Dark Roast

Dark roast is a favourite amongst coffee connaisseurs. The flavour profile tends to be full bodied and less acidic than a lighter roast. The BBCR Dark Roast is a blend, composed of two different origins of beans: Colombia and Sumatra. 

The two beans are purposely selected, meticulously sourced and expertly roasted. To achieve BBCR’s desired dark roast profile, we take into account a number of different factors concerning the coffee itself, from density and processing, to variety and hardness. Both Colombian and Sumatran coffee beans tend to be dense due to the high altitudes at which they are grown and are especially suited for a dark roast because they thrive with chocolate-y, nutty, and caramel flavours. 

Colombia.
Colombian coffee is a crowd pleaser, renown worldwide for its exceptional quality and rich flavour. It is also a versatile coffee to roast and the beans can undergo a more extended roasting process at higher temperatures while maintaining their unique characteristics. In a dark roast, Colombian coffees offer a rich, bold, and smooth taste with significantly reduced acidity. 

Sumatra.
Sumatra beans have a low acidity, heavy body, and tend to reveal deeper, darker flavours. Sumatran coffee has a unique flavour profile that is unlike any other coffee in the world. The rich volcanic soil of Indonesia gives Sumatran coffee earthy, spicy undertones that are often described as tasting like dark chocolate. In a dark roast, the intense flavours shine through. 

No oily beans here. At BBCR a dark roast is a not an oily coffee.

When coffee beans are roasted, oils within the beans are released. This can result in coffee beans with an oily surface. The longer beans are roasted for, the more oils come to the surface and the oilier the beans will be. The roasting process also causes coffee beans to lose carbon dioxide, which reacts with oxygen in the air and forms oil on the surface of the bean. To make our dark roast coffee, we roast past ‘second crack’  but dial back the profile just a bit in order to avoid that reaction and avoid the oils from leaking out of the beans. A good dark roast is all about quality and balance. Were we to take the roast level further, it would be so dark that none of the unique flavours of the carefully selected beans would survive. They would be literally roasted away. A good dark roast doesn’t taste burnt or ashy. In our BBCR Dark Roast, our goal is to taste the roasting process flavour, yet maintain the origin flavours of the beans.

Oily beans can present challenges during grinding, and they can also be difficult for coffee machines to handle. The oil in very oily coffee beans can even clog certain mechanisms in bean-to-cup coffee machines and oily beans are not a good choice for super automatic espresso machines. 

Other factors that can cause oily beans include storage methods, humidity, and temperature. Beans that are stored for a long time, especially beans stored in humid or warm conditions, will become oily. It’s important to store coffee beans in a cool, dark environment where they will stay dry and fresh.

BBCR Dark Roast Blend is an example of a rich and bold non-oily coffee. It is a specifically chosen blend, roasted to taste incredible as a drip coffee, pour-over, and espresso. BBCR Dark Roast Blend is our feature coffee for January 2024.