Best Light Roast Coffee Beans

The Best Light Roast Coffee Beans are when the beans are roasted at a lower temperature for a shorter period of time when compared to medium and dark roasts.  Light roasting is typically at first crack, although there are variations of Light Roast.

A light roast results in a bean that is lighter in color, and typically dryer (less oily).

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In this article we will delve into the different types of light roast that exist and the characteristics that a light roast provides.  Then, we will look at some specific light roast products and discuss what makes them candidates to be the Best Light Roast Coffee Beans.

Types of Light Roast

Thank you Comfreak (our best light roast coffee beans featured image)

This little bird likes light roast.

A roast that is roasted at a lower temperature (approximately 10°F lower) and removed immediately at first crack is sometimes called a Cinnamon Roast.

This type of roast is less sweet than a regular light roast and produces a cup with a very sharp acidity.

Acidity in coffee is when the coffee has a more sparkling, lively or full taste.  The taste is dryer or with an astringent quality.

Some people prefer this type of coffee as the taste really pops in your mouth.  However, most can’t handle coffee that is too acidic because it causes stomach discomfort or heartburn.

The oils of a roasted coffee bean typically are released after the bean has been roasted at a higher temperature and for a longer period of time.

Light roasting is performed at lower temperatures, and the bean is removed immediately when the bean first cracks.  This results in a roast that is less oily than medium or dark roasts.

Some prefer a very light roast as this leaves the resulting coffee with more of the bean flavor and less of the roasting flavor.

As a result, the source of bean is much more important for finding the best light roast coffee beans.

Our Best Light Roast Coffee Beans

Here we present the best light roasted beans based on reviews.

We’ve read through the reviews, first looking at the “bad” reviews.

If an issue is consistently showing up, we’ll either let you know about it, or not list the coffee bean at all on our “best of” list.

If the percentage of folks that describe the “bad” attribute is low enough, and the issue seems to be something subjective, we’ll mention the issue (in case that issue isn’t important to you) and if the other reviews are high enough, we’ll still include it in our list.

By doing this, we hope you will know that any of these best light roast coffee beans that we list below are one’s that we feel you have a high percentage chance of having a great buying experience.

Starbucks Veranda Blend™ Whole Bean Coffee

You either love or hate Starbucks.

At least that seems to be the sentiment when reading the forums.

But, so far, for what Starbucks is calling a “Blonde Roast”, the reviewers have banded together to give this bean of thumbs up.

The reviews started high for this Starbucks blend.  However, there has been a dip in the review ratings as time has gone by.

At first print of this article, reviews were a very strong 4.7 out of 5.0.  However, they have dropped to 4.2 for this update.

The worst review still says “Good coffee. Mellow taste. Not bitter like most of Starbuck’s coffee”.

And, that is the worst of the worst review for this bean.

Even the Starbucks “haters” liked the Starbucks Veranda Blend™ Whole Bean Coffee.

I could tell they were generally Starbucks “haters” because the would say things like “I am not a big Starbucks fan and don’t like a lot of their coffee. This one is different.”.

And, another reviewed said “…but this is the first Starbucks coffee I can drink straight without adding an ounce of chocolate powder”.

Coffee Bean Direct Light House Blend, Whole Bean Coffee

This offering from Coffee Bean Direct has the most reviews of any of the best light roast coffee beans we could find.

While the reviews are strong (4.0 stars out of 5.0), there were still a fair amount of negative reviews.

Looking through the reviews, it seemed that the size of the bag was an issue.

A bag of Coffee Bean Direct Light House Blend, Whole Bean Coffee comes in at 5 pounds.

So, for many of the negative reviewers, their beans lost some of their freshness.

On the positive side, many of the reviewers saw the 5 pound bag as a “positive”.

The feedback is that for this price, the 5 pound bag gives an excellent value.

So, if you do decide to give this bean a try (the reviews do still paint a positive picture for this bean), you might want to break up the bag into smaller bags and freeze the ones that you aren’t actively using.

Tiny Footprint Coffee Organic Whole Bean Coffee

If your looking to contribute to earth conservation, Tiny Footprint Coffee is a company that should fit into your portfolio of ways you can give back.

This company has a Negative carbon footprint while producing their coffee beans.

If not for the big claims on carbon footprint, we might not have included these in this list of best light roast coffee beans.

But, here’s the real story…

The reviews for Tiny Footprint’s light roast have improved over time. Early returns had only just under 60% giving this light roast 5 out of 5 stars.  But, that has surge to a strong 73%.

The rest of the reviews are top heavy with NO reviews of 2%.  And, 19% giving 4 stars.  Only 3% give it 1 star.

What seems to give many of the reviewers problems is that Tiny Footprint Coffee Organic Whole Bean Coffee seem to be a little darker than a typical light roast.

So, if you’re looking for a medium to light roast, and you’re looking to help save the environment, this is the coffee bean for you.

Magnum Coffee Taste of the Exotics Ground Coffee

Magnum is the “Toucan” coffee company. Their logo is the Toucan.

So, you can’t miss their packaging when you finally see the bag.

Magnum Coffee Taste of the Exotics Ground Coffee is a light roast.  These are not whole beans.  So, if you are looking for whole beans, this isn’t the product for you.

Several of the reviewers found this coffee to have a light taste.  These do comes with a raspberry chocolate flavoring.  So, this is more of a dessert coffee than an every day coffee.

Although the flavor was more a hint than an overpowering addition.

By “light”, they meant that the coffee wasn’t very strong.  This coffee is advertised as A Taste of the Spring.

This ground coffee comes from 100% Arabica coffee beans.

However, some other reviewers that were also noticing the lack of caffeine, talked about how this is a coffee that is great for late afternoon, and even evening consumption.

If you prefer a coffee that doesn’t keep you up at night. This may be the coffee for you.

Cafe Don Pablo Subtle Earth Organic Gourmet Coffee – Light Roast

When we first wrote this article, we had not discovered Cafe Don Pablo.  But, now that we have, we simply had to include their light roast offering.

Cafe Don Pablo Subtle Earth Organic Gourmet Coffee – Light Roast is just simply head and shoulder above the others in this category.  And, as a company they are dedicated to high quality.

Cafe Don Pablo also bring so much more to the plate.

They only use beans from farmers that grow organically.  This includes non-GMO.

This light roast offering includes beans grown in Honduras from plantations that grow at elevations of between 3800 and 4300 feet (ideal for coffee plants).

Cafe Don Pablo beans brew a low acidity cup that is easy on the stomach.  The body is describes as being full and rich.

And, the roast is truly a light roast.  Many roasts that advertise light end up being closer to medium, but drinkers of this coffee are very happy to find that these are actually a light roast.

Espresso drinker even report that this coffee bean produces excellent crema.  This is unusual as this trait is usually reserved for darker roast.

This is a truly high quality light roast and was our winner of the title of Best Light Roast Coffee Beans.  However, it is too often out of stock.  So, we’ve dropped it to just a Check If It’s In Stock.  If it does come back, and you are lucky enough to catch it in stock, jump on it!

Conclusion

Light roast coffee beans don’t seem to have the following that the medium and dark roasts do.

So, much fewer varieties of products could be found.

Do You Want the Best Light Roast Coffee Beans EVER?

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And, within each product there were much fewer reviews. So, for the top few coffee beans above, it will be very interesting to see if they maintain their high review rating averages as more and more people try these beans.

If you have your own Best Light Roast Coffee Bean you find to be better, please do post it below for all to see.

  6 Responses to “Best Light Roast Coffee Beans”

  1. My favorite light roast coffee is Dallmayr Prodomo.

  2. Adtian,

    Thank you for the suggestion! I’ll take a look and see how Dallmayr Prodomo fairs with the other light roast coffee beans I’ve tried.

    Regards,
    Jagger

  3. When coffee is roasted, the process actually changes the chemical state and size of the beans. So, the roasting is what produces, or brings out, the characteristics of your favorite varieties, in part by expanding the beans.

  4. Great point! Thank you for your expertise.

    Regards,
    Jagger

  5. The lighter the bean the better the antioxidants and benefits from the bean when the bean is cooked linger it breaks down the bean so lighter beans are better

  6. Linda,

    Thank you so much for your interest and your comment. I hadn’t heard about the antioxidant benefits for light roast beans.

    I think with many, often the choice of roast level has to do with taste. But, this is definitely something else to take into consideration. We’ll look into that and update this article with what we find.

    Regards,
    Emily

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