---
type: Concept
title: Coffee Roasting
description: The application of heat that turns green coffee seeds into brown, aromatic
  beans, and how light, medium, and dark roast levels trade off origin character against
  roast-developed flavor.
tags:
- coffee
- roasting
resource: raw/coffee-guide.md
timestamp: '2026-07-16T14:46:09Z'
citadel_version: 0.3.0
---

Roasting is the application of heat that transforms green coffee seeds into the brown, aromatic beans recognized by consumers; during roasting the beans undergo extensive chemical changes that develop hundreds of flavor and aroma compounds, drive off moisture, and cause the bean to expand and darken.[^s1]

Roast levels run along a continuous spectrum from light to dark.[^s2] Light roasts preserve more of the bean's origin character, often with higher perceived acidity and brighter, more delicate flavors; medium roasts balance origin character with the sweetness and body developed during roasting; dark roasts push the process further, producing bolder, more bitter, and sometimes smoky flavors as the original character of the bean gives way to flavors generated by the roast itself.[^s2] The choice of roast is largely a matter of style and preference, and a single coffee can be roasted to very different effect.[^s2]

Despite a persistent popular belief, roast level barely changes a coffee's [caffeine](../concepts/caffeine.md) content: caffeine is a chemically stable molecule that survives ordinary roasting temperatures largely intact, so no roast — however dark — becomes meaningfully decaffeinated by the act of roasting alone.[^s3]

## See also
- [Coffee](../objects/coffee.md)
- [Caffeine](../concepts/caffeine.md)
- [Aurora Midnight](../objects/aurora-midnight.md)

## Sources
[^s1]: [raw/coffee-guide.md](../../raw/coffee-guide.md), line 46 — what roasting does to the bean (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s2]: [raw/coffee-guide.md](../../raw/coffee-guide.md), line 48 — light, medium, and dark roast characteristics (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s3]: [raw/coffee-guide.md](../../raw/coffee-guide.md), lines 60-62 — roast level's minimal effect on caffeine content (ingested 2026-07-16)
