What Are Espresso Blend Coffee Beans? The Flavor Differences Between Blended and Single-Origin Coffee Beans

Regular customers at FrontStreet Coffee know that FrontStreet Coffee not only offers pour-over coffee but also espresso-based beverages like mocha, cappuccino, and latte. In the process of making espresso and pour-over coffee, coffee enthusiasts have observed that FrontStreet Coffee uses blend coffee beans for espresso, while single-origin beans are used for pour-over. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will explain what espresso blend beans are.

What are Espresso Blend Beans?

Coffee enthusiasts know that single-origin coffee comes from beans of a single producing region, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian Yirgacheffe or FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Mandheling. These are single types of coffee beans, and their brewed flavors showcase the distinctive characteristics of their origin regions. In contrast, FrontStreet Coffee's espresso blends combine single-origin beans from different regions. However, FrontStreet Coffee emphasizes that blending is not done arbitrarily—it requires strict control over blending ratios and flavor harmony to create delicious coffee blends.

For example, blending FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans with FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Mandheling beans presents quite a challenge. These two coffee beans have completely opposite flavor profiles—one offers fresh lemon and citrus notes, while the other has herbal and earthy aromas. If mixed in a 1:1 ratio, it's difficult to imagine what such a taste would be like, but it certainly wouldn't be good. Therefore, coffee blending requires careful consideration and is not done randomly.

Espresso Bean Blending Philosophy

FrontStreet Coffee believes that espresso blending is an art form because coffee blenders must understand the distinct characteristics of coffee from various producing regions to create appealing aromas and make coffee more delicious. This process requires not only extensive coffee experience and inspiration but also precise ratio calculations. Therefore, calling the coffee blending process an art is no exaggeration.

Since blending involves combining two or more types of raw beans, a special case could involve blending the same coffee beans at different roast levels, or even combining new crop with aged coffee or old crop of the same bean. Thus, in blending, the concept of "type" extends beyond the narrow definition of coffee variety to encompass the broader spectrum of coffee flavors. Typically, 2-6 types of coffee beans are used in blending; too many varieties would prevent the expression of coffee's unique characteristics.

Why Blend Coffee?

Coffee enthusiasts might ask FrontStreet Coffee:既然 single-origin coffee already offers excellent flavors, why blend coffee? The origin of coffee blending actually comes from Italy. The espresso coffees commonly found in cafés—whether latte, mocha, or cappuccino—all use blend beans. This is because blended coffee beans can make coffee that lacks richness become more full-bodied. Where there's demand, there's a market. The initial emergence of Italian coffee blending was due to the popularity of rich, bitter-intensive espresso at the time. Single-origin coffees have flavor biases—that is, they have both advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, high-quality single-origin coffee beans are expensive, while blended coffee offers better value—lower prices than single-origin coffee but with unique flavors. Therefore, many Italians at the time chose blended coffee over single-origin, and blended coffee has continued to develop and remain popular.

The primary purpose of FrontStreet Coffee's espresso blending is to maintain stable flavors and balanced mouthfeel. Coffee beans are agricultural products, and their flavors vary each year due to climate and environmental conditions—one year might be sweeter, the next less so. Mixing several types of coffee beans together effectively solves this problem, at least ensuring that the coffee flavor tasted each year remains consistent.

Another point that might puzzle coffee enthusiasts is why single-origin beans cannot be used for espresso. This is because espresso machines have a characteristic of amplifying the most prominent coffee flavors of the beans. For example, the main flavor of FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is citrus and lemon acidity, so an espresso machine would amplify its acidity. The main flavor of FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Mandheling is herbal, earthy, and bitter-leaning, so an espresso machine would amplify its bitterness. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee does not use single-variety beans to make espresso, as the resulting coffee would be very unbalanced and affect the mouthfeel. This is also why espresso must be made with blended coffee beans.

How to Blend Coffee?

Coffee blending is divided into raw blending and roasted blending. Raw blending involves mixing coffee beans before roasting, while roasted blending means roasting first and then mixing. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the advantage of raw blending is the ability to use the same roast degree to stabilize and unify coffee flavors, with one roasting session completing the process. The same roast degree also greatly reduces quality control difficulty and improves efficiency.

However, raw blending has significant limitations. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee generally recommends using beans with similar densities for raw blending; otherwise, the flavors may not match those of their original regions. For example, beans suitable for light roasting should be roasted together with other light-roast beans to achieve doubly good results. Mixing a light-roast bean with a dark-roast bean would be incompatible and lead to poor flavors.

The advantage of roasted blending, according to FrontStreet Coffee, is the ability to roast each bean according to its optimal roast degree, maximizing the characteristics of each bean. However, the disadvantage of roasted blending is greater difficulty in daily quality control and management. Inconsistent roast dates require attention to more aging periods. Imagine using 4-5 types of beans for roasted blending—this product would require attention to 4-5 different roast dates. Therefore, both raw and roasted blending have their pros and cons, but their purpose is the same: to make coffee flavors more delicious.

Of course, there are two ways to blend coffee. One is blending beans from different regions. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's "Sunflower Warm Sun" espresso blend uses FrontStreet Coffee's Honduran Sherry beans mixed with FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry in specific proportions. Why were these two coffee beans chosen for blending? The reason is that African coffee beans have rich fruit acidity but lack body/fullness, with Ethiopian Yirgacheffe being the most representative. Central American coffee beans have rich aromas and sweetness, with FrontStreet Coffee's Honduran Whiskey Barrel Fermented Sherry beans being the most memorable. In this FrontStreet Coffee espresso blend, FrontStreet Coffee's Honduran Sherry provides most of the fermented wine aroma and body, while FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Yirgacheffe Red Cherry beans provide fruity acidity to enhance the complexity of the entire "Sunflower Warm Sun" coffee blend.

Another blending method involves mixing different coffee varieties. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's "Flower Butterfly" is famous for mixing about 70% Geisha variety, and FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rica Mirazu Estate Geisha Blend mixes half Geisha variety with half SL28, ET47, and Maico. However, FrontStreet Coffee believes that calling coffee beans made from mixing different varieties "blends" is mainly to highlight a particular variety, not traditional blending in the true sense. Interestingly, if we consider mixing different varieties of coffee beans as blending, then most of the coffee beans we commonly encounter would also be blends, such as Kenyan coffees which often mix SL28 and SL34.

FrontStreet Coffee's Four Espresso Blend Beans

As mentioned above, FrontStreet Coffee considers espresso blending an art form—it's not something that can be done casually but requires continuous experimentation by coffee blenders to create a cup of delicious coffee. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's roasters have undergone continuous ratio testing to create the four blends currently offered in FrontStreet Coffee's stores: "Sunflower Warm Sun" Blend, Premium Blend, Commercial Blend, and Basic Blend. The differences between these four blends are designed to provide balanced, high-quality flavors at different price points. Below, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce these four coffee blends in detail.

1. FrontStreet Coffee Basic Espresso Blend Beans (1 lb/454g)

Flavor: Soft fruit acidity, caramel sweetness, nutty and dark chocolate flavors, smooth and viscous, but relatively light in taste. Suitable for café and home users who prioritize cost and have general flavor requirements.

Formula: Yunnan : Brazil = 3 : 7

2. FrontStreet Coffee Commercial Espresso Blend Beans (1 lb/454g)

Flavor: Caramel sweetness, nutty and cocoa-like, dark chocolate flavors, balanced sweet and sour, slightly bitter-sweet, persistent aftertaste. Can meet the daily production needs of coffee shops.

Formula: Colombia : Brazil : Robusta = 3 : 6 : 1

3. FrontStreet Coffee Premium Espresso Blend Beans (1 lb/454g)

Flavor: Soft and slightly acidic, refreshing sweetness, nutty aftertaste. Overall feeling is not too stimulating, balanced, with medium crema. Suitable for daily café needs.

Formula: Colombia : Brazil = 3 : 7

4. FrontStreet Coffee Sunflower Warm Sun Espresso Blend Beans (0.5 lb/227g)

Flavor: Obvious fruit acidity, subtle berry aroma, wine notes, rich chocolate flavor, pronounced aftertaste.

Formula: FrontStreet Coffee Honduran Sherry : FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Red Cherry = 6 : 4

This "Sunflower Warm Sun" blend is currently used by FrontStreet Coffee in-store for espresso production. It performs excellently with fermented wine aroma and berry flavors, making it very suitable for espresso, with a rich and unique flavor profile.

The above is FrontStreet Coffee's compilation of relevant content and knowledge about espresso blend beans. We hope this helps coffee enthusiasts who want to understand espresso coffee, so they can better choose espresso beans that suit their taste preferences in the future.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473