WHAT GOES INTO A COFFEE BLEND?
What’s in your blends? It’s a question we often get asked. Unlike our single origin coffees that contain just one bean sourced from a single origin, blends combine beans derived from a number of geographic areas. However, it’s a little more complicated than that. I caught up with Peaberrys Founder and Coffee Roaster, Adrian Rigon to find out what the secret to a delicious coffee blend is and today I am sharing it with you!

Why combine different varieties of coffee together to create a coffee blend?

When you blend coffee origins together you can tailor the cup to match your coffee goals, which are usually based on the five main characteristics or variables of coffee - aroma, acidity, body, aftertaste and flavour. Have you ever sipped a Brazilian coffee and wished it had a little more of the robust, rich and chocolatey flavour of the Guatemalan coffee? Blends give you the opportunity to enjoy the best elements of many origins, rather than just one.

How does blending coffee work?

After sourcing a selection of green beans to roast and test, we choose the origins that best meet our coffee goal. Whether that be an intense, rich and full flavoured coffee with a chocolate or fruity flavour like our Black Betty or a heavy and sweet coffee with caramel and malt notes like our Straight Up blend. The origins are selected based on the varieties I mentioned before. Once we’ve chosen the origins, we go through the testing process. We use cupping to determine the ideal percentage of each origin for the perfect harmony in a blend. We want the origins to complement each other and offer a special coffee experience. For example, South America’s two most prevalently used coffees are the Brazil and the Colombian. The Colombian is the heavier of the two, so it needs to be blended correctly so it doesn’t overpower the delicate finesse of the milder Brazilian coffee.

When is coffee blended - before or after roasting?

It can be either, as each method produces vastly different results. Depending on the flavour profile desired and the beans themselves, we will blend the beans before or after they have been roasted.

How many coffee origins go into a blend?

The ideal blend combines two or more varieties of coffee. It’s not uncommon for a commercial coffee blend to contain between three to five origins of coffee. It’s important that the integrity of each blend does not change overtime, particularly with the external influences of the origin’s environment.

How do you preserve the integrity of the blend?

We are constantly testing coffee origins so we can continue to improve our blends when new varietals (origins) become available and to ensure a consistent finish. Blending coffee is a fine art that takes many years of experience to perfect. A talent for choosing coffee origins that complement one another is highly sought after in the industry and a skillset that we are very passionate about at Peaberrys. Ready to try some of our coffee blends freshly roasted in-house? Click here to shop now.

“Blending coffee is a fine art that takes many years of experience to perfect. A talent for choosing coffee origins that complement one another is highly sought after in the industry and a skillset that we are very passionate about at Peaberrys.” – Adrian.

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