What Are Coffee Blends_Blending Espresso Coffee Beans Yourself_Where to Find Delicious Coffee Blends

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The diversity of coffee lies in the unique flavors of different origins, but even more possibilities exist in blending. Today, I'll explain the fundamental knowledge of blended coffee beans for everyone.

Reasons and Purposes of Blending

People blend coffees from different origins for several different purposes. The ideal goal is, of course, to create a coffee that tastes better than any of its individual components. However, generally speaking, single-origin Arabica coffee is sufficient to produce quite good-tasting coffee—with delicate aroma, smooth texture, and sweet aftertaste. Therefore, there's no need for "blending" (that is, combining coffees from different origins).

The main commercial purpose of blended coffee is to reduce costs—using mediocre coffees to create a reasonably good-tasting blend to increase sales profits. Another possible purpose is to create a unique flavor profile that becomes distinctive to a particular brand. This way, customers who enjoy this flavor can only purchase from this specific manufacturer and cannot obtain it from other suppliers. Another benefit of this approach is that regardless of how the flavors of coffees from certain origins change across different years, the taste of this particular blend remains consistent.

Here, we won't concern ourselves with other possible commercial purposes, but instead focus on understanding blending aimed at improving coffee flavor quality.

Before blending any coffee, you must first understand the flavor characteristics of various coffees and have a clear idea in mind of the flavor profile you want to create—one that cannot be achieved by any single-origin coffee. If the blended coffee doesn't taste better than one or more of its component coffees, wouldn't that be regrettable? It would be better not to blend at all. If you use high-quality coffees for blending, this is quite likely to be the result.

Although some specific coffee varieties can be consumed directly as single-origin coffee, most coffees have more or fewer flavor deficiencies, such as lacking distinctive flavors, lacking depth, insufficient intensity, or having certain flavors that are too strong. To compensate for these shortcomings, several coffee beans with different characteristics must be blended to create a harmonious and deep flavor. Some people believe that the joy of coffee lies in the two processes of roasting and blending, while drinking coffee is merely enjoying the fruits of their labor. Blending coffee isn't just about randomly mixing coffee beans together.

Sometimes blending two specialty coffees can actually suppress each other's distinctive flavors, so blending isn't simply about combining several specialty coffees together. Blending is like an artist mixing captivating colors on a palette—blenders can also use coffee beans to create alluring flavors. Therefore, it's no exaggeration to say that blending is an art. As artists, blenders need not only experience and inspiration but also scientific calculations. The creation of art isn't accidental but rather the culmination of long-term accumulation. General blended coffee doesn't need to use more than five types of coffee beans. Because if there are too many types of coffee beans, the situation can become very complex. This would likely confuse even very special experts faced with so many different coffee beans.

General Steps and Principles of Blending Coffee Beans

Before blending, we should clarify the following points:

1. The theme of the blend: What kind of flavor do you hope to create? That is, determine the goal of the blend.

2. Understanding the characteristics of each coffee bean: To blend coffee, you must first be thoroughly familiar with the characteristics of each single-origin coffee, understand the subtle relationship between roasting degree and coffee flavor, and all of this can only be achieved through cupping.

3. Determining the role of each coffee bean in the blend.

Since multiple coffee beans are being used together, you must clarify the task of each coffee bean—whether you want it to highlight smooth bitterness, bright acidity, or rich body, etc.

Principles to Follow When Blending

1. The original beans used for blending should be coffee beans with distinct characteristics, avoiding beans with similar flavors. The selection of original beans can be considered from three aspects:

Green bean processing method: Whether the green beans are processed using the washed method or the natural (dry) method, as the processing method has a significant relationship with the flavor of coffee beans.

Green bean origin: Coffee origins are generally divided into three major regions, including Central and South America, which includes about 20 countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, Jamaica, Peru; Southeast Asia, which includes about 10 countries such as India, Indonesia (including islands like Java and Sumatra), Papua New Guinea; and Arab and African regions, which includes about 25 countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Yemen, Uganda.

Flavor of coffee beans: Refers to which flavor among acidity, bitterness, sweetness, and body is more prominent in the coffee bean's flavor profile, or whether it's a neutral bean with balanced characteristics in all aspects.

Currently, the most commonly used original beans are from Brazil, Colombia, and Mocha.

2. The number and proportion of coffee bean varieties participating in the blend.

Since it's blending, it naturally refers to combining two or more types of original beans, but a special case is blending the same coffee beans at different roasting degrees, or even blending new crop with aged coffee or old crop of the same coffee beans. Therefore, the types referred to in blending are no longer narrowly defined as coffee varieties but have extended broadly to coffee flavors. Generally, 2-6 types of coffee beans are used in blending, as too many varieties would make it impossible to express the unique flavors of the coffee. Blended coffee generally doesn't adopt a 1:1 blending ratio, as this might suppress each other's distinctive flavors. Therefore, blending should have a primary and secondary distinction to create a more wonderful taste than single-origin coffee. If you want the blended coffee to have complex and changing flavors, you can reduce the proportion of the main original bean, and vice versa.

3. Blending coffee relies on continuous experimentation, so before blending, you should adopt a mathematical combination approach to draft a blending plan, then determine the best solution through the process of blending and cupping.

Don't think this is a passive, clumsy method. In fact, only through the blender's experience, inspiration, and such tireless experimentation can a good cup of coffee be created.

Recommended Blended Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee, a coffee roasting brand located at Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, offers freshly roasted Italian blend coffee beans with full guarantees in both brand and quality. What's more important is the extremely high cost-performance ratio. Taking the commercially recommended style—commercial blend coffee beans—as an example, one pack is one pound (454 grams) with a price of only about 60 yuan. Calculating based on 10 grams of powder per single espresso shot, one pack can make 45 cups of coffee, with each cup costing less than 1.5 yuan. Even if using double shots for each espresso with 20 grams of powder per serving, the price of one double espresso doesn't exceed 3 yuan. Compared to certain well-known brands that sell packs for over a hundred yuan, this can be described as a conscientious recommendation.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roasting shop in Guangzhou with a small storefront but diverse types of beans, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online store services. 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