Coffee Roasts

Good link Peter. Just remember Stephanie that not all beans take to all roast levels. That is what makes a roasters job difficult. bringing out the best in each origin. *$ tends to roast to higher levels on most of thir coffees. I have thoughts on that I can share at a later time.

The different roasts have to do with how long the coffee is roasted and at what temperature. Below is a list of terms that might help. It probably isn't exhaustive, but it's a start. I haven't included their definition because they are already explained so well on Sweet Maria's website here and here.

First Crack
Second Crack
City Roast
City+ Roast
Full City Roast
Full City+ Roast
Vienna Roast
French Roast

Like I said in my first post, I'm no expert on roasting (hence my heavy reliance on Sweet Maria's website). Does anyone else want to chime in with an answer more helpful than mine?

Thanks Peter,
I'm pretty familiar with the "blends" concept from the excellent responses on my question about SO espresso. My main question then is...what kind of roasts are available? What's the difference between them and what are the flavor options?

Stephanie, I am no expert when it comes to roasting coffee, but since you haven't had any other answers as of yet, I'll have a go at it. I'm assuming that you are seeing these different roasts in packaged coffee at Starbucks or the grocery store and that by "roast" you mean the name that they have given to that particular coffee. The name probably reflects the origin of the coffee and/or the way the coffee was roasted. So for instance, "city roast" would refer to how long the coffee beans were roasted (more detailed info on that can be found here), and "blend" would indicate that the coffee is a blend from more than one location. I hope that helps.