The Art of Blending – The Secret to a Good Blend

THE SECRET TO A GOOD BLEND

This first step in creating a good blend, without a doubt is the quality of raw green beans.

The second, rarer ingredient needed is the knowledge for blending and balancing of aromas of the coffees in the blend.

This complex art of blending, where determination of cup quality and defects is of utmost importance, the greatest sensory instrument currently available is the human being.

To create a high-profile blend, here are some key insights:

The Process of Blending

  • The search for quality must be kept high even during the important blending phase. Depending on what is to go into the blend, specific steps must be taken such as blending raw before roasting or separate roasting, where the individual varieties are roasted separately.
  • This production process allows the organoleptic properties of the individual blend to develop perfectly. 
  • Green coffee is blended before roasting and not after roasting so as to assure each bean’s distinct characteristics develop at the same rate under the roaster’s heat.
  • Custom roasting is absolutely essential
  • It is critical to have the experience and skills required to manage the process, timing, and temperatures for each batch when custom roasting. A specific type of coffee can prove to be perfect for a blend at a given degree of roasting, or it can ruin the blend entirely if roasted too quickly or for too long.

Creating that Secret recipe

Coffee blends are the coffee roasters’ secret recipes that are created by combining different types of coffee in order to create a distinct and unmistakable aromatic profile. A successful blend is a coffee roaster's true heritage that unmistakably identifies it, represents it, makes it known to its customers and retains their loyalty.

  • When making their own blend, the coffee roaster doesn’t just choose the variety, but also keeps in mind the beans’ origin and the type of processing undergone by them (natural or washed coffees).
  • The roaster must evaluate the number of varieties that will compose the blend and their percentage, as well as green coffee quality level. 
  • To satisfy consumers’ different tastes, the roaster must be able to modify the blends, also by changing the roasting degree.
  • The recipes and “secrets” of the coffee roaster often handed down from one generation to generation allow them to keep always the same taste and aroma of the blend and emphasize differentiation between various producers.

The blends prepared by our team at HumbleBean is a result of steadfast quality, passion, tradition, research, responsibility and innovation.

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Author - Gaurav

Is the Lead for Coffee Academy & Flavour Science at Humblebean

He was the Quality assistant manager at Tata Coffee, and Lead production-in-charge for Roast & Ground and Starbucks operations. He holds a Masters in Coffee Economics and Science (University of Trieste, Italy) Scholarship from Ernesto Illy Foundation. Gaurav will help set up Humblebean’s Coffee lab & academy, and expand our blend development initiatives.