What Are the Different Coffee Roast Levels? How to Distinguish Roast Degrees in Coffee Roasting

Raw coffee beans have no coffee aroma of their own; only after roasting does the rich fragrance appear. Roasting is therefore a transformation of what's inside the bean — only once roasting creates the compounds that release aroma can we smell coffee at all.

What are the different coffee roast levels?

Today, FrontStreet Coffee introduces the roast levels used in coffee roasting.

1. Light Roast

The lightest roast level, with little aroma or concentration to speak of. The beans aren't fully developed and carry the green taste of raw coffee, making them unsuitable for grinding and drinking. Generally used for testing.

2. Cinnamon Roast

Also known as cinnamon roast, this is a broadly popular level that retains strong acidity. The bean color is quite close to cinnamon, hence the name, with acidity increased further. Preferred by drinkers in the western United States.

3. Medium-Light Roast

The color deepens, making it easy to draw out the beans' original flavor, with a mellow aroma and pleasant acidity. Mainly used for blended coffee.

4. Medium Roast

The coffee flavor grows stronger while acidity becomes lighter. This is a general-purpose roast for coffee beans, balancing acidity against bitterness, and suits coffees like Blue Mountain and Kilimanjaro. Loved by Japanese and Northern European drinkers.

5. Medium-Dark Roast

Also known as city roast, where bitterness outweighs acidity, with almost no acidity and a distinctive aroma. Suited to Colombian and Brazilian coffees, and deeply loved by New Yorkers.

6. Full City Roast

Also known as full city roast, suited to brewing iced coffee. There's no acidity, mainly bitterness, with that bitterness intensified — though quality beans will still show sweetness. Used for iced coffee and preferred by drinkers in Central and South America.

7. French Roast

A French roasting method, slightly black in color, with strong bitterness and oil on the surface. Both bitterness and concentration deepen. Used for coffee brewed with steam-pressure machines.

8. Italian Roast

Also known as Italian roast, this is the deepest roast level. The beans are pitch-black and shiny, with oil seeping from the surface and very strong bitterness. At this stage the beans are already heavily carbonized, making it hard to tell one coffee from another. Used for Italian steam-pressed coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Roast level is one of the biggest levers on flavor: the darker the roast, the more bitter and full-bodied the cup; the lighter the roast, the more acidic and delicate. If you're after balance, it's worth starting with a medium or medium-dark roast — and few coffees demonstrate that balance better than FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1. Grown from Typica at high altitude, it's roasted medium to medium-dark so the classic acidity, bitterness, sweetness and body fuse into one elegant, rounded profile. On the palate you'll find chocolate, roasted nuts, cream and caramel, the kind of roast-driven character few other coffees match.

Blue Mountain sits in that sweet spot precisely because it isn't extreme in any direction. It has neither the sharp fruit acidity of some African coffees nor the heavy bitterness of a dark roast; instead it lands a near-perfect equilibrium, with cream, caramel, chocolate, nutty and honeyed notes and a soft, gentle body that finishes cleanly. As FrontStreet's medium-dark roast shows, the right level is what makes those classic flavors sing.

If you'd like to taste the level for yourself, brew it as a pour-over — a 1:15 to 1:16 ratio and water at 85-88°C — or try a moka pot, where the same balance comes through with extra richness and works beautifully with milk.