Are Blondes really more fun?
When it comes to coffee, blondes are flavorful, bright, and a little fruity. LOL So fun? Yes. But blonde may not be your cup of tea...er, coffee.
We'll occasionally get asked if we have a Blonde Roast. The term "Blonde" is another name for certain Light Roasts. The definition according to TheDarkestRoast.com: "Blonde roast is coffee that has been roasted for a shorter period of time than medium and dark roast coffee. These under-roasted beans tend to have a light brown color. Blonde espresso feels lighter in the body than medium roast coffee." The name was popularized by Starbucks - as are many terms used in coffee shops. We'll delve into others at a later date.
I, personally, am a lover of Dark Roasts, as are many of our customers. For me there's nothing better than a bold, rich cup that tastes all chocolatey and smooth. Drinking a Light Roast is more like enjoying a cup of tea. Fruitier, lighter bodied, sometimes with a little bit of a bite - I have to be in a certain mood for it, not my everyday choice. But learning more about Light Roasts (including Blondes and White Coffee) I've become intrigued to see just what kind of flavors we can wrangle out of some of the beans while roasting.
The first part of the process is finding the right bean. I ADORE this part - hence why my roasting shirt says "Alchemist". I find the beans to fit our plans and turn them into gold. Granted there've been a few misses but I'm proud to say that I have about a 10-1 ratio of nailing it on the first try with figuring out the right profile for a bean or blend. David makes the true magic happen but I'm the planner.
Amid looking for the right beans to play with, I came across Cascara (see a previous post). It has interesting fruity notes and light body - but it's not coffee beans (still delicious though!). I finally found something to try and roasted our first batch last week. It was interesting but not quite what I was hoping for. We just roasted the second attempt, making a few adjustments to temperature, air, and time and will be sampling it soon. I'm told the roast smells good (I lost my sense of smell about six years ago so I have no clue) and it looks like it's supposed to. We'll see about taste.
Light/Blonde Roasts aren't something we sell as much of and we have fewer people who request it over Dark Roasts so it's not one of our daily brewed coffees. We will always, happily, brew it as a pour over and we have the beans available for sale. Enjoy what's in your cup!