Blonde roast is just what it sounds like – a pale, light roasted coffee. Continuing the hair terminology, medium and medium-dark roasts are sometimes referred to as “brunette roasts”. Although this is pretty weird and not really helpful as it lumps too many coffee bean roasts into 1 category. No doubt some clever marketing types have decided that “Blonde roast” works better than any of the alternatives in terms of selling coffee. So that’s why we find it at Starbucks.