates a lowering of the temperature on the roasting oven.
4. Roasting Time: The length of time beans experience heat at disparate stages will influence the form and taste of the coffee. There must be a perfect balance. Typically, quicker roasting times produce more aromatic coffee but there’s the risk of burning. Slower roasts are less acidic.
5. End Temperature: After cracking, close monitoring of the rest of the roasting process becomes essential. This ensures they don’t burn, char or overheat. It’s at this point a roaster will crack open few beans to check color and consistency inside and out. If it’s at a desirable appearance, it’s time for cooling.

How Do Roasters Evaluate Beans?

Long before roasting begins, a roaster analyzes the bean for its density, moisture content, hardness, screen size and weight. These all influence the resulting roast by telling the roaster how much airflow and heat are necessary. It also indicates what the charge temperature should be.

As a general rule of thumb, low density beans that are soft need a lower charge temperature. Higher density beans with more weight need a higher charge temperature. All this contributes to monitoring the roast so as not to over or under roast the beans.

Does Drying Process after Harvesting Affect the Roasting Process?

The way a farmer harvests and dries the beans will affect how a roaster should bake the beans. For instance, the natural (or dry) processing of green beans leaves lots of sugar on the beans. If this goes untreated, it can caramelize and subsequently burn the beans and make them unpalatable.

How Do Roasters Monitor the Roasting Process?

There are two ways in which roasters measure the profile during roasting: with software or manual monitoring. Both methods have their pros and cons with roasters developing their own techniques.

Modern tech allows a roaster to set exact parameters with things like physical markers, timing and temperature. It makes tracking and measuring much easier so they can adjust whatever is necessary.

The manual way leaves many mistakes to chance. Therefore this takes a trained eye by someone who knows what they’re doing. Newcomers will find there’s a lot of trial and error before they get their personal technique down.

What Is the Importance of Physical Markers, Timers & Temperature?

Physical markers and timers can highlight or remove certain flavors from the bean. These can include color changes (green to yellow, yellow to brown and etc), when the bean first cracks at around 385°F (196°C) or to time the start of the second crack.

So, even with nifty modern software, a roaster must develop their own process of developing a coffee’s flavor profile. This means that two different roasters can get the same type of green bean but the resulting roasts will be completely different in terms of taste and darkness.