Does Roast Level Affect Caffeine Content in Coffee? Does Dark Roast Coffee Have More Caffeine?

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Coffee drinkers generally fall into two categories: those who rely on caffeine to stay alert, and those who are captivated by the delicious flavors of coffee. The former cannot function without caffeine, while the latter are somewhat cautious about excessive caffeine intake. There are many misconceptions about caffeine, with the myth that "the darker the coffee roast, the higher its caffeine content" being particularly prevalent. In this issue, FrontStreet Coffee will help educate everyone about caffeine in coffee.

What is Caffeine?

Caffeine is a xanthine alkaloid compound that acts as a central nervous system stimulant, capable of temporarily dispelling drowsiness and restoring energy. Clinically, it's used to treat neurasthenia and aid in recovery from coma. Appropriate caffeine intake helps with alertness and accelerates metabolism.

Why Do We Think Darker Roasts Have More Caffeine?

The answer lies in bitterness. Caffeine is one of the sources of bitterness, combined with the popularity of Italian coffee, people generally use the intensely bitter and rich espresso as a tool for staying alert and focused. Italian roast is the darkest among all coffee roasting degrees, so people have linked caffeine with bitterness, assuming that the more bitter the coffee, the higher its caffeine content.

However, increasing research now shows that coffee's bitterness comes from chlorogenic acids, quinic acids, and carbonization during the roasting process. In comparison, the bitterness of caffeine is almost negligible. Furthermore, caffeine content depends on the coffee variety and growing altitude, having little direct relationship with the roast degree.

Which Coffees Have Higher Caffeine Content?

We are most familiar with the two major commercial coffee varieties: Arabica and Robusta. Among them, Arabica coffee beans have lower caffeine content at 0.8-1.4%, while Robusta coffee beans have higher caffeine content at 1.7-4%. Therefore, Robusta beans, commonly used in instant coffee, are suitable for those who drink coffee primarily for its stimulating effects. Meanwhile, Arabica coffee beans with lower caffeine content offer better flavors, making them ideal for those who appreciate coffee's taste profile.

Within the world of Arabica coffee beans, different sub-varieties or growing altitudes result in varying caffeine content. For example, Indonesia Mandheling coffee, grown at lower altitudes, has relatively higher caffeine content in its beans, while the naturally low-caffeine Laurina coffee contains only half the caffeine content of regular Arabica coffee beans.

Are There Caffeine-Free Coffees?

Actually, there are - decaffeinated coffees that have undergone artificial processing. While they cannot be 100% caffeine-free, they can remove caffeine to a great extent, achieving truly low-caffeine coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's Low-Caffeine Coffee Bean

Country of Origin: Colombia
Region: Huila
Altitude: 1750 meters
Varieties: Typica, Caturra, Castillo
Processing Method: Swiss Water Process
Grade: Supremo
Harvest Season: 2020

Colombia Huila Region

Colombian coffee beans enjoy extremely high recognition worldwide, and their quality washed beans have always been representatives of premium coffee. Coffee beans exported from Colombia undergo specific gravity inspections and manual removal of defective beans, packaged only after passing strict, layered inspections, ensuring the quality of Colombian coffee.

Colombia Huila belongs to the specialty high-altitude coffee beans of the Colombian national company, known as the national treasure of Colombia. Thanks to superior geographical and climatic conditions, Colombian coffee has consistently maintained high quality. Colombian coffee beans without special market trademark names typically come from the National Federation of Colombia Coffee Growers, which has always been known for its strict quality control and active promotion.

Colombian Low-Caffeine Coffee Varieties

This batch of low-caffeine coffee includes three varieties: Typica, Caturra, and Castillo. Typica, as one of the oldest Arabica varieties in the world, is beloved for its delicious and sweet flavor, but due to low unit yield, it has been replaced by many high-yield coffee varieties in Colombia. Caturra is a natural mutation of Bourbon, with flavor comparable to or slightly inferior to Bourbon beans, but more importantly, it has super strong adaptability, not requiring shade trees and thriving directly under intense sunlight, commonly known as Sun Coffee, and can adapt to high-density cultivation.

Castillo, based on the Colombia variety, was successfully developed through hybrid breeding with Caturra until the tenth generation. Although it wasn't well-regarded by industry practitioners when first introduced, in recent years, the market has seen batches with elegant and delicate flavors.

Green Bean Grade

The grade of these coffee green beans is Supremo. In Colombia's coffee bean grading system, Supremo is the highest grade, while Excelso grade consists of smaller and more common beans. Colombian coffee beans offer balanced flavor expression, rich taste, and unique flavor characteristics, with relatively full body. When medium-roasted, they display sweet notes of vanilla and dark chocolate.

Swiss Water Process

This is the most traditional method of extracting caffeine, using this commercially developed, efficient processing method.

The steps of the Swiss Water Process: Coffee green beans are soaked in hot water, which in the Swiss Water Process is called "Flavor-charged Water." This water contains saturated flavor factors that should be present in coffee green beans, with the exception of caffeine. This special water serves as the most important medium in the subsequent decaffeination process. After forming the flavor-charged water, the coffee beans are filtered out. The flavor-charged water is then filtered through activated carbon filters to remove caffeine, leaving behind hot water loaded with pure flavor factors. Then, the filtered coffee beans are re-soaked in this water loaded with pure flavor factors, allowing the coffee beans to reabsorb the coffee flavors.

How FrontStreet Coffee Roasts Colombian Low-Caffeine Beans

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster uses medium heat and steadily increases the temperature. The yellowing point occurs around 6 minutes and 15 seconds, then the heat is reduced and the damper opened to enter the Maillard reaction. At first crack, the damper is opened wide while maintaining heat at approximately 183.2°C. The beans are removed from the roaster 2 minutes and 30 seconds after first crack.

Preheat the roaster to 200°C before loading the beans, with damper set at 3. After 30 seconds, turn on the heat and adjust to 130. The temperature returns to 1'32", maintaining the heat. At 6'15", the beans turn yellow, grassy aromas disappear, entering the dehydration stage. Heat is increased to 140, damper opened to 4, and when reaching 151°C, heat is reduced again to 110.

After 8 minutes of dehydration is complete, wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast aroma transforms into coffee aroma, signaling the prelude to first crack. At this point, maintain heat unchanged, open damper to 5, and listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 9'57", first crack begins, damper fully opened to 5. The development time after first crack is 2 minutes and 30 seconds, with beans removed at 194.2°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations

Dripper: Kono dripper
Water Temperature: 90°C
Coffee Amount: 15g
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Medium-coarse grind (67% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve)

Brewing Method: Three-stage extraction. Bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds. Using a small stream, pour in a circular motion to 125g, then segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the dripper. Total brewing time is 3 minutes.

Brewing Flavor: Dark chocolate, caramel, nuts, with rich and full-bodied taste.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473