If you are a serious coffee drinker, I'm sure you've had some experience with the many roasts that are available. Some of however, have led rather sheltered coffee lives and haven't really gotten around to the wonderful flavors that can be discovered by experimenting with different roasts and bean combinations. I was once a person who very much believed if I find something I like, I should stick with it. However, as I've aged, I have discovered the beauty of trying new things.

Coffee roasts are a great place to begin your journey to new experiences and flavors. I recommend starting with the various roasts. Once you find a roast degree that you prefer, then you can try different beans and flavor combinations. In fact, you might be fortunate enough to find a coffee you like for many different moods and seasons. Or if you're very lucky, a few coffees in order to keep things exciting.

Before I explain the roasts, it is important to point out the beans from different regions will have distinctive flavors even if they are of the same roast. Lighter roasts are typically more acidic than darker roasts and darker roasts have more body or fullness to their flavors. One point of interest is that darker roast coffees tend to have less caffeine than darker roasts, which is contrary to popular belief.

There are several different types of roasts and each one has very specific and notable characteristics.

The first type of roast is a light roast. There are many different light roast coffees, among those are: cinnamon roast, New England roast, half city roast, and American light roast. These coffees are lighter in color, the color often described as cinnamon, which accounts for the name. These coffee roasts will often have a slightly sour flavor. Other flavors that may be recognizable in this roast are grains flavors that may be reminiscent of bread and other baked goods.

The second roast is a medium roast. The coffees that are identified as medium roast coffees are: Breakfast, Full City, and American roast. The color is a darker brown and the flavor is a little fuller than the light roasts. This is a very popular roast in the Western United States. As medium roasts get darker you should begin to see oily droplets form on the surface of the coffee. The Full City Roast will actually carry hints of caramel and chocolate, a personal favorite of mine.

Next, there is the dark roast. This roast is also referred to as a French Roast coffee. The coffee in this particular roast is very dark and oily and will tend to lose its natural flavor as its roasting time lengthens. There is less acidity with this particular roast but a much greater risk of your coffee having a burned flavor. This is often the roast used for espressos and has less caffeine than the lighter roasts.

If French roast isn't dark enough for you and you need a little more burn in your morning brew, then perhaps you are ready to try the Italian roast. With Italian roast, the flavor is determined more by the roasting process than by the actual beans (my personal feeling is that you really are wasting good quality beans if you use them in this particular type of roast but everyone has their own flavor preferences and there really is no right or wrong).

While there are many more subtleties involved in making and finding the perfect cup of coffee, perhaps this little list of wonderful roasts can help you narrow down your selections options. The roast does have a huge impact on the flavor or your coffee and you really can't know which roast you like best, until you've tried them all. Good luck and happy tasting.