The Best Medium Roast Coffee By 40 Thieves

By the Specialty Coffee Experts at 40 Thieves Coffee | October 2025

Finding exceptional medium roast coffee shouldn't feel like searching for treasure, but when you discover the right blend, the reward rivals any bounty. After more than a decade of coffee expertise and countless cupping sessions, we've assembled a collection that represents the pinnacle of perfection.

Why Medium Roast Coffee Delivers the Perfect Balance

This roasting level strikes an ideal equilibrium between the bright acidity of light roasts and the bold body of dark roasts. It preserves the bean's origin characteristics while developing rich caramelization that creates complexity in every cup. When you choose this roast level, you experience the coffee's true personality, the terroir, processing method, and varietal characteristics all shine through without being overshadowed by roast flavors.

Our journey to curate the finest collection began with a challenge: how do we select blends that excel across different brewing methods? My co-founder Fabian Gomez and I approached this systematically. While espresso remains our preferred brewing method, we recognized that most coffee enthusiasts brew using drip machines, pour-overs, and French presses. This reality shaped our selection process.

The Cupping Process That Defined Our Medium Roast Lineup

Working alongside our coffee roasting partners in Temecula, California, we evaluated dozens of specialty coffee blends through rigorous cupping protocols. We assessed each sample for balance, clarity, body, and finish. The blends that made it into our final collection weren't just good, they delivered exceptional experiences that translated seamlessly from cupping bowls to your morning brew.

During these sessions, patterns emerged. Certain blends revealed unexpected flavor notes that elevated the drinking experience. Others maintained consistency across multiple brewing temperatures and methods. The five options we ultimately selected represent the absolute best performers from our extensive testing.

Our Years of Cafe Experience Inform Every Selection

Operating coffee shops teaches you what customers actually want versus what they think they want. We've pulled thousands of espresso shots, brewed countless pots of drip coffee, and listened to customer feedback across every demographic. This hands-on expertise allowed us to identify blends that satisfy both coffee novices and seasoned enthusiasts.

We learned that consistency matters more than complexity for most drinkers. A blend that delivers the same excellent experience every morning builds loyalty faster than an unpredictable exotic blend. Our selections reflect this understanding, each offers reliability without sacrificing character.

The 40 Thieves Medium Roast Coffee Collection

How to Choose Your Perfect Medium Roast Coffee

Selecting from our medium roast coffee collection depends on your preferences and brewing habits. Consider these factors:

For versatility and everyday drinking: Our Original blend performs exceptionally across all brewing methods and satisfies the widest range of taste preferences. This serves as your daily driver, reliable, delicious, and endlessly drinkable.

For flavor exploration: Pumpkin Spice and French Vanilla offer distinct experiences while maintaining specialty coffee standards. These options introduce variety into your routine without sacrificing quality.

For evening enjoyment: Decaf Dorado eliminates caffeine anxiety while preserving everything you love about great coffee. Drink it at 9 PM without consequences.

For morning motivation: Rise and Grind combines bright acidity with motivating complexity, the blend that transforms wake-up struggles into look-forward moments.

Brewing Methods That Maximize Medium Roast Coffee

This roasting level adapts to various brewing techniques, but certain methods highlight specific characteristics. Based on our extensive testing and cafe experience, we recommend these approaches:

Drip brewing: Use a 1:16 coffee-to-water ratio (15 grams to 240 grams of water). Water temperature between 195-205°F extracts balanced flavors without bitterness. Our Original and Rise and Grind blends excel in automatic drip makers.

Pour-over: This method showcases clarity and complexity beautifully. Use the same ratio as drip brewing but pour in controlled pulses. French Vanilla and Pumpkin Spice reveal subtle flavor layers through pour-over technique.

French press: Coarser grind and longer extraction (4 minutes) emphasizes body. All our blends perform well, but Decaf Dorado particularly shines with this method's full immersion approach.

Espresso: While less common for home brewing, this roast level creates excellent espresso with proper dialing. Use 18-20 grams for a double shot, target 25-30 second extraction time. Original and Rise and Grind offer the best espresso results from our collection.

Why 40 Thieves Medium Roast Coffee Stands Apart

The specialty coffee market overflows with options, yet most fail to deliver on quality promises. Our collection distinguishes itself through several critical factors:

Rigorous selection process: Every blend in our lineup survived extensive cupping sessions and real-world brewing tests. We rejected dozens of good options to identify the exceptional ones.

Partnership with expert roasters: Our Temecula roasting partners bring decades of experience and maintain quality control standards that ensure consistency batch after batch.

Freshness guarantee: We roast to order, which means your coffee arrives at peak flavor. Pre-ground options use immediately-before-shipping grinding to preserve maximum freshness.

Specialty-grade beans: We source exclusively specialty-grade beans, the top 5% of coffee beans in the world, including for flavored varieties. This commitment costs more but transforms the drinking experience. Every bean meets rigorous quality standards that ensure exceptional cup quality.

Experienced curation: Our decade-plus of coffee expertise and cafe operation experience informs every selection decision. We know what works because we've lived it.

Making Your Medium Roast Coffee Last

Proper storage extends the exceptional quality of your coffee. Follow these guidelines:

Store whole beans or ground coffee in an airtight container away from light, heat, and moisture. Room temperature pantries work perfectly, avoid refrigeration, which introduces moisture and absorbs odors. Use your coffee within two weeks of opening for peak flavor, though properly stored beans remain enjoyable for a month.

Buy quantities that match your consumption rate. Fresh coffee outperforms bulk purchases every time. Our package sizes accommodate different usage patterns without forcing you to compromise on freshness.

The Science Behind Medium Roast Coffee Excellence

Understanding what happens during medium roasting explains why this level produces such appealing results. The roasting process develops between first and second crack, that crucial window where Maillard reactions create hundreds of flavor compounds without carbonizing the beans' cellular structure.

This roast level retains more chlorogenic acids than dark roasts, which contributes to perceived brightness and complexity. Simultaneously, caramelization of sugars provides sweetness and body. This chemical balance creates the versatility that makes this roasting level so popular.

The roast level also affects caffeine content, though less dramatically than most people assume. This roasting level contains slightly more caffeine by volume than dark roasts due to density differences, but the variation remains minimal in practical terms.

Customer Reviews

We're building our review collection as a new brand. All purchases are backed by our 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you're not completely satisfied with your coffee within 14 days, we'll refund your money, no questions asked. We'd love to hear about your experience with our blends.

Start Your Medium Roast Coffee Journey Today

You've read about our process, our experience, and our carefully curated collection. Now comes the rewarding part, experiencing these exceptional blends yourself. Each selection offers something unique, yet all deliver the quality and consistency we'd stake our reputation on.

Your mornings deserve better than acceptable coffee. Your afternoons shouldn't settle for mediocrity. Whether you're replacing a disappointing current blend or exploring this roast level for the first time, our collection provides the upgrade you've been seeking.

Orders ship quickly, arrive fresh, and transform immediately into the best coffee you'll brew this week. Stop wasting mornings thinking about why your coffee doesn't taste right. Choose your perfect blend now and discover what we've known for years, excellence tastes different.

Shop Medium Roast Collection

Frequently Asked Questions About Medium Roast Coffee

What is medium roast coffee?

Medium roast coffee represents beans roasted to an internal temperature between 410-428°F, reaching the end of first crack but before second crack begins. This roasting level produces a brown color, dry surface (no oil), and balanced flavor profile that showcases both origin characteristics and roast development. Medium roast coffee maintains more acidity and original bean flavors compared to dark roasts while developing sweetness and body absent in light roasts. The result delivers versatility across brewing methods and appeals to the widest range of coffee drinkers. Learn more with our blog about Medium Roast Coffee

Is medium roast coffee stronger?

Medium roast coffee contains similar caffeine levels to light or dark roasts when measured by weight, though dark roasts measure slightly higher when measured by volume due to density differences. The perception of "strength" typically refers to flavor intensity rather than caffeine content. Medium roast coffee tastes stronger than light roasts due to increased caramelization and body development, but lighter than dark roasts which develop bitter, roasted flavors. For balanced strength that satisfies most preferences, medium roast coffee provides the ideal middle ground. If you seek maximum caffeine, brewing method and coffee-to-water ratio impact strength far more than roast level.

Which coffee roast is best?

The best coffee roast depends on personal preference and brewing method, but medium roast coffee offers the most versatility and widest appeal. Light roasts preserve maximum origin characteristics and acidity, making them ideal for single-origin appreciation and pour-over brewing. Dark roasts develop bold, roasted flavors that work well for espresso and milk-based drinks. Medium roast coffee balances these extremes, performing excellently across all brewing methods while satisfying both casual drinkers and coffee enthusiasts. For households with varying preferences or those exploring specialty coffee, medium roast coffee provides the best starting point and most reliable satisfaction.

What are the 4 types of coffee roasts?

The four main types of coffee roasts are light, medium, medium-dark, and dark. Light roasts (also called Cinnamon or Light City) roast to first crack, producing light brown beans with high acidity and pronounced origin flavors. Medium roast coffee (including American and City roasts) develops between first and second crack, creating balanced sweetness, moderate body, and versatile flavor. Medium-dark roasts (Full City) begin developing oil on the surface and show decreased acidity with increased body. Dark roasts (French, Italian, or Spanish) reach second crack, producing very dark, oily beans with bold, roasted flavors and minimal origin characteristics. Each roast level serves different purposes, but medium roast coffee delivers the most consistent quality across applications. Learn more with our blog about Medium Roast Coffee

Which coffee roast is the weakest?

Light roast coffee contains the highest caffeine content by weight, making it the strongest in terms of caffeine, but produces the "weakest" or most delicate flavor profile with tea-like body and bright acidity. However, "weak" often describes improperly brewed coffee rather than roast level. Medium roast coffee provides fuller body and more developed flavors than light roasts while maintaining clarity and complexity. Dark roasts deliver the boldest, most intense flavors but slightly lower caffeine due to longer roasting. To avoid weak-tasting coffee regardless of roast level, use proper coffee-to-water ratios (1:16 for most methods), fresh beans, appropriate grind size, and correct water temperature. Quality medium roast coffee brewed correctly never tastes weak, it delivers satisfying strength with balanced complexity.