Roasting: the moment of Truth - Light vs Dark coffee beans

Big names deliver great marketing messages and not always great flavours. Dark roast are popular however only the best quality coffee beans are usuualy used in light roast. This depends mostly on the fact that  light roast is not easy to brew opposite to a dark one which is more forgiving and is better for maintaining a taste consistency. Beans are a fruit afterall and each harvest can be different.

Dark roast means that the coffee bean has been roasted typically for a longer period of time.  This gives the dark colour but will also smooth the flavours of the coffee highlighting the roast notes. Once beans are dark roasted it's impossible to tell whether it's a good bean or a bad bean because all the natural flavours have been burnt and obscured by charcoal notes. Nonetheless, many dark roast are excellent for milky drinks or Americano type of coffee.