What is a Vienna Roast?

With the dawn of third wave coffee, the industry’s focus turned mostly to light roasted coffees. But in doing so, the industry forgot about one of the most difficult roast profiles to pull off, a Vienna Roast. Of course we can all appreciate light and medium-light roasted coffee and the way it honors the origin's taste profile, however it’s a Vienna Roast that is the greatest test of a roaster’s ability. A Vienna Roast is the earliest and most mild dark roast possible, really actually teetering right on the edge of medium-dark. The goal of a Vienna Roast is to achieve a dark roast, but maintain the flavors and aromas of the bean. Dark roasts are intended to eliminate acidity and create a fuller bodied coffee. With even darker roasts like French or Italian, the bean's characteristics and flavors are being destroyed and you're solely tasting the work of the roaster. But with Vienna the idea is to get the best of both worlds, eliminating acidity, raising body, but still maintaining the integrity and key flavors of the bean, which is what makes it such a difficult roast level to achieve. When roasting to Vienna, a roaster is pulling two worlds together, and there isn’t much margin for error. It isn’t a very practical roast, and can easily lead to over-roasting, so it is understandable why it isn’t attempted often in modern coffee.

A Vienna Roast‘s beans can be identified by their dark-reddish color and slight oily coating. With a Vienna Roast, as in other dark roasts, you're trying to bring oils out from the bean by roasting to a higher drop temperature. The length of time is dependent on the bean, like all other dark roasts however, you definitely want to take the roast into the rolling 2nd crack. Reading this may have some roasters squirming in their seats, however it is my belief that you can still roast a great coffee that has hit 2nd crack. But you have to be careful because the margin of error is so slight that you could finish with a much darker roast level, eliminating the flavors you initially wished to maintain. The key is to roast until the moment you’ve brought oils to the outside of the bean. Pulling the beans a few seconds early won't produce the desired oils, and leaving it a few seconds too long will cause breakdowns within the beans and it will no longer be a Vienna Roast.

Roasters go for a Vienna Roast when they want to bring out a dark chocolate flavor and add a powerful roasty aroma. Vienna Roasts are commonly served with creams varying from light milks to heavy whipping cream. A famous style of the same name, Vienna Coffee, was born out of serving coffee in this manner. Coffee drinkers that prefer a dark roast but still want to enjoy dynamic flavor profiles can opt for a Vienna Roast. Vienna Roasts are also great served as espresso, this being more common in places in central Europe. When drinking a Vienna Roast, you can experience an intense flavor profile without the coffee being light bodied or overly acidic.