City Plus Roast

What is City Plus Roast? Often abbreviated as City+, this roast level represents a sweet spot for many specialty roasters. It is achieved by continuing the roast just past the City Roast stage, allowing the beans to develop more body and sweetness through the Maillard reaction and early caramelization, without reaching the second crack. This results in a medium-brown bean that is still dry on the surface but possesses a more rounded, approachable flavor profile.

Coffee City Plus Roast is widely considered an all-purpose roast. It bridges the gap between the bright, acidic nature of lighter roasts and the deeper, chocolatey notes of darker roasts. By extending the development time slightly, roasters can soften the sharp acidity found in lighter roasts, replacing it with a pleasant, syrupy sweetness and a more substantial mouthfeel. This makes it an excellent choice for those who find light roasts too acidic but dark roasts too bitter.

In practice, City+ is highly versatile. It performs exceptionally well across a variety of brewing methods, from pour-over and drip coffee to immersion methods like the French press. Because it retains a good balance of acidity and body, it is often the go-to roast for house blends where the roaster wants to create a consistent, crowd-pleasing cup that still retains some of the coffee's original character.

When buying coffee, you will often see City+ used for beans that have a natural sweetness, such as those from Brazil or Colombia. The extra development time helps to highlight notes of caramel, nuttiness, and milk chocolate. If you are looking for a daily drinker that is reliable, balanced, and easy to brew, a City Plus Roast is an ideal starting point for your palate.