What Is White Roast Coffee? Discover An Amazing New Roast!

Every few weeks I get asked what is white roast coffee? It seems like it is a trendy new roast that is getting more and more popular.

Rather than drag out the answer, I’ll give it to you straight away. A white roast coffee is a coffee that roasted at a lower temperature and for a shorter time frame than a blonde roast. It is roasted to just before the first crack and is the only coffee roasted to before the first crack.

It’s tasty, nutty and sweet.

Keep reading for the full answer and get a better idea, a full picture of what a white roast coffee is.

What Is White Roast Coffee?

Since I love white roast coffee and frequently drink it I get a few friends asking from time to time what is white roast coffee?

It’s a particular roast of coffee that is the lightest of all light roasts, even lighter than a blonde roast. It’s roasted at a lower temperature and for a shorter period of time. A white roast coffee is roasted to before the first crack and is the only roast that is pulled (stopped) before the first crack.

The result is a bean that has slightly more caffeine than a traditional coffee and considerably more chlorogenic acid, a potent antioxidant that is only found in coffee.

The nutrients are of a better quality and integrity due to the lower temperature. As a result of the very light roasting process, is a coffee that is sweet and nutty. It’s sweet without caramel notes as the sugars have not yet caramelized.

Read: How much caffeine is in white coffee?

What Is White Roast Coffee Made Of?

White coffee is made from only one ingredient, coffee beans. It is roasted to a low temperature, lower than a blonde roast and for a few minutes shorter. The beans are roasted to before the first crack, which results in a very hard coffee beans that need an industrial grinder to grind them. Domestic grinders, even ones made with flat or conical burr grinder.

The roasting process produces a nutty flavor and more of the acidic flavors in the coffee when compared to a dark roast coffee.

In Malaysia their famous white coffee, known as Kopi Putih, is roasted with palm oil margarine and a dash of salt. Uniquely, Malaysian white coffee has the tendency to be made with the Liberica beans that dominate the country’s coffee production. It’s rare coffee bean. Others are made with Arabica or Robusta beans.

What Is White Roast Coffee Good For?

White roast coffee is good from making a great morning espresso or rather a morning ristretto, not for the elevated caffeine levels but for the concentration of antioxidants, the greater concentration of chlorogenic acid and nutrients.

It’s essentially a health shot and a morning wake-up call! It is a great way of enjoying the health benefits of coffee. A Ristretto is more concentrated than an espresso due to the 1:1 coffee to water ratio compared to 1:2 for an espresso.

The health benefits of getting more chlorogenic acid into your diet includes stimulating weight loss, reducing blood pressure, and reducing your risk of diabetes and is very good for your liver health.

Dark roast coffee still has chlorogenic acid, just less of it than other roasts as the roasting process removes it as you go up the roasting scale. The benefit of a white roast is they have more of it, but less than green coffee beans.

Unfortunately you can’t brew with green coffee beans, which are unroasted and produce a very grassy flavor.

Read: White coffee beans

What Is White Roast Coffee Called?

In the English-speaking world, and that includes the Malay Peninsula of Malaysia and Singapore where white coffee is very popular, it is called white coffee in English and Kopi Putih in Malay, it is simply a literal translation.

In Indonesia, a language that is incredibly similar to Malay like Dutch and German and Swedish and Norwegian are very similar the same Kopi Putih is used.

The only difference between the three nation where the coffee dominates is the brands and often the name of the coffee which, in the case of Malaysia is named after the town where it is produced. Ipoh white coffee, a very popular white coffee is from the town of Ipoh, Penang white coffee which is one of my favorites is from Penang state.

It’s not clear if Penang white is from Penang island or the main land, the main island of the island nation. What is clear, GeorgeTown is from Penang island, as it is the Island capital city.

It is not always the case as Old Town White Coffee, which is a very popular coffee from GeorgeTown, Penang, Malaysia. It’s the case that, when the name is taken, it’s taken.

In Indonesia, even though Kopi Putih is commonly used, this refers to the Malaysian style of roasting with palm oil margarine. Biji kopi putih in Indonesia is white coffee beans that have been roasted to white roast without the use of palm oil margarine.

What Is White Roast Coffee Used For?

White roasted coffee is used to brew a whole host of coffee drinks with an espresso being the most popular and common brewing method used and the easiest for getting out and enjoying the sweet nutty flavor and the caffeine content.

The coffee has sweet notes from the natural sugars without the caramelization due to the short roasting times and low roast temperature.

White coffee has to be purchased as preground coffee as it is a very hard to grind and may even break your commercial grinder. You may need to request your roaster to grind to the size that you need for the type of coffee drink that you want to make.

If you are using an espresso machine with too large a grind size, it will pour too quickly. You must use the correct grind size for the brewing method regardless of the roast.

Your white coffee options are not limited by the roast but by the grind size that the roaster sells them at.

Mainly, white coffee is used for making great and enjoyable coffee drinks.

Read: What is white coffee?

White Coffee Vs Black Coffee

The comparison of White Coffee Vs Black Coffee the conversation naturally includes the flavor, caffeine levels, roasting temperature and roasting time.

Both black coffee and white roast coffee start out as green coffee beans which are then roasted to a predetermined temperature and time while under the watchful eye of the master roaster.

White roasted coffee on average has 5.4% more caffeine than blonde roast and other roasted coffee beans and has a very light beige color while a dark roast coffee is a very dark brown and almost black color and a very shiny, oily coating.

The following table shows the different roasting temperatures and time.

The roasts full city, Vienna, French and Italian are all dark roasts. While there is no set specific time in terms of minutes and seconds, a master roaster uses his eyes, smell and years of experience to tell when the beans are ready at the specific roast level.

White coffee has a very light, nutty and sweet flavor and does not have the taste of coffee that you would expect. The color is also lighter, a lot clearer looking than other brews. The coffee beans are not white beans but a very light brown color.

White Coffee Vs Blonde Roast

White coffee is much closer to a blonde roast than it is a dark roast as neither a blonde roast nor a white roast has the traditional coffee flavor that you would expect from a medium roast or dark roasted.

White coffee, although delicious, is missing the floral notes that you get with a little longer roasting that takes them to a blonde roast profile.

The main difference between the two is that white coffee roast has the roasting terminated just before the first crack while a blonde roast is roasted at a slightly higher roasting temperature and is halted just after the first crack.

Both make a great cup of coffee, with a blonde roast producing a light tasting coffee with floral notes and more flavors of the origin. A white roast has sweet nutty flavors and is very enjoyable as it is without the addition of milk.

White Coffee Caffeine

White coffee beans are not actually white beans but are a light brown and beige color. The caffeine content is on average 5.4% more than a blonde roast. I’ve seen claims of it having 50% more caffeine, this is simply wildly inaccurate.

The lighter roast results in only a little more caffeine. Check the table below for the caffeine content of popular coffee beverages made with white coffee.

White Coffee Brands

Any coffee bean can be taken to a white roast. Despite this fact it is a very special roast and is hard to find outside of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore where the roast is very popular.

Unless you live in that part of the world, you are limited to ordering online.

White Tornado by Poverty Bay and Chek Hup are the top two brands that I recommend.

Chek Hup is a Malaysian brand that makes the Ipoh white coffee original, Old Town white coffee, and Super Charcoal roasted white coffee. They also have a Colombian blend.

Derek Marshall

Derek Marshall, a certified barista by the Specialty Coffee Association possesses over two decades of experience in specialty coffee shops. He holds professional certifications for coffee brewing and barista skills. Derek is also an author with authoritative books covering various coffee topics including specialty coffee, sustainability and coffee, coffee brewing, coffee recipes, coffee cocktails and books focusing on Brazilian coffee, Vietnamese coffee, Indonesian coffee and Malaysian coffee. As a barista for over two decades, Derek Marshall has worked in specialty coffee shops across the United Kingdom, Spain, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. His expertise extends to the distinct coffee cultures, specialty beverages, and brewing techniques of each nation. Functioning as a coffee consultant, Derek charges US$50 per hour. To learn more about Derek Marshall and Latte Love Brew, visit his About Me Page. For coffee inquiries, contact him at +34-639-410-375 or Derek@LatteLoveBrew.com, mentioning your name and location