Fourteener Coffee Club
What is light roast?
Light roast is coffee taken off the heat early, around the first crack, when the beans have just started to pop and swell. The beans stay light brown and dry on the surface. The cup has a lighter body and higher acidity, and it keeps more of the flavor that comes from the farm, the variety and the processing.
How a light roast is made
Green coffee goes into a roaster, soaks up heat and turns from green to yellow to brown. As water inside the bean turns to steam, pressure builds until the beans crack audibly. Roasters call this the first crack. Wikipedia's article on coffee roasting puts it at about 196 °C (385 °F) and describes it as the beginning of a very light roast.
A light roast ends soon after that first crack. The roaster stops before the second crack, when oils start to rise to the surface, so light roasted beans look matte rather than shiny. Older names for this stage include cinnamon roast, half city roast and New England roast.
Roast level has little effect on caffeine. The same Wikipedia article explains that caffeine stays stable at roasting temperatures, but lighter beans are denser. Measured by the scoop, a light roast holds a little more caffeine than a dark one. Measured by weight, the two are close.
What light roast tastes like
The roasting article's summary table describes light roasts as lighter bodied and higher in acidity, with no obvious roast flavor and sometimes grassy or fruity notes. It calls this the roast level for tasting a coffee's full origin character: the variety, the processing, the altitude, the soil and the weather where it grew.
Processing shows through too. Wikipedia's article on Geisha coffee describes washed coffees as cleaner and brighter and natural coffees as fuller bodied and fruitier, and a light roast leaves room for that difference. Our plan builder sums up light roast in three words: fruity, floral, bright. If you drink coffee black and like tasting the difference between one farm and the next, light roast is the place to start.
Light roast vs medium roast vs dark roast
| Light | Medium | Dark | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where roasting stops | Around or just after first crack | Further through first crack, before second | Into or past second crack |
| Surface | Dry | Dry | Shiny with oil |
| Body | Lighter | Fuller | Full |
| Flavor, per Wikipedia's summary | Higher acidity, origin character, no obvious roast taste | Sugars more caramelized, acidity muted, some roast flavor | Bittersweet, roast flavor clear, little origin character |
| Older names | Cinnamon, half city, New England | City, city plus, full city | Full city plus, Vienna, French, Italian |
More on the neighbors: medium roast and dark roast.
Colorado roasters that publish light roasts
These roasters we list label light roasts on their own sites, checked on September 27, 2026. They are local favorites, and a listing does not mean the roaster is part of the club.
- Kaladi in Englewood sells an Ethiopia Yirgacheffe as a light roast, roasted on its fluid bed air roaster.
- OZO in Boulder sells its Organic Breakfast Blend as a light roast.
- Camp 4 in Crested Butte makes a light European style blend of Colombia and Guatemala.
- Wagon in Denver sells First Light, an East Java, and Clean and Sober, an Ethiopia, as light roasts, and also sells Whiteout, a white roast.
- Peregrine, Conscious Coffees, Durango Coffee Company and Color list light roasts in their shops too.
Altitude matters to anyone brewing here. At 8,000 feet water boils at about 198 °F, according to Wikipedia's page on high-altitude cooking, and Peregrine's roastery in Westcliffe sits at 7,887 feet. Boxcar in Boulder says learning to brew at altitude pushed its founder to study extraction, and that work became its own brewing method. A Colorado roaster tastes its coffee at the same kind of elevation you brew at, which is one small, practical reason to buy local. Why local roasters matter.
How to get light roast in the club
In the plan builder, set Roast level to Light. Every box then comes from a different independent Colorado roaster, roasted to order, 12 oz, $16.99 a bag. First bag free, you pay $7.99 shipping. Choose two bags and the second can have its own roast, so a light roast drinker and a dark roast drinker can share one box. Light roast pairs well with the single origin plan if you want to taste one farm at a time.
Sources and related terms
- First crack, cinnamon roast, espresso roast
- Natural process coffee and Ethiopian coffee, two things a light roast shows clearly
Sources:
- Wikipedia, Coffee roasting (roast levels, cracks, caffeine)
- Wikipedia, Geisha (coffee) (washed and natural cups)
- Wikipedia, High-altitude cooking (boiling point at elevation)
- Colorado roaster facts: the roasters' own pages as summarized on our roaster profiles, checked 2026-09-27.
By Joe McRose, Fourteener Coffee Club. Updated .