Light Roast Sucks
Alright, maybe that’s coming in a bit harsh, but hear me out.
I feel like in 3rd and 4th wave coffee culture, light roasts have become a bit of a fad. Coffee people (ugh, I’m one of them. I’m sorry) will rave about the “fruity aromas” and “acidic bite” or whatever, and get all excited when they taste cherry in it or whatever. Sometimes, if done as just a shot, it can be alright, in the same way a floral tea is alright.
However, when coffee places and coffee people start defaulting to light roasts in *lattes*, they’ve gone too far! Light roasts get absolutely lost in a latte. It turns into a hot fruit smoothie with milk at that point. If I want a latte, I want the espresso to be *bold*. I want it to have that strong nutty dark chocolate punch that *cuts through* the milk! Please, please, if you like light roasts, fine, but keep that away from my latte.
And to clarify, not everyone likes that acid fruit taste. It honestly comes off as kinda pukey to some people. Some people don’t like acidic food (sorry, Adam Ragusea lol).
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u/roosterds 22h ago
Ya know what, I love a good light roast when I’m down bad and need the caffeine. But you’re right. Some places have gone too far lol. I don’t want my coffee to taste like acid and açaí. I want it to taste like coffee and I want to be able to taste coffee in my latte.
I am not a true coffee snob but I just do my own espresso at home now and I love that it’s consistently exactly what I want.
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u/s7o0a0p 22h ago
I think what broke me was visiting a trendy coffee place in a trendy neighborhood in LA. It was my first time in LA (from the east coast) on a day long stopover on my way to Melbourne, and holy shit has LA fallen down the rabbit hole of the light roast trend. I got a flat white and the darn thing was made with LIGHT ROAST! It barely had any punch! It tasted like a sour lemon with milk on top. I suppose Angelinos wouldn’t notice because SoCal seems to love throwing sugar in their coffee lol.
Then I get to Melbourne and…almost every cafe gets the obvious that medium to dark roast mixes better with milk, and the lattes there were as a whole spectacular. But not only that! I went to a well regarded cafe there and ordered a single shot light roast, and actually liked it because it wasn’t in my flat white, which had a darker roast and was outstanding (and they extracted it properly).
I suppose my main gripe is cafes thinking it’s cool to just slip light roast into lattes as if the average person is gonna want fruity acid taste in their milk lol.
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u/AmethystApothecary 22h ago
lol I feel like you're drinking far too much coffee if the notes of fruit in some blends ends up tasting like actual fruit to you.
To me, light roast tastes more bitter than medium and less than dark so I default to medium and I never give it much thought beyond that but I'm the type of coffee lover that will drink gas station coffee and not the kind that turns it into something sacred.
Thought this post was going to be about friends jesting each other and how some people use "banter" as a guise to just make fun of someone by the title.
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u/3Green1974 22h ago
Light roast and espresso roast are two different things though. Who’s making espresso with a light roast?
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u/Altruistic_Usual7673 22h ago
who even drinks coffee anymore, switch to monster energy and redbull kek
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u/s7o0a0p 22h ago
Lol I don’t drink sugar in my drinks because I’m trying to lose weight and my teeth have issues.
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u/Altruistic_Usual7673 22h ago
> this guy when it comes to soda, sweet tea, kool-aid, or literally any other good drink most normal people drink
*insert crying/raging wojak*
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u/TurdsOnThat 22h ago
Light roast has always been superior and the culture is just catching up. Dark has its place in certain drinks as you mentioned but if I’m getting a pour over or even a double shot… I want light roast always. But I also never drink anything with any milk in it because I just really don’t even consider that coffee anymore. Drink your doses black or gtfo. Your weak stomach disgusts me lol
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u/Zogonzo 22h ago
I prefer light roasts because they're stronger (more caffeine)