Coffee beans · Roast levels
Light, medium or dark roast: which suits your machine?
Short answer: medium roast is the safe answer for almost every machine – balanced, sweet, and dry enough for automatic grinders. Medium-dark is the flat white roast, with more chocolate and body for milk. Light roasts suit filter, plunger and enthusiasts with a good grinder, and tend to taste sour through an automatic. Dark, oily roasts taste burnt, and the surface oil clogs Jura and DeLonghi machines – the one roast to keep out of an automatic.
- Roast level changes flavour, body and acidity far more than origin does. The same bean roasted light and dark tastes like two different coffees.
- Caffeine barely changes with roast. Light and dark roasts have close to the same caffeine by weight; dark beans are lighter, so a scoop holds slightly less.
- Surface oil is a sign of a dark roast or an old one. Either way it coats grinder burrs and brew groups.
- Melbourne café milk coffee is built on medium-dark blends; Melbourne filter coffee on light single origins.
What happens as coffee roasts darker
Green coffee is dense and grassy. As it roasts, sugars caramelise, acids break down, the bean expands and loses moisture, and eventually oils migrate to the surface. Stop early and you keep the origin’s acidity and florals with a lighter body. Go further and you trade acidity for sweetness and body, then for bitterness and roast character. Go far enough and the surface turns glossy, the bean tastes of the roast rather than the coffee, and the oil starts causing problems in machines.
| Roast | Look | Taste | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light | Pale brown, dry, no sheen | Bright acidity, florals, fruit, tea-like body | Filter, pour-over, plunger; espresso for enthusiasts |
| Medium | Medium brown, dry | Balanced: sweetness, caramel, nut, gentle acidity | Automatic machines, black coffee, everyday espresso |
| Medium-dark | Darker brown, dry to a faint sheen | Chocolate, full body, low acidity, some roast character | Flat whites and lattes; stovetop |
| Dark | Very dark, oily surface | Bitter, smoky, ashy; origin character gone | Nothing that uses a grinder you care about |
Which roast for which machine
Jura, DeLonghi and other automatics: medium
Automatics dose 7–12g and extract in a short shot, which suits sweetness and body and punishes sharp acidity. A dry medium roast is the everyday answer, medium-dark for a house that drinks milk coffee. Light roasts can be made to work with a finer grind and stronger setting but often read as sour. Dark oily beans are the main cause of grinder faults, fill-beans errors and sticky brew groups we see – why oily beans jam automatic machines.
Breville and other espresso machines: medium to medium-dark
With an 18g dose and a longer shot you have more room. Medium-dark espresso blends are forgiving and made for milk; medium single origins make excellent black espresso. Light roasts need a capable grinder and patience. Oily beans clog the grind chute – best coffee beans for Breville machines.
Plunger, pour-over and filter: light to medium
Long contact with water at lower pressure brings out the clarity of a light roast without the sourness. This is where Ethiopian and other bright single origins are at their best.
Stovetop: medium-dark
Moka pots brew hot and strong; a medium-dark roast with body stands up to it. Light roasts turn harsh.
Roast and caffeine
Dark roast is not stronger in caffeine – if anything it is fractionally lower by weight because roasting drives off mass, and lower again by the scoop because dark beans are lighter. What people call strength in dark roast is bitterness and body. If you want more caffeine, use more coffee or a Robusta component, not a darker roast. See coffee bean varieties explained.
How to read a bag
- Words like bright, floral, citrus, tea-like mean light. Balanced, caramel, nutty mean medium. Chocolate, full-bodied, rich mean medium-dark. Bold, intense, smoky, Italian or French roast usually mean dark.
- Look at the beans: dry and matte is what you want for a grinder. Glossy means oil.
- A roast date beats any description. Old beans go oily and flat whatever the roast.
Our range by roast
Our beans are roasted in Melbourne to medium and medium-dark, because that is what espresso and automatic machines want: Peru Cusco and Colombia Supremo as smooth medium single origins, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe for a brighter black coffee, Brazil São Silvestre and our espresso blends for milk drinks. All dry, all whole bean or ground to order. The full list is on locally roasted coffee beans, Melbourne.
Medium and medium-dark roasts, made for machines
Dry, fresh, Melbourne-roasted. Free shipping on orders over $60, 15% off with the Roasters Club.
Frequently asked questions
Which roast is best for an automatic coffee machine?
Medium, or medium-dark for milk drinks – and always dry. Oily dark roasts clog the grinder and brew group.
Does dark roast have more caffeine?
No. Caffeine is nearly the same by weight across roasts and slightly lower by the scoop for dark beans. Dark roast tastes stronger because it is more bitter.
Which roast is best for a flat white?
Medium-dark. Its chocolate and body come through milk; light roasts get lost.
Is light roast good for espresso?
For enthusiasts with a good grinder, yes. Through an automatic it often tastes sour; it is at its best in filter and plunger brewing.
Why are my beans oily?
Either a dark roast or old beans – oils migrate to the surface as beans age. Either way, keep them out of automatic machines.