Roast Styles | Varietals | Blends | Espresso Blends

Our Roast Styles & Names

At Columbia Street Roastery, our goal is to roast each varietal to a level or style that emphasizes the qualities of that particular bean. As an example, some coffees such as the HueHueTango Guatemalan, allows the roaster quite a bit of latitude. One roaster may choose to roast this coffee to a moderately dark roast, thereby deepening its natural spiciness and keeping the sharpness. Another roaster may choose to roast it lighter so to bring this coffee’s acidity to the forefront.

So which style is right? Both! The determining factor is the preference of the drinker. The taste preferred by those drinking coffee is one of the real fun aspects of exploring the world of coffee and its different nuances.

For our purposes, we have broken roast colors or styles into the four levels listed below. In the U.S., most commercial coffee companies roast their coffees to a light cinnamon color. This is done primarily to minimize shrinkage or weight loss during the roasting process and maximize profits.

To help our customers and those visiting our web site, we have included both the roast names, which are commonly used around the country, and the Agtron rating to describe our roasting styles. When considering the Agtron rating (developed by the Specialty Coffee Association), the higher the number, the lighter the roast. On this scale, a score of 100 would be almost the light tan color of most decaffeinated coffees before they are roasted and 0 would be “ashes”. When we list a style, this reflects the roast of the ground coffee. Only judging the outside color of the roasted bean can fool you. An analogy: many people who prefer well done steaks send them back. The meat looks well done on the outside, but when they cut into them, it’s a different story.

Our style of roast listed below reflects the coffee after it is ground.

LIGHT ROAST (Agtron: 65# or higher)

Cinnamon

Half City

MEDIUM ROAST (50#) (+/- 5#)

American

Breakfast

Full City

MODERATELY DARK ROASTS (40# - +/-5#)

Continental

New Orleans

Vienna

DARK ROASTS (20#-35#)

French

Italian

Espresso