Well, my bike is in for a lube, ski season is just about over and the hiking trails need time to dry up. So here I am stuck inside my mind, wondering why cafes don’t educate their customers more (with facts and not B.S.). How many of you out there are sure if there is more caffeine in light coffee vs. dark or vice versa. Well you’re not alone, it’s a question (or in some cases a fact, depending on who I am talking to) that many people approach me about. So let’s get to the facts so that we can put this myth to bed once and for all.
Breaking down your standard cup of coffee. (borrowing some facts from Kicking Horse Coffee) One cup contains 98.6% of water. The remaining 1.4% is dissolved coffee solids. Now here is the kicker, only 1.2% of that 1.4% is caffeine. At 0.017% of your cup being caffeine, any differences would be intangible. But let’s dig deeper anyway.
When it comes to roasting coffee light roasted spends less time in the roaster and is finished at a lower degree. Leaving the beans denser and smaller in size. Darker roasts will continue to roast while growing in size and loosing more mass though VOC and oil loss. Both roasts will loose approximately 90% of their water content. Yet caffeine is uber stable while roasting, allowing you to get your kick no matter what the degree of darkness. But what does this mean in the light vs. dark argument?
All of this adds up to how you brew your coffee. More specifically, how you measure it. If you measure by volume (scoop) you will have more caffeine in your light roast due to more dense (smaller) beans fitting in your scoop. If you measure by weight, you will have no difference in caffeine. Make sense?
If you still want to argue that light or dark coffee bothers you more than the other, I suggest you look at your brewer, brew time or maybe just switching to tea. Otherwise, educate your friends and especially your coffee shops that are misinformed and let’s put this puppy to rest.
Backcountry Barista 