Which has more caffeine – light roast or dark roast?

The answer is… neither! When it comes to specialty coffee, the caffeine content in light and dark roasts is about the same per bean. However, there are some minor exceptions the darker you go.

Caffeine is a naturally occurring compound that requires very high roasting temperatures for it to start breaking down. Most specialty coffees like ours aren’t roasted hot enough for this to happen.

Caffeine’s melting point is approximately 235-238°C (455-460°F). But the highest roasting temperatures for specialty coffee may only reach 225°C (435°F), which is why the caffeine content of the beans remains unchanged.

The exceptions are those dark, intense, smoky French and Italian roasts that use a roasting temperature somewhere between 235-250°C (455-482°F). Since this is above caffeine’s melting point, it will start to break down, resulting in slightly less caffeine per bean.

If roast level doesn’t seem to make a difference in the amount of caffeine, is there anything that does?

Yes. But it’s still a negligible difference.

The method you use to measure your coffee – by weight or volume – is a better indicator of the amount of caffeine in your cup.

  • Measuring by weight

    Because light roast coffee is roasted for less time, the beans are denser and heavier than a dark roast. As the beans roast longer, they lose water content and puff up, so dark roast beans will weigh less and be slightly larger.


    This means that you'll need to use more dark roast coffee to get the same weight (and caffeine content) as a light roast. Therefore, the dark roast will give you more caffeine.

  • Measuring by volume

    If you measure your coffee by spoon or scoop, you’ll get the opposite result – the light roast coffee will give you more caffeine!


    You’ll get more light roast beans per scoop because they are smaller, and less dark roast beans since they are larger. 

The biggest takeaway is:

  • More beans = more caffeine
  • Less beans = less caffeine

Despite which method you use, is it enough to give you that extra caffeine boost? Probably not.

So our best recommendation is to choose coffees that you enjoy drinking without worrying about the caffeine content.