What is Blonde Roast Coffee?

Blonde roast coffee induces imagery of starbucks frappuccinos for most thanks to its popularisation from the franchise but what exactly is blonde roast coffee?

What Is It?

To put it simply, blonde roast coffee is simply a very lightly roasted selection of beans that produce a coffee bean famously caramel in colour. This “selection” can be any kind of bean of any origin, the deciding factor in whether a bean is “blonde” roast essentially comes from the degree to which the bean is roasted. To achieve this light roast the select beans are roasted to meet temperatures between 355 and 400F to ensure that they are cooked just prior to the point of cracking to maintain most of their moisture.

Is It Different From a Light Roast?

Light roast and blonde roast are often conflated and easily so as there isn’t much standardisation for what exactly a blonde roast is and to what degree its been roasted that differs from a light roast. Some manufacturers will produce “blonde” roasts that lie somewhere between a classic light roast and a classic medium roast whilst others will produce “blonde” roasts distinctly brighter and lighter than an average light bean. Which begs the question, how does the flavour of a blonde roast differ from light roasts?

What Does a Blonde Roast Taste Like?

Thanks to the limited roasting these blonde roast beans offer a lighter, fruitier flavour with a bit more acidity and even caffeine than what you may used to in the more commonplace medium or dark roasts. Blonde roast coffee is usually advertised as smoother than the more popular roasts which seems curious due to the higher acidity content, but the very strong and somewhat sharp flavours you may be used to with coffee come from the bitter notes that are far more present in medium and dark roasts.

Conclusion

Succinctly, blonde roast coffee is a lighter roasted bean, but exactly how light is determined by the manufacturer thanks to the blonde roast being of a more colloquial definition than any distinct genre of bean. You’ll find some light and some more medium “blonde” roasts but overall you’ll notice the fruitier, more acidic and decidedly less bitter flavour of your blonde roast coffee.