What's the Difference Between Blend Coffee and Single Origin Coffee? Is Blend Coffee Inferior to Single Origin?

Understanding Blended Coffee vs. Single Origin Coffee

Many beginners in the coffee world have heard of blended coffee and single origin coffee, but few truly understand what blended coffee means. Why would the antonym of blended coffee be single origin coffee? Coffee shops frequently use blended coffee more often, so why do some people think blended coffee is inferior to single origin coffee? Today, FrontStreet Coffee will explain the fascinating story behind blended coffee and single origin coffee.

Blended Coffee

Blended coffee refers to coffee beans made by combining several single origin coffees according to their respective characteristics and flavor profiles to create a relatively balanced blend, which can be compared to a coffee concerto. For example, brands like cafetown offer: Mancha blend, Blue Mountain blend, Diamond blend, and others. You might have seen in some coffee shops a floor-to-ceiling glass window with writing: "This shop uses XX brand coffee beans," along with branded light boxes. These brands primarily demonstrate their value through classic blending formulas and roasting techniques. Blended coffee is essential because all specialty coffee drinks are made with blended coffee beans, and European coffee brands with hundreds of years of history are essentially selling their blending formulas.

Blended coffee is created by roasters or baristas who mix coffee beans from different origins to achieve a more balanced flavor. For example, if one coffee bean is smooth but lacks aroma, another bean rich in aroma can be added to combine the advantages of individual coffee beans. Sometimes the beans are mixed first and then roasted, while other times they are roasted separately and then blended.

Blending is both a technique and an art, reflecting the style of the roaster or barista. Blended coffee is commonly used for espresso-based drinks such as Espresso, Americano, Latte, or Cappuccino. Through blending, the coffee flavor becomes more balanced, smoother, and more consistent, making it more appealing to the general public.

Single Origin Coffee

Single origin coffee generally refers to coffee beans from a single country or producing region, which can be compared to a coffee solo. For example, cafetown's estate series includes: Colombia, Medellin, Ethiopia, Yirgacheffe, Costa Rica, Finca, etc., representing pure coffee made from single origin beans. Because each country or different region has its own climate, soil, and natural environment, the cultivated coffee thus has distinct characteristics.

Tasting "single origin coffee" allows you to understand the unique characteristics and flavors of coffee from a specific country or region. Generally, single origin coffee servings are between 120ml-250ml, and when served, they come with a packet of sugar and a creamer or a small cup of whole milk.

It's important to note that if you see a European country name on a coffee menu, such as: Italy, Vienna, Ireland, etc., it is not single origin coffee. Because the European continent does not produce coffee. These belong to the category of specialty coffee drinks.

When drinking single origin coffee, the purpose is to experience the true flavor of the coffee, so sugar or milk is not added. Some roasters point out that if you use an espresso machine to brew single origin coffee beans into single origin espresso, under high pressure, the various characteristics of the coffee, such as acidity, sweetness, and bitterness, will be amplified, which not everyone can accept. Therefore, single origin coffee is not necessarily better tasting. If brewed using pour-over, AeroPress, or other methods, the sharpness is much lower than single origin espresso, making it more acceptable. Additionally, with light or medium roast, coffee flavors are more approachable. Of course, you can also try diluting high-concentration single origin coffee with water.

Is Blended Coffee Inferior to Single Origin Coffee?

Is blended coffee inferior to single origin coffee? Not necessarily. Although the definition of single origin coffee is somewhat vague, its relative term is blended coffee—a mixture of coffee beans from various producing regions—which itself has no limitations or definitions regarding quality level. The relative term for specialty coffee is commercial coffee, which is a quality assessment division that emphasizes the entire industry chain from seed to cup, not limited to the origin of green beans. Although the concept of specialty coffee includes a demand for "traceability," with the development of specialty coffee culture, specialty coffee beans are not necessarily required to be single origin beans; they could also be blended beans. Through "formula beans" composed of various high-quality coffee beans, diverse flavors can be presented like magic, allowing each coffee shop/barista to showcase their unique characteristics. Therefore, if you blend specialty coffee beans together, they remain specialty coffee beans, while brewing coffee with low-quality single origin beans still results in low-quality coffee. Don't let the concept of blending vs. single origin confuse your palate—single origin doesn't represent high quality, and blending doesn't represent low quality. Everything ultimately comes down to taste.

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