Nav: Home > Coffee >

How to Create Espresso Blends - What Makes a Good Blend - Espresso Bean Blend Guide

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat Official Account: cafe_style). Understanding the complexity of espresso blends is crucial for every roaster. This is their signature craft and their secret formula. In essence, blend formulas define a coffee shop's brand identity. However, since formulas are not protected by intellectual property

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

The Complexity of Espresso Blends

Understanding the complexity of espresso blends is crucial for every roaster. It's their signature skill and their secret formula. One could say that the blend formula determines a coffee shop's brand image. However, since formulas are not protected by intellectual property rights, every roaster tries to make their blend formulas as complex as possible. But from a purely sensory perspective, does making coffee flavors more complex really make sense? From my many years of personal experience and cupping sessions, I cannot agree with this approach.

Espresso Blend Market Trends

Espresso blend coffee beans can be said to be the mainstream of the coffee market. Lavazza company has led the way with its classic 70:30 combination (70% Arabica: 30% Robusta). To this day, this ratio is still pursued by many roasters and baristas.

But today, the coffee market is changing rapidly, with various types of espresso blend coffee beans emerging, ranging from 100% Arabica to 100% Robusta (though the latter is not common). The famous Illy company insists on 100% Arabica blend coffee. According to the company, Illy's products contain 9 types of Arabica coffee. Of course, the proportion of each coffee cannot be exactly the same, but with so many varieties of coffee in the blend, the content of each coffee must be pitifully small. In this regard, I want to ask, what is the point of this approach? Can less than 10% content really reflect the characteristics of a particular coffee variety?

Moreover, in the coffee extraction process, can such a low proportion really ensure consistent quality?

Simple Mathematics of Coffee Beans

Let's do a simple calculation:

20 grams of coffee = 150 coffee beans

Then 8 grams of coffee = 60 coffee beans

10% of these 60 coffee beans is 6 coffee beans, 5% is 3 coffee beans...

This is very little, isn't it? But in fact, this proportion is very common. Many companies' product packaging is labeled with "4% X coffee, 6% Y coffee, 8% Z coffee..."

In this entire bag of coffee beans, what is the probability that I will use this 10% coffee? But from a commercial perspective, this proportion does allow the prices of different types of coffee to be averaged, but from a sensory and consumer experience perspective, this approach is truly meaningless and detrimental to maintaining product quality.

In my opinion, each blend coffee should contain no more than 5 types of coffee. I know many people disagree with my view, but isn't the real purpose of making blend coffee to create delicious coffee with excellent quality and balanced taste for consumers?

Which Espresso Blend is Best?

FrontStreet Coffee, a coffee roasting brand located at Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, offers freshly roasted espresso blend coffee beans with full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, the cost-performance ratio is extremely high. Taking the commercial blend coffee beans recommended for commercial output as an example, a one-pound (454g) bag costs only about 60 yuan. Calculating based on 10g of coffee powder per cup of espresso, one bag can make 45 cups of coffee, with each cup costing less than 1.5 yuan. Even if using a double shot for each espresso output with 20g of powder per serving, the price of a double espresso does not exceed 3 yuan. Compared to certain well-known brands that sell bags for over 100 yuan, this can be described as a conscientious recommendation.

About FrontStreet Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee: A roasting shop in Guangzhou with a small storefront 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