What is dark roast?
Dark roast is coffee roasted to second crack or beyond, around 225 to 245 °C (437 to 473 °F) bean temperature. The beans turn dark brown and oils rise to the surface, so they look shiny. The flavor comes mostly from the roasting itself: full-bodied and bittersweet, with little of the coffee's origin left to taste.
What dark roast tastes like
Wikipedia's coffee roasting article describes dark roasts as full-bodied and bittersweet, and says that at the darkest levels the roast flavor is so dominant it is hard to tell where the beans came from. Sisters Coffee, for one, calls its Black Butte Gold dark and caramelized.
Dark roast is not stronger in caffeine. Caffeine holds steady through normal roasting temperatures, and because dark beans lose more water and swell more, a scoop of dark roast measured by volume carries slightly less caffeine than a scoop of light.
How a dark roast is made
The batch runs through first crack, near 196 °C, and on into second crack, near 224 °C. Second crack is the sound of the bean's structure turning brittle and fracturing. Oils inside the bean liquefy under heat and pressure and move to the surface. Past this point, the article says, the coffee takes on the character of the roasting process and loses the character of its origin.
Old roast names live in this range. Vienna roast sits just into second crack, French roast darker still, and Italian roast darker again. The names are traditions, not standards, so read the roaster's own description.
Oregon roasters that publish dark roasts
These roasters we list publish dark roasts on their own sites, checked 2026-09-27. A listing does not mean a roaster is part of the club.
- Sleepy Monk in Cannon Beach has the deepest dark menu we found: Rusty Nail and Cannon Beach Brackish Brew as French roasts, Monastery Blend, Oregon Fog, Muddy Waters and Bogmans Brew as dark blends, and dark single origins from Brazil, Peru, Uganda and Guatemala.
- Dapper & Wise in Hillsboro calls Tortoiseshell its top selling dark roast and Bonfire its darkest. Its Stag Espresso Blend is dark too.
- Sisters Coffee roasts Black Butte Gold and a French Roast.
- Nossa Familia in Portland sells Mathilde's French Roast and Teodoro's Italian Roast.
- Portland Coffee Roasters sells an Organic French and an Organic Dark Sumatra.
- Lone Pine in Bend roasts Tin Pan Alley, a dark blend.
- Water Avenue in Portland sells Rogue Valley Dark Roast.
- Noble in Ashland roasts Daydream, a darkly roasted blend.
- Trailhead in Portland roasts Campfire, a dark roast, and a semi-dark Winter Espresso.
Buying a French roast from a roaster in Cannon Beach or Hillsboro keeps the money with a small Oregon business and the people it employs. See why local roasters matter.
Dark roast vs medium roast vs light roast
| Dark | Medium | Light | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surface | Shiny with oil | Dry | Dry |
| Crack | At or past second | Between first and second | Just past first |
| Taste led by | The roast | Roast and origin | The origin |
| Caffeine per scoop | Slightly less | In between | Slightly more |
Compare: medium roast, light roast, espresso roast.
Dark roast in the club
Set the roast level to Dark in the plan builder. You can pair it with a blend, a single origin, espresso or decaf, and a two-bag box can hold a dark bag next to a lighter one from a second roaster. Every bag is 12 oz, whole bean or ground, $16.99, from a different independent Oregon roaster every 2 or 4 weeks. First bag free, you pay $7.99 shipping.
Related terms and sources
Related: second crack, French roast, Italian roast, Vienna roast, medium-dark roast, bitterness.
- Wikipedia: Coffee roasting (second crack, dark roast range, surface oils, loss of origin character, caffeine)
- Oregon roaster dark roasts: each roaster's own pages, read 2026-09-27, as summarized on our roaster profiles.