Introduction to the Five Steps of Espresso Coffee Blending: Espresso Bean Blend Ratios and Brewing Methods

In the world of specialty coffee, more and more people prefer drinking single-origin beans, which is understandable. Coffee roasters can use the most suitable roasting method for each bean to bring out its optimal flavor. Additionally, when selling single-origin coffee, they can introduce customers to the growing environment of this coffee and related stories.

However, the importance of blend beans cannot be ignored. Coffee roasters can customize blends for customers, which serves as a test of a roaster's skill.

The Purpose of Creating Coffee Blends

Regarding the reasons for creating blend beans, FrontStreet Coffee believes that selling coffee beans with consistent flavor year-round is a roaster's goal. After all, some customers want to enjoy their favorite taste throughout the year. Unfortunately, coffee is an agricultural product, and each season's harvest varies. Therefore, adjusting the types and proportions in the blend becomes a method for producing fresh and stable coffee.

Another more important reason for creating blend beans is the ability to create a flavor that cannot be achieved by a single coffee bean. Therefore, creating blends is like an art form, not just a tool. Interestingly, you can discover that the interaction of different coffee characteristics forms a completely new flavor, not just 1+1=2.

When different coffees are combined, in some blends, you can still discover the characteristics of each coffee. Even cuppers can distinguish which types of beans are included. However, some combinations may have one dominant characteristic that suppresses the features of other beans.

Another advantage of creating blend beans is that a good blend can have a long sales cycle, meaning it can satisfy most people's tastes. Even after ten years, this blend can still be popular. Additionally, good blend beans should taste great whether used for espresso or filter brewing.

Quality of Blend Coffee Beans

Do blend coffee beans use poor quality coffee beans? Of course not!

Blended coffee beans are not synonymous with low quality and cheap prices. In the past, the purpose of blending often focused on creating price advantages to capture the mass market. Over time, this created the misconception that blended coffee is inferior while single-origin coffee is exceptional. However, this is gradually changing. Since the second half of 2019, FrontStreet Coffee's Sunflower Warm Sun Blend, made from FrontStreet Coffee's Honduras Sherry and FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Natural Red Cherry (Yirgacheffe), has been consistently used and widely praised by customers! This undoubtedly helps restore the reputation of blended coffee. Blended coffee itself is neither good nor bad; the key lies in the blender's purpose.

Five Steps to Create a Delicious Espresso Blend

First: Plan a blend creation process. At this stage, you need to consider some basic questions. For example: Who is your blend designed for? Home consumers, cafes, or is it a multi-purpose blend? These questions determine what kind of flavor the blend should have and how dark it should be roasted. The roaster must know what kind of flavor they want to achieve. All of this must be decided in advance.

Second: Each coffee bean used in the blend must have its own characteristics and perform well when made as single-origin coffee. Some coffee roasters use inferior beans in their blends and try to mask their poor flavors through roasting. Personally, I believe this is counterproductive, and customers won't be satisfied.

Third: Determine the roast level of each bean to allow the coffee beans to express their respective characteristics, using their different features to compose your blend. It's recommended to roast first and then blend. You must try various roast levels for each coffee. This process is extremely critical, so be sure to experiment extensively! Often, many roasters overlook this step and decide on the roast level for each coffee too early. Remember, the optimal roast level for each coffee bean is different, and each coffee often has more than one optimal roast level. Consequently, countless coffee varieties combined with so many roast levels can make the task of creating blends an endless nightmare.

Many coffee roasters imitate well-known blends but, in pursuit of so-called complete caramelization,不惜深烘到丧失它原有的风味. The result is a pile of dark, burnt products. Through lighter roasting, you can obtain the original flavor, complexity, refreshing characteristics, and inherent sweetness of coffee. I encourage trying to express your blend with lighter roasting. Here, if you adopt lighter roasting, you must focus on the roaster's skills. Fully automatic roasters cannot produce good medium-light roast coffee!

Fourth: You must personally select the types of green coffee beans you want and their respective roast levels. Remember, you must keep detailed records of the green beans you use, roasting methods, and blend proportions. If you create a good blend, you can refer to these records to continue improving it.

Each season's coffee harvest will have some variations, so I recommend re-evaluating your blend every season. The key to the art of creating blends is ensuring that each bean in the blend is roasted to perfection. Creating the perfect blend also requires you to exercise your tasting ability. Even if you think you've created the best blend, the final judgment lies with the customers.

Common Espresso Bean Blend Formulas

Whether blended or single-origin, as long as it expresses coffee that is recognized by others, it's good coffee. But this raises a question: FrontStreet Coffee is not boasting that blending is superior. If you blend just for the sake of blending, it becomes meaningless. Therefore, from a blender's perspective, blended coffee beans must compensate for the shortcomings of single-origin beans. In this regard, FrontStreet Coffee will share several delicious blended coffee bean formulas.

① Mandheling Blend Formula = 40% Indonesia Mandheling + 60% Brazil Red Bourbon
The Mandheling blend formula is not original to FrontStreet Coffee but originated from Japan. Indonesia Mandheling coffee has a deep flavor with rich nutty and chocolate notes, along with some controversial herbal notes. In comparison, Brazil Red Bourbon appears thin and tasteless, with strong peanut and nutty notes. When these two are combined in a 4:6 ratio, they can effectively neutralize the herbal and peanut flavors, creating a clean, mellow sensation reminiscent of Blue Mountain coffee.

② Passionate Sweetness Formula = 70% FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Red Cherry + 30% FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Tarrazu
FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Red Cherry exhibits very sweet berry flavors, with 30% FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rica Tarrazu added to enhance mouthfeel and honey sweetness. When this blend, with FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe as the base, is pour-over brewed, it presents a mellow mouthfeel with extra sweetness.

③ Flower and Fruit Harmony Formula = 60% FrontStreet Coffee Guatemala Flor + 30% FrontStreet Coffee Washed Yirgacheffe + 10% FrontStreet Coffee Kenya AA
The common characteristic of these three coffee beans is lightness with citrus and lemon notes. The dominant FrontStreet Coffee's Guatemala Flor adds jasmine floral notes to this blend, while FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Yirgacheffe with its green tea aftertaste and FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya AA with its small tomato notes effectively compensate for the insufficient aftertaste of FrontStreet Coffee's Guatemala Flor. When used for pour-over brewing, it expresses both floral and fruit notes with a light mouthfeel.

Steps to Make Espresso

FrontStreet Coffee uses a double basket capacity, requiring 20 grams of coffee powder each time, with a coffee liquid extraction ratio of 1:2, meaning 40 grams of coffee liquid is extracted within a reasonable time. Extraction time is related to the flow rate of the coffee powder. Generally, a single extraction duration is controlled between 20-35 seconds. If it's less than 20 seconds, the coffee flavor tends to be thin and bland, while exceeding 35 seconds can lead to over-extraction, causing the coffee to develop burnt bitterness. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee controls the espresso time between 26-32 seconds.

Coffee Beans: FrontStreet Coffee Sunflower · Warm Sun Espresso Blend
Coffee Powder Amount: 20g
Coffee Liquid Amount: 40g
Powder-to-Liquid Ratio: 1:2
Extraction Time: 26-32 seconds
Grinding Setting: Galileo 2.0

Before extraction, we need to dry the portafilter, turn on the grinder, grind double shots of coffee powder, and place them on an electronic scale to add or subtract until reaching 20 grams. Then use a distribution tool to level the coffee powder, and press firmly downward vertically with a tamper to compact the coffee puck, ensuring more stable coffee extraction.

Then turn on the extraction switch and let water flow for 1-2 seconds to moisten the brew head while also washing away any stuck coffee grounds. Place an electronic scale under the cup to catch the espresso and zero the weight. During extraction, place it together under the brew head.

Gently lock the portafilter onto the brew head and start the extraction switch. Observe the changes in the extraction liquid. When the electronic scale shows 40 grams of coffee liquid extracted in about 30 seconds, pull down the extraction switch. Brewing parameters will vary subtly based on daily air humidity and coffee bean conditions, so adjustments to coffee powder amount, grind setting, and coffee liquid extraction volume may be necessary.

The extracted espresso can be consumed directly. Pairing it with a glass of ice water for palate cleansing allows you to taste the dense crema foam and the mellow texture of the underlying coffee liquid. The espresso extracted using the Warm Sun blend carries rich vanilla, cream, cookie, and whiskey aromas, with toffee-like notes remaining in the mouth after swallowing.

If you cannot accept the intense bitterness, you can add water according to your preference to create a refreshing Americano, or add a certain proportion of milk to soften the texture, creating a delicious latte.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473