Roast Profile Brief: 10 Fields to Specify Before a New Market Launch

Direct answer: A roast profile brief is a short written specification that tells a roaster what the coffee has to do, for whom, on what equipment and how success will be judged. It should cover ten things: market, drink formats, equipment, volume and delivery, sensory targets, origin constraints, freshness and packaging, sample approval, change control, and timeline. It deliberately contains no roast temperatures or times. Those belong to the roaster’s development process and should be recorded in a roast log, not guessed in advance.

Why a brief matters

Most roast-development problems come from an unclear question, not from the roast itself. “Make it good for Europe” cannot be tested. “Perform as a short espresso and in a cappuccino on a bean-to-cup machine, with a consistent cup across three batches” can be. A written brief also protects the origin brand: if the coffee changes later, the brief shows what was approved and why.

Market data helps fill the brief. For example, a 2026 De’Longhi survey found that the top go-to orders differ by country: espresso in France, cappuccino in Germany and caffè latte in the UK. See roast profile by market. The brief turns that kind of input into testable requirements.

The ten fields

1. Market and channel. Name the country, the city if known, and the channel: café bar, hotel, restaurant, office, retail or home use. Different channels use different equipment and volumes.

2. Drink formats, in priority order. List the two or three formats that matter most, such as short espresso, cappuccino, flat white, filter or iced. Say which is primary. Every later test depends on this field.

3. Equipment and operator. Record grinder type, espresso machine or bean-to-cup model, batch brewer, water quality if known, and who operates it (trained barista or staff who follow a preset). A coffee that performs on a manual machine may not behave the same way on an automatic one.

4. Volume and delivery. State expected volume per week, order frequency and delivery lead time. These affect how often the roast will be repeated and how fresh the coffee is when it is used.

5. Sensory targets, in words. Describe the cup you want using a shared vocabulary, for example body, sweetness, bitterness, acidity, aftertaste and how the coffee behaves in milk. Avoid single adjectives such as “bold” or “smooth” without an agreed meaning. Add what you do not want.

6. Origin and lot constraints. State whether the coffee is single origin or part of a blend, which region or lot is in scope, and which documents must travel with it. For an origin brand that is 100% Cambodian, this is where that rule is written down.

7. Freshness and packaging. Agree the resting period before shipping, the packaging format, and the date information printed on the pack. Do not assume a resting period: ask the roaster what they recommend and test it. OCC’s discussion of rest time after roasting for European espresso drinkers is a starting point for the questions to ask.

8. Sample approval protocol. Decide before roasting how samples will be judged: which formats, on which equipment, by whom, with what scoring method and what counts as a pass. Evaluate every sample in each priority format, not only as black coffee.

9. Change control and documentation. Require a roast log for every approved sample and production batch. Agree that any change to green coffee, roast development, equipment or packaging is notified before it is shipped. Change only one variable at a time when developing samples.

10. Timeline and success measures. Set dates for sample rounds, approval and first shipment, and describe what “success” looks like after the first few batches, such as repeat orders or consistent results across batches.

A template you can copy

• Market / city / channel:
• Priority formats (1, 2, 3):
• Equipment and operator:
• Volume / frequency / lead time:
• Sensory targets and exclusions:
• Origin and lot constraints:
• Freshness and packaging:
• Sample approval protocol:
• Change control and roast log:
• Timeline and success measures:

Common mistakes

• Vague adjectives. Words without an agreed meaning cannot be tested.
• Judging only black coffee. A coffee that tastes good black may not survive milk, and the reverse can also be true.
• Ignoring the equipment. Results from one machine do not transfer automatically to another.
• Changing several variables at once. It becomes impossible to know what caused a difference.
• No documentation. Without a roast log, an approved profile cannot be repeated reliably.

For how roast degree can hide or reveal quality, see how roast degree can hide or reveal coffee quality.

What this article does not claim

This brief is a practitioner framework. It contains no roast temperatures, times or development percentages because those depend on the roaster, the machine and the lot, and no source retrieved for this article supports a universal figure. Any parameter a roaster proposes should be tested and recorded.

Faq

How long should a roast profile brief be? One page is enough if each of the ten fields is answered.

Who writes the brief? The buyer or brand writes the requirements, and the roaster contributes the development plan.

Does a brief guarantee the result? No. It makes the result testable and repeatable.

Can the brief change after the first samples? Yes, but record the change and the reason, so the approved version is always clear.

Does a brief replace tasting? No. It defines what will be tasted, on which equipment and against which targets.

Where to go next

• Market inputs: roast profile by market and coffee preferences by city in Europe.
• Category background: Fine Robusta from Cambodia and Fine Robusta roasting considerations.
• Service path: OCC’s Roasting Program covers custom roast profile development.

Sources & Data Notes

• De’Longhi, “The Signature Order” field guide, https://www.delonghi.com/en-gb/brewed-by-place. Fieldwork by Greenpark, 24–29 June 2026; 3,001 adults in the UK, France and Germany. Used only as an example of a market input. Accessed 2026-09-30.
• The ten-field brief, the template and the common mistakes are OCC’s practitioner framework, not sourced research findings.

Last verified: 2026-09-30.