The Truth about Blonde Roast Coffee and Its Caffeine Level

Most coffee lovers think that blonde coffee has a higher caffeine level than other coffee beans. The truth is that blonde roast coffee has an equal caffeine level with black coffee beans. The roasting process even doesn’t have any significant effect on the caffeine level. Learn more about anything you should know about blonde coffee below. The information will ensure you enjoy this coffee without anything to worry about.  

About Blonde Coffee

What is blonde coffee? Is it different compared to other black coffee beans? This coffee bean comes from a light roast. The significant characteristics of the coffee are a higher level of acidity, sweetness, and lighter after taste.

You can also differentiate between blonde coffee and other black coffee beans from their size, color, and surface. Blonde coffee beans are denser, along with light-brown color. The surface is dry without leaving an oil mark on your fingers when you touch them.

The aroma and taste of the coffee are also strong. Coffee lovers are also called this coffee cinnamon roast, light city, half city, New England, and filter roast coffee. see more info about organic coffee for reverence

Blonde Coffee Beans Roasting Process

Coffee roasteries use around 356 degrees Fahrenheit to 401 degrees Fahrenheit to get blonde coffee beans. In this heating process, the beans release moisture and gases. It is the reason why the beans slowly turn yellow and smoky.

The gasses and moisture will fill the roaster machine and crack the beans. The color of the beans is also turning light brown in this phase. It is the time when roasteries stop the roasting process. The result of this process is known as blonde roast coffee.         

Blonde Coffee and Medium Coffee Beans

Due to the roasting process, people think that blonde coffee is the same as medium coffee beans but they are different. Check the differences below to understand the difference between blonde roast coffee and medium roast coffee.

Roast Temperature

Both of the coffee beans are roasted at a different level of the medium temperatures. Roasteries roast blonde coffee beans at 356 to 401 degrees Fahrenheit. On the other hand, they roast the coffee beans at 410 to 435 degrees Fahrenheit to get medium beans.

Color

The way roasteries roast the beans determine the color of the beans. At a glance, you may think that both of the beans are brown. Try to compare them closely. You will see that the color of blonde roast coffee beans is lighter than the medium beans.

Acidity Level

Indeed, the acidity level between blonde coffee and medium coffee beans is different. Blonde beans have up to 4.5 acidity levels. In contrast, medium coffee beans have around 5.4 acidity levels.

Flavor and After Taste

You can also differentiate these two coffee beans by tasting them. When the coffee is a bit sour yet you still feel the sweet taste, it means that you are drinking blonde coffee. It is a bit difficult to taste the real flavor due to the light taste. Your mouth often feels between sour and sweet.

On the other hand, you feel a sweet flavor in your mouth when you drink medium coffee. You even feel the sweetness of the coffee longer in your mouth compared to blonde coffee.  

The Best Brew Methods

Do you love to drink a cup of Espresso coffee and want to brew the beans by yourself? Instead of choosing the blonde beans, you would better choose the medium roast coffee beans. You can choose both of the beans if you want to brew them using French press, pour-over, cold-brew, or aero press brewing methods.

It will be difficult to differentiate these two products by touching the surface. It is because the surface of both coffee beans is dry and doesn’t produce oil.

Is It Possible to Use Blonde Coffee Beans to Make Espresso?

The explanation above says that blonde coffee beans are not suitable for espresso. But, is it possible to use these coffee beans to make espresso? Yes, you can make espresso from this bean.

Indeed, you should learn how to adjust the espresso technique to get the best result. The key is the way you pull the espresso machine. Interestingly, an espresso made of blonde coffee beans tastes like citrus and flowers when you pull the machine correctly. You also can check what is best coffee for espresso

You can even remove the bitter flavor from the beans. You should know that making espresso using blonde roast coffee beans and black coffee beans is different. Blonde beans are hard to grind and have a low solubilities level. You will have a bad espresso if you brew and grind the blonde beans just like when you make it with black beans.

Read more about best espresso beans

Tips to Get a Good Espresso with Blonde Roast Coffee Beans

So, what do you have to do to remove the bitter flavor from light coffee beans and get a good espresso?

• The first thing to consider is the grinder. You would better use a powerful burr grinder. This grinder can handle the hard texture of the blonde or light roast coffee beans.

• Second, focus on enhancing the extraction. Using a finer grinder size than the regular size is one of the effective methods to get a more powerful extraction.

• Third, consider the temperature after grinding the coffee beans. It is better not to make espresso directly after getting the grounds. Due to the hard surface characteristic, blonde beans are hot during the grinding process. The result will be good if you cool down the temperature of the light coffee grounds first.

• Fourth, ratio matters in making espresso with blonde roast coffee beans. Instead of using the standard ratio you often use when making espresso with black coffee beans, use a bigger ratio, such as 1:2.5 to 1:3.

• Fifth, Reduce the acidity level. The easiest way to reduce the acidity level of light coffee beans is by increasing the extraction time. Extracting the coffee beans for around 40 to 60 seconds will be good to lower the acidity level. Alternatively, you can also increase the temperature to enhance the extraction.

• Sixth, consider the pressure and contact time. Try to lower the pressure while making espresso. The function is to reduce the flow rate of water through the puck. On the other hand, increase the contact time between water and the puck.

It takes time and experiment to get delicious espresso with light coffee beans. Because of that, most coffee lovers often choose the safer option, using dark roast coffee beans to make espresso. Try the tips above if you want to make sweet espresso from light coffee beans just like Starbucks.

Read more about : Best Espresso Machine Under $1000

How about the Caffeine of Blonde Roast Coffee Beans?

Take Starbucks as an example to answer this question. Starbucks offers blonde roast coffee. Surprisingly, the caffeine level of blonde roast coffee is higher than featured dark roast coffee and pike place roast coffee.

The caffeine level of a 12oz blonde coffee is 270mg whereas the 16oz reaches 360mg. Pike place roast coffee only has 235mg caffeine per 12oz cup and 310mg per 16oz cup. The featured dark roast is the lowest in which it only has 195mg caffeine on a 12oz cup and 260mg on a 16oz cup.

The other three options, espresso roast clover, French roast clover, and Ethiopia clover have up to 280mg of caffeine per 12oz cup and 375 to 380mg per 16oz cup. This information shows that we can’t reduce the caffeine level of coffee beans by processing them.

Why Does Blonde Coffee Taste Sour?

Have you ever drunk a sour blonde coffee? It tastes bad, isn’t it? Blonde roast coffee tastes sour because the beans are underdeveloped. Underdeveloped means that the roasteries remove the beans from the roaster too early before giving off their maximum flavor and aroma. The texture of the beans is still hard to crack and dense. Underdeveloped blonde beans are hard to grind. Even if you can grind them, the coffee tastes sour and grassy.

How to Know the Caffeine Level of Coffee?

Now, you have learned that the roasting process doesn’t significantly increase or reduce the caffeine level whether on light or dark coffee beans. But you can use it to know whether your coffee has more or less caffeine content.     

The roasting process may not change the caffeine level, but it changes the mass and density of coffee beans. The longer the roasteries roast the coffee beans, the less dense the beans. This process even reduces the water on coffee beans up to 90%.

It is the reason why light roasted coffee beans have more caffeine than dark coffee beans when measured by scoops. Blonde coffee beans are denser than dark coffee beans. On the other hand, dark roast coffee beans have more caffeine when you weigh out the scoops. It is because dark roast coffee beans have less mass.

Get a More Accurate Caffeine Level in a Cup of Coffee

The simplest way to know the caffeine level in your coffee is by using caffeine-testing strips. You can buy this product at the grocery stores or online. A package of caffeine testing contains 20 strips. This method is 98% accurate in determining the caffeine level of coffee.  

The way to use this strip is also straightforward. Prepare 6oz of black coffee and blonde coffee in a cup. Then, place the strip on each of the cups. Wait for 30 seconds and remove the strip from the coffee. Place the strip on a flat surface. Now, check the D and C codes on the strip. The C code looks bolder when the caffeine level in the coffee is more than 20mg.

On the other hand, the D line turns bolder if the caffeine level in your coffee is less than 20mg. For a more accurate measurement, you would better not mix the coffee with any ingredients, such as sugar or milk. This strip only works on pure coffee. You can’t use it to measure the caffeine level in a cup of latte. As a result, you can consider drinking or avoiding coffee in case you are sensitive to caffeine.  

How Many Cups of Coffee Can You Drink a Day?

Discussing caffeine in coffee means that you should know how many cups of coffee you can drink a day, despite whether you love to drink black or light coffee. Based on the research, the body only needs up to 400mg of caffeine. 400mg of caffeine equals four 16oz cups of brewed coffee.

Those who are sensitive to caffeine but love to drink coffee should know how to measure the level of caffeine on coffee. Knowing the right amount of coffee to drink can save you from a variety of diseases caused by caffeine excess on the body. The most important thing is that you can enjoy coffee safely.

The Popularity of Blonder Roast Coffee

Blonde coffee beans have become popular nowadays. It is because the taste is smoother than dark roast coffee. Blonde coffee is perfect for beginners who start to drink coffee. The flavor of blonde coffee is also unique and it doesn’t contain any bitter taste as long as you don’t make espresso from it.

The Bottom Line

Calculating the caffeine level in coffee based on the color and the way roasteries process the beans can’t give you an accurate result. The truth is that the roasting process doesn’t significantly change the caffeine content in coffee beans.

So, you can’t say that blonde roast coffee has a higher caffeine level than medium or black coffee beans only because it takes a short roasting process. The best way to know the caffeine level in a cup of coffee is by measuring it. You can measure it by calculating the mass of the coffee grounds or using caffeine-testing strips.

Now, you also understand that blonde, medium, and black coffee beans are different. Blonde coffee beans are the lightest whereas black coffee beans are the darkest. You can differentiate the beans based on the texture, flavor, color, and aroma. At least, it explains to you more about blonde roast coffee and why this product is popular nowadays. Even Starbucks also sells blonde roast coffee as one of their menus.