Why Light Roast Isn't The Only Specialty Coffee

In this episode, I challenge one of the most pervasive myths in the coffee world: that only light roast coffee qualifies as true specialty coffee. I share my personal journey from being a light roast believer to discovering that specialty coffee is actually about so much more than roast level. Through my experience as both a coffee enthusiast and roaster, I explain why this narrow definition limits our appreciation of coffee's true diversity and complexity.

I dive deep into what really makes coffee "specialty" - focusing on the quality of beans, how they're grown and processed, and the roaster's skill in bringing out the best characteristics for the end user. I argue that great coffee beans can shine at multiple roast levels, and that personal preference should be celebrated rather than dismissed. By listening to this episode, you'll gain a fresh perspective on specialty coffee that empowers you to trust your own palate and discover what truly makes coffee special to you, regardless of what coffee gatekeepers might say.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:30 Understanding Coffee Preferences
• 3:30 Cold Brew Analogy & Personal Preferences
• 5:00 Defining True Specialty Coffee
• 7:30 The Tribalism Problem
• 9:30 Embracing What You Love
• 11:30 Final Thoughts & Conclusion

Transcript

[00:00:00] Introduction We live. We live right now. Today is July 14th, 2025. I'm doing pretty good right now. I hope that you're doing pretty good right now. I got a topic. It's a good one I think.

[00:00:23] Topic Introduction Bad coffee advice I've heard and why it's wrong. Only light roast is true specialty coffee.

[00:00:29] Understanding Coffee Diversity A lot of times when we talk about coffee, really anything, I don't think people realize that coffee is just many things of many other things. Meaning that no matter what we do, it's always going to be a spectrum of hobbyists, enthusiasts, fanatics, and all.

[00:00:47] The Division Reality And no matter what we do in this whole thing that we call coffee, we have to realize that all industries, all facets of hobbies have had this thing. And what I mean by that is division. And I know when we talk about division sometimes it's like a bad word that we're actually saying. But division is just simply saying people's preferences.

[00:01:13] Personal Preferences Matter And we all have our different purposes for whatever different reasons. Sometimes we like coffee. Sometimes we don't like coffee for whatever reason. Sometimes we like blue cheese. Sometimes we don't like Swiss cheese. It doesn't really matter what we're really doing here.

[00:01:22] My Light Roast Journey I guess what I'm saying here is that when we have something that we like, it's always going to be people saying or stating that they like something for whatever reason. Same here with me. Me, as you already know, I don't get down and I don't care for light roast. I just don't. And the very beginning of my journey, I did. I thought it was great. I thought that was what I needed to drink.

[00:02:00] Why Light-Roast-Only is Bad Advice And I drank that for a very long time. Nobody put a gun to my head saying that I needed to like light roast because that's what specialty coffee was or is. But I think the reason why that is truly really bad advice is because people are people.

[00:02:19] Celebrating Different Preferences People like different things for whatever reason. Like I can go up to you and tell you that I like a medium roast and I can tell you the reasons why I like a medium roast. And then you can come to me and tell me, well, I don't like a medium roast because of that. I like it because of this, whatever reason it may be. And I think truly that's the beauty in all of this is that we have our preferences. We like what we like. We dislike the things that we don't like. And it's perfectly fine.

[00:02:54] Cold Brew Example For instance, I don't care for cold brews or iced coffees. I've tried them many times. I don't mind adding milk and creamer to them because that's the way I can really get down with it. But at the end of the day, it's just not something that I care for.

[00:03:15] Wife's Wisdom And it's perfectly fine. I remember I think I was trying for like a month or something. My wife was looking at me crazy years ago and she was like, give it up. You don't like cold brew, you don't like cold brew. And that just kind of stopped me in my tracks, letting me realize that, yeah, I don't like it. I don't like it.

[00:03:44] Accepting Your Preferences If you like espresso once or twice a month, that's perfectly fine. If you are a fanatic of pour overs and different devices, as you can see behind me, and filter coffee and the intricacies of that in a medium or dark roast, that's fine. It is what it is.

[00:04:08] The Light Roast Assumption Problem And once we settle on the things that we like and the reasons why we like it, we truly really don't have to look back. And I think a lot of times when people think about coffee, to an extent, they think about light roast. They think that that's the way they're supposed to have coffee. They're supposed to enjoy the acidity, the complexity as it gets extracted. In my experience, the lack of sweetness, even though some people taste sweetness on lightly roasted coffees, which I still don't get.

[00:04:44] People Like What They Like But it doesn't matter. Those people are people. They like what they like. And it's perfectly fine for them to love and connect with the things that they want. But I don't consider that specialty. I really don't.

[00:04:58] My Definition of Specialty The thing that I look at when I think about specialty, it comes down to the beans, the way that they're grown, processed, cared for. And then you have the roaster like myself thinking about the end user, thinking about the way that they will want to enjoy the coffee. And I do truly believe that there's different aspects of that particular coffee that work really well at different degrees of roast. I don't think there's one size fits all. I think if that coffee is truly great or good, then for the most part, you'll probably have a couple hits at it at different variations of roast. And I think that's the true essence of what specialty is, at least to me.

[00:05:51] Different Definitions And again, like I'm saying, it's one of those things where that's my definition. Somebody else's definition may be light roast. And they may give you the reasons why. And they can tell you that they're tasting sweetness and all that good stuff. But at the end of the day, it's up to us in having a division on what we like, why we like it, what we care for, why that's critical.

[00:06:08] Getting to the Promised Land Why is that important? I think once we get to that promised land, we're going to be in a better place. It's really that simple. We're going to be in a better place where we can understand each other. And if we don't get down with each other on these particular coffees, that's fine. There's plenty of variety. There's plenty that we can care about in coffee. It's a big world out there.

[00:06:43] Don't Limit Yourself And if we start to limit ourselves or stay with this particular tribe, we may be missing out even more so, not realizing that this coffee is so cool and unique and different. And we can enjoy it at whatever roast degree that we want to enjoy that.

[00:07:07] Intermittent Fasting Analogy For instance, I was a big intermittent faster, which I'm still kind of am. I don't do like a one meal a day thing anymore. I probably eat my first meal about 12, one o'clock. Sometimes I'll push it a little bit later. But I was really fixated on like, this is my tribe. This is my thing. This is the thing that I care about. And I got to the point where anybody who wanted to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, I looked down at them. I thought that they were crazy.

[00:07:38] Drawing Lines in the Sand I'm letting you in on my personality. But it does relate to coffee, because as you think about it and see it, it's the same thing. We all try to draw a line in the sand, saying to each other that this is who I am. This is who I represent. And the thing about it is that for the most part, if you really get down to the nitty gritty, nobody cares. Nobody cares about your struggle. Nobody cares about your journey. Nobody cares about what you think about whatever you may care about in coffee or in life. You care. So that's really where you need to get things to make sense.

[00:08:27] Light Roast Research But yeah, it's interesting, this whole light roasting. And as you know, I've done extensive research and experimentations trying to figure it out. And I think I'm almost there. And you may have to almost change your perspective to understand it. You still may not like it. You may appreciate it a little bit more than what you did before. But it's still perfectly fine to say it's still not my thing. It's still not my cup of tea.

[00:08:57] Light Roast as One Aspect And again, light roast is just one aspect of coffee. It is one place where somebody can give another person something in their interpretation of what is great in this particular bean. That's perfectly fine.

[00:09:24] Shout Your Preferences Everybody's different. But if you like a dark roast that has a little bit more fruitiness that expresses itself, that comes alive a lot, shout it to the world. Some people may hear you. But for the most part, who cares? It doesn't matter. You care. You like it for whatever reason that you like it. And if that's the specialty that you get from that coffee, or what you like in coffee, that's all that matters.

[00:09:59] What Makes Coffee Special I know this may sound cheesy, but I'll end on this note. Coffee is special because you think it's special. You may like it for whatever reason. But if it touches your heart, if it touches your soul, if it really just brings the best out of you, and gives you a chance and opportunity to just enjoy life for what it is, that's all you need. That makes it special to you.

[00:10:24] Who Cares What Others Say Who cares what other people say, who tell you that you have to enjoy coffee this way or no way. Who cares. It doesn't matter. And even if you do convert them to the way that you love specialty coffee, for whatever reason that you do, it doesn't matter. They have to come to that, or they don't have to come to that. At the end of the day, as long as you are vocal in expressing yourself and what you think specialty coffee is to you, that's all that matters.

[00:11:03] What Keeps Coffee Going And I think that's what keeps it going. I think that's what makes it exciting. And the division is okay. We're not all going to sit here and get along with everything that we do. But, you know, it is what it is.

[00:11:18] Final Answer Specialty coffee only light roast? Hell no. No, no, it is not. It's all the coffees. Light, medium, dark, everything in between. Espresso, pour over. It doesn't really matter. It just matters about what you care about. That's it. That's the only thing that matters.

[00:11:45] Your Own Definition What you think is special. Your own definition. Your own standards. And if that coffee is special to you, just let it be. It's going to work out for you.

[00:12:02] Closing Thoughts So, that's my soapbox. That's what I think. That's what I feel. Let me know what you think about this. Because again, light roast is just an aspect. A section. A segment in this whole grand scheme of things. And even though I was really kind of put off with all the lightly roasted coffees at the Expo, that's what somebody thinks is greatness. Which is perfectly fine. But as you see, as I vocalize the way that I care about coffee and why I care about it, that's on me.

[00:12:42] Final Message Hopefully, you are also just expressing yourself the way that you want to. And that you're enjoying your coffee, the way that you want to. And what makes your coffee special to you. That's really what we're getting down to. So, this is Okay Everyday Beans. Talk to you later. Bye.