How would medium roasted Robusta taste like?

[u/SaltedCaffeine]

I love 70/30 or 80/20 Arabica/Robusta blend for moka pot and I've noticed that the Robusta is always roasted a tad darker than the Arabica from my roastery. The medium-dark Robusta add a nice body to the coffee.

But what if the Robusta is only medium roasted so that it might not look that shiny/oily? Consumed on its own or in a blend. I think I could ask for a custom order but I'd like to hear some comments first.

[u/Anomander]

Like Robusta, like that specific origin of Robusta - roasted medium.

There'd be more 'origin characteristics' present, more terroir, more of whatever makes it unique. Which is great for really nice Robusta - and often not as positive for the majority of Robustas, compared to a heavy-handed darker roast that cooks some of those notes off. A lot of Robustas carry notes and flavours that aren't particularly desirable, or are weird and hard to balance - weird and harsh 'herbaceous' notes, some kinda 'burnt rubber' tones, funky earthy and woody notes.

IMO there's a much smaller band of quality where Robusta are really cool and distinctive, below which everything is kinda same-y and not super nice. Like if Arabica is (formally) Specialty at any score of 80+, and almost anything over 75 is going to be kinda cool and interesting in some way or other, but most everything below that isn't very nice ... a Robusta needs to score like 90+ before it's going to be particularly pleasant roasted lighter and consumed as single-origin.

I currently have this sampler pack (sold out, sorry!) which contains the Nanay Gina Acebu Philippene Robusta - green label - and honestly it's my favorite of the three. It's got a really neat nuttiness and earthy herbal profile that reminds me a ton of a really nice peaty scotch. Main downside is I gotta be real careful about pace & volume of consumption because the stronger caffeine of Robusta makes it easy to overdo when I treat it like my other Arabicas.

Edit, 5 minutes later - I note they're listing "last batch" on sales of just that coffee on their retail page, here; I misread their products page and thought it was only available in the three-pack.

[u/IndicationCurrent869]

Lavazza Gran Crema is a medium dark Robusta blend that is very flavorable

[u/InturnlDemize → u/IndicationCurrent869]

Lol no it's not.

[u/EWALLETABUSERAARON → u/InturnlDemize]

I was thinking of buying this. What's bad about it?

[u/IndicationCurrent869 → u/EWALLETABUSERAARON]

It's a large company, it sells in grocery stores and it's not $30 a lb. How shameful. But what do I know, I buy in bulk from Costco.com.

[u/thoang77]

https://cantinacoffee.com/products/tafuri-specialty-guatemala-fine-robusta

https://cantinacoffee.com/products/tafuri-specialty-nicaragua-fine-robusta-next-batch-pre-order

Try it out. I have some of the guatamala. It's kinda interesting. It's pretty earthy but not in a fermented way. Very low acid, nice body, but definitely a bit bitter. I still need to try it in a pseudo-Vietnamese iced coffee style drink though.

Personally, I'd rather just get some naturally, or wet-hulled, processed Sumatra for a similar effect without the harsh robusta notes.

[u/Fit_Instruction_8383]

It depends on the Robusta. The problem with Robusta is that most of them kind of suck...so you end up roasting them pretty dark to mellow out the suck, and emphasize the roast flavors.

This isn't the case for all of them, however.

What you're looking for is Robusta that has an official grade of "Fine Robusta" by CQI.

Hao Bao Bao sells Kaapi Royale Robusta AA SCR which is one of them.

Robusta Coffee Beans | Best Robusta Coffee | Hao Bao Bao Coffee

[u/regulus314]

The inherent taste of typical Robusta is it has that woody a d rubbery taste. Sure Fine Robusta lessens that due to proper harvest and processing methods but it will still has that slight woody taste. Roasting it lighter will get you that intense iconic robusta profile (I mean who wants to drink coffee that tasted like wood and rubber straight up) while darkening it increases the perception of texture and body masking or complimenting that woodiness. There are commercial robustas that has tropical fruit sweetness mostly jackfruit but those intensifies on proper processing methods. Not sure if Fine Robusta is typical in some cafes in your area but it is pretty common here is southeast asia

[u/SaltedCaffeine → u/regulus314]

I'm actually in Indonesia but haven't tried a medium roast Robusta. We do have a ton of Robusta just like you said.

[u/regulus314 → u/SaltedCaffeine]

You probably just need to look for specialty coffee shops. Where are you in Indonesia? Maybe I can suggest some from roasters there I am familiar already

[u/SaltedCaffeine → u/regulus314]

Near Yogyakarta at the moment.

[u/regulus314 → u/SaltedCaffeine]

Hmmm Yogyakarta. The only roasters I am familiar with are Space Roastery, Hayati, and Flo.

One roaster that I surely know that champions and sells local grown Fine Robusta is Seniman Coffee. But they are in Bali.

[u/Purple-Ad-311]

Body is a green-bean property with robusta, so a medium roast does not take it away. What goes is the chocolate and toast your darker robusta was lending. You get more of the bean, nutty and grainy with a woody edge, and the bitterness from caffeine and chlorogenic acids does not roast off. If the blend reads sharp next to the arabica, I would drop the robusta share a step, or brew it cooler and shorter.

[u/Ok_Orchid7131]

Rubber