Monthly Archives: April 2025

Have you ever bought coffee beans that gleam as if they’ve been dunked in oil? Those are oily coffee beans, and they can raise quite a few questions. Are they worse in flavour? Can they damage your coffee machine? And how do you actually spot them? Here we take you through the world of oily coffee beans. That way you know exactly what to look out for AND how to keep enjoying delicious coffee without the hassle.

What are oily coffee beans?

Every coffee bean naturally contains oils. During the roasting process, these oils slowly come to the surface of the bean. This happens especially with dark roasted beans: the longer the bean is roasted, the more oils are released and become visible. This gives that characteristic shine you sometimes see on coffee beans.

With a light roast, the oils usually stay neatly locked inside the bean. But with a dark roast — think espresso roasts — the bean’s structure opens up. That’s how the oily layer forms. So it’s perfectly normal and even desirable if you