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Permalink Reply by Brady on July 20, 2010 at 7:16am

If someone is looking for a "breakfast blend", I suspect that they are looking for a good straight-ahead "coffee" coffee. Balanced, moderate body, low to moderate acidity - just interesting enough to not be boring. Mainstream stuff. Probably lots of chocolate and nuts, 'cause people like chocolate and nuts.

Regarding "acidity" this is a pretty common cupping term.

Coffee Review defines it like this:
"Acidity, Acidy, Acid. Usually, the pleasant tartness of a fine coffee. Acidity, along with flavor, aroma, and body, is one of the principal categories used by professional tasters in cupping, or sensory evaluation of coffee. When not used to describe cup characteristics, the term acidity may refer to pH, or literal acidity, or to certain constituents present in coffee that ostensibly produce indigestion or nervousness in some individuals."

Sweet Maria's defines it this way:
"Acidity. Acidity in relation to taste has nothing to do with acidity in terms of the gnawing pain in your stomach. Acidity in coffee might be described by terms like bright, clear, snappy, dry, clean, winey, etc. Coffees without acidity tend to taste flat and dull, like flat soda. Acidity is to coffee what dryness is to wine. Different varietals s will possess different kinds of acidity, like the wine like high notes of some African coffees versus the crisp clear notes of high grown coffees from the Americas. Unpleasant acidy flavors may register as sourness. Dark roasts tend to flatten out acidity. This is a key term in coffee tasting! "

I hope that helped.

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Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on July 20, 2010 at 8:09am

I've seen Breakfast Blends done different ways. Sometimes a melange of lighter and darker roasts sometimes not. I went the sometimes not route, pre-roast blend City+ (drop about 8 degrees before start of 2nd) of all Latins for a cup Brady described quite accurately. Personally I didn't like the name Breakfast Blend feeling it might imply only best if consumed in the morning, instead named it McLoughlin House Blend. (Mcloughlin House being a Historic building of a local founder)

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Permalink Reply by Joona Suominen on July 20, 2010 at 8:34am

In me a breakfast blend wakes up strong associations of darkly roasted coffee with high coffeine amount. fwiw.

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Permalink Reply by olivier dutil on July 20, 2010 at 8:38am

a darkly roast coffee have less caffeine then light roast

Joona Suominen said:

In me a breakfast blend wakes up strong associations of darkly roasted coffee with high coffeine amount. fwiw.

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Permalink Reply by Joona Suominen on July 20, 2010 at 12:17pm

olivier dutil said:

a darkly roast coffee have less caffeine then light roast

Joona Suominen said:

In me a breakfast blend wakes up strong associations of darkly roasted coffee with high coffeine amount. fwiw.

The roasting has little to no effect on the caffeine amount of coffee. What is affected by the roasting process, however, is the weight and the volume of the bean. Considering these changes, it is dictated by nothing else but the used scale (weight vs. volume) if the dark roasted coffee has more or less coffee than it's paler peers.

There are differences in the baseline caffeine-amount of coffees. What I was trying to imply is that the breakfast blend could be made out of a bean that is caffeine rich.

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Permalink Reply by olivier dutil on July 20, 2010 at 2:03pm

well .. it the first time that i hear that. i know by experience that using the same bean and roast them lighter and darker . i feel the caffein way more in the light roast then the dark roast. in my opinion dark roast i only one purpose, and it is to hide the bad taste of a poor quality coffee

Joona Suominen said:

olivier dutil said:

a darkly roast coffee have less caffeine then light roast

Joona Suominen said:

In me a breakfast blend wakes up strong associations of darkly roasted coffee with high coffeine amount. fwiw.

The roasting has little to no effect on the caffeine amount of coffee. What is affected by the roasting process, however, is the weight and the volume of the bean. Considering these changes, it is dictated by nothing else but the used scale (weight vs. volume) if the dark roasted coffee has more or less coffee than it's paler peers.

There are differences in the baseline caffeine-amount of coffees. What I was trying to imply is that the breakfast blend could be made out of a bean that is caffeine rich.

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Permalink Reply by Brady on July 20, 2010 at 3:08pm

olivier dutil said:

well .. it the first time that i hear that. i know by experience that using the same bean and roast them lighter and darker . i feel the caffein way more in the light roast then the dark roast. in my opinion dark roast i only one purpose, and it is to hide the bad taste of a poor quality coffee

Joona Suominen said:

olivier dutil said:

a darkly roast coffee have less caffeine then light roast

Joona Suominen said:

In me a breakfast blend wakes up strong associations of darkly roasted coffee with high coffeine amount. fwiw.

The roasting has little to no effect on the caffeine amount of coffee. What is affected by the roasting process, however, is the weight and the volume of the bean. Considering these changes, it is dictated by nothing else but the used scale (weight vs. volume) if the dark roasted coffee has more or less coffee than it's paler peers.

There are differences in the baseline caffeine-amount of coffees. What I was trying to imply is that the breakfast blend could be made out of a bean that is caffeine rich.

This was a surprise to me too when this topic was last discussed. Looking for the link, but this has been documented. Roast temps are low enough that their effect on caffeine content is minimal.

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Permalink Reply by Jared Rutledge on July 21, 2010 at 7:43am

yeah i just tell people that darker roasts have less caffeine by a very small amount. whether technically accurate or not, it gets them to stop ordering it.

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Permalink Reply by Joona Suominen on July 21, 2010 at 9:01am

What I know is that people generally adapt their experiences and perceptions to match their believes in order to avoid cognitive dissonance. To objectively tell the difference in caffeine-amount between different roast degrees of the same bean is a tough job and the result is (probably) among tens of other factors affected by what you already believe about the subject.

What changes are the volume/weight of the beans while the caffeine/bean relation stays the same. fact. You may end up consuming more or less caffeine with darker roasted beans depending on your method of dosing but the caffeine/bean-relation stays intact.

To begin with I was not placing an opinion on wether darker roasting is better or worse than light roasted coffee but I do disagree with the idea that one roast degree was somehow superior to another. It's a simple question of what's the best way to represent the coffee with no definitive answer. Rock on :)

olivier dutil said:

well .. it the first time that i hear that. i know by experience that using the same bean and roast them lighter and darker . i feel the caffein way more in the light roast then the dark roast. in my opinion dark roast i only one purpose, and it is to hide the bad taste of a poor quality coffee

Joona Suominen said:

olivier dutil said:

a darkly roast coffee have less caffeine then light roast

Joona Suominen said:

In me a breakfast blend wakes up strong associations of darkly roasted coffee with high coffeine amount. fwiw.

The roasting has little to no effect on the caffeine amount of coffee. What is affected by the roasting process, however, is the weight and the volume of the bean. Considering these changes, it is dictated by nothing else but the used scale (weight vs. volume) if the dark roasted coffee has more or less coffee than it's paler peers.

There are differences in the baseline caffeine-amount of coffees. What I was trying to imply is that the breakfast blend could be made out of a bean that is caffeine rich.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Yates on July 21, 2010 at 11:54am

Word! Quit ordering that charred stuff, people! Hattip to you, Jared! That struck my funnybone, not sure why.

Jared Rutledge said:

yeah i just tell people that darker roasts have less caffeine by a very small amount. whether technically accurate or not, it gets them to stop ordering it.

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Permalink Reply by Dirk Maritz on July 22, 2010 at 4:41am

Perhaps suggest robusta, or coke, maybe a red bull.



Joona Suominen said:

olivier dutil said:

a darkly roast coffee have less caffeine then light roast

Joona Suominen said:

In me a breakfast blend wakes up strong associations of darkly roasted coffee with high coffeine amount. fwiw.

The roasting has little to no effect on the caffeine amount of coffee. What is affected by the roasting process, however, is the weight and the volume of the bean. Considering these changes, it is dictated by nothing else but the used scale (weight vs. volume) if the dark roasted coffee has more or less coffee than it's paler peers.

There are differences in the baseline caffeine-amount of coffees. What I was trying to imply is that the breakfast blend could be made out of a bean that is caffeine rich.

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