French Roast Coffee

Having Great Quality French Roast Coffee

By deSita Anwarhee

Roast Coffee Bean

French roast coffee doesn’t come from France. The term merely describes the darkness of the roast. French roast is one of a method to roast coffee beans, which can then be ground up and used in espresso or coffee drinks. French roast is very dark, as dark as you can go without completely losing the flavor of the coffee, and being left with a taste of burned charcoal.

Fresh coffee beans are green and small, and must be roasted for consumption in beverages. To get the French Roast Coffee using this method, the beans are roasted at temperatures between 370 and 540 degrees Fahrenheit (188 to 282 Celsius) for 11 to 13 minutes. While the beans are roasting, you’ll hear a popping sound. After the first popping sound, the beans would be characterized as Cinnamon or City roast, with a light, mild flavor. If you leave the beans in the roaster until they pop again, the resulting beans will be French roast coffee beans.

When you roast coffee to this degree, the oils start to rise to the surface of the bean, and the sugars inside caramelize, giving you a bittersweet tone and almost no acidity at all.

After the roasting process is finish, the beans are sent through a machine called a destoner, which removes stones and other particles from the coffee beans. Then there will be the equilibrium process where the beans are stabilized and dried. Finally, the beans are ground and packed, or they can be packed as whole beans for those who would like to grind their own coffee beans at home.

If your French roast coffee tastes too bitter, then the roasting has been poorly done. Over-roasted coffee will also taste thin and burned. The darker you roast, the more you lose the subtler tones and flavors of the beans.  A quality French Roast gourmet coffee is not harsh and bitter. The most common reasons for that harsh and bitter taste are low quality beans, over-roasting of the coffee beans, and grinding the coffee beans too fine for the type of coffee maker you are using. That’s why it is so very important to use premium quality coffee beans that are French Roasted correctly and, when grinding beans at home, it’s important you choose the proper grind setting recommended by the grinder manufacturer.

Though the flavor  of the French Roast Coffee is potent, the beans are no higher in caffeine than any other type of roast. They contain about 15% less caffeine than lighter roasted coffees. Flavors of French roast coffee may vary among manufacturers. If you don’t like its stronger flavor it can be blended with less potent roasts to produce a more mild coffee flavor.

French roast coffee is often best when paired with roasted vegetables, nuts, or some desserts like creme brulée.

Check out our other guide about Coffee Maker Programmable.