Dark roast = motor oil

I knew I omitted something yesterday. I also fell out very, very early last night, still feeling very sick. What I wanted to tell you was that you should not be turned off by thought of dark roasted coffee. There are many factors that could have gone into the coffee you purchased the other day, and therefore could have affected your assessment of its taste.

First, perhaps the beans used were from a country whose coffee you wouldn't like anyway. Perhaps the equipment hadn't been cleaned properly. Perhaps the beans had been roasted a long time ago and had turned stale. What kind of cup were you drinking it out of? Was it plastic, metal, or a pottery mug? What was the metal of the maker? Was it aluminum or stainless steel? Now, if you have been drinking coffee there before, and liked it, still and all, some of the above factors may come into play. By all means, don't let one tasting turn you off to a certain kind of roasting method.

Strong dark coffee is an acquired taste. I prefer dark roasts but at one time they were not my first choice. There are two principal varieties of coffee bean, arabica and robusta. The robusta bean is a commodity grade bean used for mass produced coffees. It is smaller, more acidic (bitter) and less flavorfull than the arabica bean and it is cheaper. Arabica is the bean of choice for specialty coffees. The beans are larger, less acidic, and have a wider range of flavors. Beans from some regions don't roast dark as others. Hawaiian Kona is a poor choice for a dark roast and even when medium roasted I've never cared for it. Sumatra, Celebes and Java are excellent choices for a dark roast.

There is a good chance that the dark roast you experienced has been burned during the roasting. The roasting process carmelizes sugars in the bean. Go to far and these sugars and some of the fiber in the bean are carbonized. This will give the coffee an extremely bitter finish.

Another possibility is that the coffee was roasted dark and stored in such a way that the oils in the bean went rancid.

A large percentage of your basic French or Italian roast is dark roasted Columbian Supremo, a commodity grade arabica bean.

Thanks for the infusion of knowledge and experience. That's all excellent information and can be used by everyone here as a good guideline to add to their base of knowledge in the coffee drinking realm.