# Roasting coffee to be brewed at high altitude

**URL:** <https://baristahustle.discourse.group/t/roasting-coffee-to-be-brewed-at-high-altitude/2592>\
**Category:** Q&A\
**Created:** [June 27, 2018, 3:36am UTC](https://baristahustle.discourse.group/t/roasting-coffee-to-be-brewed-at-high-altitude/2592 "2018-06-27T03:36:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Juan\_F\_Cano](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/baristahustle.discourse.group/juan_f_cano/32/798_2.png) [@Juan\_F\_Cano](https://baristahustle.discourse.group/u/Juan_F_Cano)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 3:36am UTC](https://baristahustle.discourse.group/t/roasting-coffee-to-be-brewed-at-high-altitude/2592/1 "2018-06-27T03:36:25Z")

</div>

Hey everyone

I am curious to know whether roasters ever roast darker when the coffee is to be brewed in places that are above 2.300 masl (7.450 feet) to compensate for the lower water boiling point and still reach high extracction %?  
Case in point woud be Bogota, Quito, La Paz, etc  
If so, how much darker? Agtron reference would be great.

Thanks in Advance!

JF

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cognitionanalytics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aca169/32.png) [@cognitionanalytics](https://baristahustle.discourse.group/u/cognitionanalytics)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 5:32am UTC](https://baristahustle.discourse.group/t/roasting-coffee-to-be-brewed-at-high-altitude/2592/2 "2018-08-01T05:32:41Z")

</div>

Hi Juan,

I think you’re on the right track, but roasting the coffee _darker,_ only means you’ve caramelised the sugars to a higher degree, not made the coffee more soluble or _developed_. There is plenty of coffee that can be significantly caramlised, but still sour and astringent, due to underextraction.

Using suitably soluble coffee, whether it be _light_ or _dark_, as well as tweaking your brew parameters to take into account the lower temperature water would, in my opinion, be a better plan of attack.

Cheers,

Tim

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Juan\_F\_Cano](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/baristahustle.discourse.group/juan_f_cano/32/798_2.png) [@Juan\_F\_Cano](https://baristahustle.discourse.group/u/Juan_F_Cano)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 5:00pm UTC](https://baristahustle.discourse.group/t/roasting-coffee-to-be-brewed-at-high-altitude/2592/3 "2018-08-01T17:00:31Z")

</div>

Nice one Tim.  
What you say makes total sense and i didnt really look at it that way when i first considered it.

Thanks a lot man!!

JF