Inside The Roast: What 43.6 Actually Means
That device in the photo isn't for show.
It's an Agtron meter, a specialty coffee tool that measures roast color using infrared light. The number it spits out tells you exactly how dark or light a roast is on a standardized scale. Higher number, lighter roast ... lower number, darker roast. 43.6 Medium Dark is where Caramel Theory lives.
Why does that matter? Because "medium dark" isn't a vibe. It's a target and hitting it the same way every single time is what separates a bag that's consistent from a bag that misses the mark.
I didn't walk into this knowing any of that. I came in with very detailed flavor profiles. A clear idea of what I wanted the coffee to smell like when you open the bag. How I wanted the flavor to develop from the first sip through the mid-palate to the finish. Where I wanted the caramel to sit versus the pecan. What I wanted you to feel holding the cup up while you're drinking it.
That's what I handed my roasting partner. Not a roast number. A vision. They took it back to the lab and through my meticulous overthinking figured out how to get there.
Caramel Theory took 2 rounds and Midnight Reserve took 3 but we got there.
Here's the thing about medium dark that most people don't know: it's still low acidity, still low bitterness. It's medium but with more depth. The reason Caramel Theory sits there instead of just medium is that the extra development lets the caramel and praline come through as part of the coffee not a coating on top of it. It's smooth and is the first flavored coffee I've been able to drink black and actually enjoy. That was the target.
Midnight Reserve is a different thing. It's dark and it's supposed to be. The bitterness is there but it's structured and it's not the kind of bitterness that makes you put the cup down, not a flaw simply part of the profile. And if you put it in the fridge and drink it cold? That bitterness pulls back, the mouthfeel opens up, and it becomes something else entirely. That's my favorite version of it.
The reason we measure is consistency.
Your bag in June should taste like your bag in October. Same roast. Same profile. Same cup. That's the whole point of doing this with intention, so it's repeatable, not lucky.
Every time.
