How to Blend Coffee Beans: Brewing Methods and Pricing Guide

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Tired of Single-Origin Coffee? Create Your Own Blends!

Have you ever thought about using your single-origin coffee beans to create blended coffee beans? You can blend a unique flavor that's exclusively yours! Besides being used in espresso machines, blended coffee beans can also be used with any other brewing equipment!

Principles and Objectives of Coffee Blending

1. Determine the Blending Theme

Decide what kind of flavor you want to create - that is, determine the goal of your blend.

Generally, coffee blending focuses on balancing flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel. From sweet, bitter, or acidic coffees, select your preferred flavors and mix them in certain proportions. Coffee flavor includes the aroma smelled before drinking, the aroma experienced while in the mouth, and the aroma that rises from the throat after drinking. Select your preferred aromas to create a rich mouthfeel while maintaining a unified focus.

2. Understand the Characteristics of Each Coffee

Before blending coffee, you must first be familiar with the characteristics of each single-origin coffee and understand the subtle relationship between roast degree and coffee flavor.

Through blending, you can emphasize the flavor and aroma of coffee and create an "exclusive coffee" that matches your preferences. First, before blending, you need to understand the different flavors of coffee varieties from around the world, as beans have different characteristics based on their origin.

Central and South America offers mild flavors and balanced aromas; Africa presents refreshing qualities with charming floral notes; after understanding the rich body of Asian coffees, you can create excellent blends, or you can select one variety from each continent to mix. Blending 2-3 varieties and giving it a special name makes for a great personal treat or gift.

3. Define the Role of Each Coffee Bean

Since you're using multiple coffee beans for blending, you must clearly define the role of each coffee bean - whether you want it to highlight smooth bitterness, bright acidity, or heavy body.

The Relationship Between Blending and Roasting

Among blending methods, the most representative approaches are "roast first, then blend" and "blend first, then roast." Blending also varies depending on the roasting method of different green beans, each with different advantages and disadvantages. While it's difficult to say which method is better, "roast first, then blend" tends to produce better flavors, while "blend first, then roast" is better for management.

Roast Separately, Then Blend

Roast each variety of green beans separately, then mix them in certain proportions according to the coffee beverage and taste desired. Label each roasted variety and mix them manually in small batches according to fixed proportions; you can also use a blending machine with stirring functions to achieve optimal coffee flavor. The disadvantage is that when roasting separately, strict quality control is needed to maintain flavor consistency.

Blend First, Then Roast

Mix various green bean varieties together, then roast. During roasting, the aromas of different varieties mix together, which reduces individual aromatic characteristics and emphasizes overall aroma. The advantage of roasting green beans all at once is that the process is simple and easy, but the disadvantage is that it cannot preserve the original characteristics of each individual green bean.

Of course, if you've already purchased several roasted beans, this step can be omitted from consideration.

Blending Ratios and Common Recipe References

There are no fixed recipes for blended beans. While you can mix according to personal taste, you must first grasp the flavor characteristics of different bean types to create delicious blends.

Generally, blended beans mainly mix 2-5 varieties, but for beginners, it's easier to succeed by starting with blending 3 or fewer varieties. It's better to increase the proportion of beans (or coffee beans) that emphasize the desired flavor to 30% or more.

The Golden Ratio in Blending - 7:3

This is said to be a secret formula discovered by a certain international large-scale roasting company. When mixing two different coffee beans, the optimal flavor ratio is almost always 7:3 (this doesn't work if the flavors are too different). If using three varieties, try 7:2:1 or 6:2:2.

Several Representative Blending Ratios:

1. Recipe: 30% Guatemala SHB + 30% Mexico AL + 30% Brazil NO.2 + 10% Kilimanjaro AA
Result: Aroma 5, Bitterness 5, Sweetness 5, Acidity 5

2. Recipe: 40% Sumatra Mandheling G1 + 30% Colombia SUP + 20% Brazil NO.19 + 10% Kilimanjaro AA
Result: Aroma 5, Bitterness 10, Sweetness 5, Acidity 3

3. Recipe: 20% Mocha + 20% Hawaii Kona No.1 + 20% Brazil NO.2 + 40% Kilimanjaro AA
Result: Aroma 9, Bitterness 10, Sweetness 7, Acidity 10

4. Recipe: 40% Guatemala SHB + 30% Mocha + 30% Kilimanjaro AA
Result: Aroma 10, Bitterness 5, Sweetness 6, Acidity 7

5. Recipe: 50% Brazil NO.2 + 30% Mexico AL + 20% Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee
Result: Aroma 5, Bitterness 3, Sweetness 5, Acidity 6

6. Recipe: 30% Brazil NO.2 + 50% Colombia SUP + 20% Java Robusta Coffee
Result: Aroma 3, Bitterness 8, Sweetness 8, Acidity 6

Recommended Blended Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee, a coffee roasting brand located at Dongshankou in Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, offers freshly roasted espresso blend coffee beans with excellent guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value for money. Take their commercial recommendation - the commercial blended coffee beans - as an example: one 454-gram (1-pound) package costs only about 60 yuan. Calculating based on 10 grams of coffee powder per espresso shot, one package can make 45 cups of coffee, with each cup costing less than 1.5 yuan. Even when making double espresso shots using 20 grams of powder per cup, the cost of one double espresso doesn't exceed 3 yuan. This is a conscientious recommendation compared to certain well-known brands that sell packages for hundreds of yuan.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online store services at https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473