Coffee Blending

Why do we need blending coffee? - you will probably ask and will have right in one way or another. Indeed, why blending coffees which single are very good and may get worse from mixing?! This is true relative to Arabica beans which are of a high quality and include a great range of taste, flavor, aroma and body that don’t need any additional elements. With Robusta beans it is totally different – these coffees are highly appreciated for their ability to blend with any other coffee origins adding something new to the coffee base and not overwhelming them. But let’s not run ahead and discuss each step separately.

So let’s begin from the major reasons why coffee is blended:
1. Signature blends – companies specializing both in online and coffee lounge services tend to keep their clients loyalty by offering them something unique and recognizable that is associated only with that specific enterprise. In such a way act such companies as Starbucks or Gloria Jean’s – a coffee drinker knows that the coffee he/she drinks here never loses its quality and tasting notes. This also stimulates customers who decided to find some new place and try something different always return to them.
2. Consistency blends – such coffee blends are made of large quantity of different coffee beans. All those beans are components of a complex flavor and if a bean or a couple of them is missing, no one will notice the difference.
3. Inexpensive blends – Robusta beans mixed with Arabica beans in order to create a good qualitative coffee at a lesser price.
4. Single origin blends - coffee compounded from various beans of one origin. Such kind of blend is prepared from several beans harvested from different territories belonging to one geographical zone. The result of such a mixing is similar flavor and taste characteristics in the coffee drink finish. (Do not mix up with unblended coffees which are also called single origin coffee beans).

These are the main coffee blends that are created for commercial purposes but you can easily blend any coffee at home just as you like. But be careful: you have to decide whether to mix your coffee before or after roasting. The thing is that even the coffee producers themselves don’t agree on this issue. Some of them think that it is better to mix coffee beans first and only then to roast them all together – in order to let all the flavors intermix while the others are totally against this concept. They think that each bean has its level of roast and should be blended only after roasting. However, the majority coffee companies blend beans right before roasting – for comfort purposes.

Again there are no exact answers at the question when to blend – it’s all only after your personal preferences: whether you like your beans to be roasted separately at a different roast levels so that you receive a unique blend with a huge variety of aroma and taste nuances; or you like them be mixed first – so that each coffee bean’s individual flavor and fragrance is melted with another one and only after this mixing procedure the beans are roasted.

So what are the lessons you have learned from the blending procedure?
a. You are now in the know of what kind of blends exist in the barista world and you’re free to experiment with any of them and
b. You may blend any coffee bean you wish and consider appropriate for you. Everything depends on your personal taste and preferences. Remember - your primary goal is not to create a masterpiece but to blend a coffee that is perfect to you.

See also: Brewing Coffee Recipes Cupping Flavored Coffee Gourmet Coffee Grinding Latte Art Roast Process