How one goes about roasting the unique coffees of the world is important. Assuming that one has chosen green (un-roasted) beans of quality, then one must choose the roasting profile that best brings out the favorable characteristics of those beans. Now, some would argue that the best thing to do is turn burn the heck out of them, call it the ‘West Coast’ style of roasting, and have done with it. We do not favor this philosophy.
Don’t get me wrong; there are legitimate dark roasts, such as the Vienna Roast (dark) and French Roast (darker) which work just fine on the right beans. I tend to favor the darker roasts as after dinner coffees since the full-bodied, rich flavor stands up well to whatever I’ve been eating and drinking.
However, to put a dark roast on ALL coffees obscures their individual characteristics. I would further argue that proponents of universally dark roasting are also attempting to mask the undesirable characteristics of perhaps less than the best beans. In any case, the goal of the roaster is to bring out the best in the beans while preserving the terroir.
Which brings me to why we chose Vail Mountain Coffee and Tea. It is my studied opinion (and I Robert, have cupped a lot of coffee) that VMCT does an exceptional job of selecting premium beans from all regions and roasting them in such a way that a thoughtful coffee drinker can taste and appreciate the wonderful variety of coffees from around the world.
Great info, thanks for posting. It’s always nice learning about some new beans.