A coffee roasting company, or a coffee roaster for short, is a company that buys green coffee beans and roasts them. A coffee roaster sells various single origin or blends of coffee beans.
There are various types of roasteries, depending on the niche and the company size. The third wave of coffee brought to the consumer’s attention micro roasters and artisan roasters, who cater to specialty coffee consumers and roast in small batches.
The well established big roasters still have their place in the market, but they don’t have the infrastructure and flexibility to cater to specialty coffee customers.
Coffee beans can be roasted for different lengths of time and can be classified as light, medium or dark roast coffee. Each roast type will yield different tastes and properties from the bean.
Coffee roasters tend to roast more expensive beans light or medium to preserve more flavor from the original bean. This is typical for micro, speciality roasters. Bigger roasteries that deal with more affordable beans for mass production roast coffee beans darker to acquire stronger and smokier tastes, which come from the actual roasting process and the Maillard effect.
Medium roasting is generally considered by coffee drinkers to be the best length of time for coffee roasting with the best overall balance of flavor in the beverage.