LCC Roastery

Coffee too bitter, can I have some sugar? No need anymore. Let’s see these coffee option with naturally sweet taste.

Now, specialty professionals and consumers alike want their morning coffee to have a hint of sweetness, or sometimes called it “balanced”, coffee can have a hint of sweetness. Sweetness are naturally found in roasted coffee beans. Together with other compounds, the sweetness side of the coffee will remind you flavor like honey, caramel, maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla and even chocolate. 

Roasting play a major role to sweeten the coffee. Unroasted coffee is not sweet at all, complex components like acid, amino acid, are breakdown to simple sugars (sucrose, lactose and glucose) by Maillard reaction and Caramelization during roasting. Most sugars are found during these reactions happened, which is called development. To carefully manipulate the development time, we can have a high-grown Colombia Huila coffee tastes like honey. Stopping at the right time is also critical, otherwise the charcoal and carbon-y taste will over-shadow the sweetness.

Which coffees have more sugars?

Coffeechemistry.com reports that in green coffee, carbohydrates make up “approximately 50% of coffee’s total dry basis”. These include sucrose, arabinose, mannose, glucose, galactose, rhamnose and xylose. Generally, the more carbohydrates the green coffee have, the higher sugars can be produced after roasting.

And the amount of sugars in your coffee will also depend on the species, varietal, and production practices. The Arabica species, for example, has almost double the amount of sucrose that Robusta has – one of the reasons why it’s gained a reputation for being better quality. And you might expect a Bourbon to have more sweetness than a Catimor.

Coffee cherries that ripen more slowly (for example, due to being at a higher altitude), generally develop more sugars. What’s more, honey processing is likely to result in sweeter coffees than washed processing.

What flavors fall under Sweet taste?

There are quite many flavors can be group under sweet. Humans and other animals alike show a tendency to eat sweet things – and this is linked to evolution. We have many many different sweetness from different culture wants to added. These are some of the most commonly found flavors in SCA flavor wheel. 

• Molasses – Dark, caramelized top notes that may include slightly sharp, acrid, and sulfur notes characteristic of molasses. 
• Maple Syrup – A woody, sweet, caramelized, brown, slightly green aromatic associated with maple syrup.
• Brown sugar – A rich, full, round, sweet aromatic impression characterized by some degree of darkness.
• Caramelized – A round, full-bodied, medium brown, sweet aromatic associated with cooked sugars and other carbohydrates. Does not include burnt or scorched notes.
• Honey – Sweet, light brown, slightly spicy aromatic associated with honey.
• Vanilla – A woody, slightly chemical aromatic associated with vanilla bean, which may include brown, beany, floral, and spicy notes.
• Vanillin – An extremely sweet, non-natural aromatic associated with vanilla, cotton candy, and marshmallows.

Where to find sweet coffee?

Central American coffees are, in particular, often noted for their sweetness.  Costa Rica coffees often carry a chocolatey and nutty sweetness. Mexican coffees tend to be a bit oilier and carry a more caramelized sweetness.  Guatemalan coffees carry a more varied set of sweet flavors, but are characteristically balanced by more “spicy” flavors as well.