The taste quadrant
Every roaster sits somewhere on a simple two-by-two. One axis is roast, light to dark. The other is how much robusta the roaster blends into espresso. Those two choices do most of the work in deciding whether a shot tastes bright, roasty, mellow, or bold.
Roast, left to right
Light roasts hold on to the bean's origin flavor: citrus, berry, floral. Dark roasts cook those off and emphasise toast and chocolate. Most SF third-wave roasters sit on the lighter half.
Robusta, top to bottom
Robusta beans are more bitter, more caffeinated, and foam up more. A little robusta in a blend is the Italian espresso tradition and makes the shot heavier and smoother. All-arabica blends taste cleaner and more acidic. Our quadrant marks a roaster higher when they lean into robusta.
The four corners
Bright, tangy is light roast, all arabica. Bold, bitter is dark roast, all arabica. Mellow, nutty is light roast with some robusta. Roasty, smooth is dark roast with robusta — classic Italian espresso bar.
When a cafe's roaster is unknown we show no quadrant. When we know the roaster but had to estimate from their roast style only, the dot is still shown and the label is marked estimated.