Blends in specialty coffee tend to have a bad reputation, although they are staples in every specialty coffee roasters’ lineup. And why is this? Historically, blends were created to cut costs, hide flavors of lower quality coffees, or use up past crops that were left over from the previous season.
There is an art to blends in that they are what truly make a brand unique. Whether a house filter, espresso or seasonal blend, showcase the brand’s approach and philosophy. They can define a part of who a roaster is.
A coffee blend is one that is made up of coffees originating from two or more places. A roaster creates blends to find balance and harmony, while also showcasing the best notes of each coffee within the blend.
Place doesn’t necessarily mean two or more countries. For example, there could be a blend of two different coffees from different regions of Ethiopia; crops from multiple smallholder farms; two different coffees at different altitudes on the same farm.
Whether you're baking cookies, cooking a stir fry, or fixing a cocktail, you are blending flavors and chemical compounds together to create something delicious - the right amount of each ingredient to make a delicious final product. This is the same in a coffee blend - it has to be the right flavor, sweetness, acidity, body and aftertaste.
Most roasters (Urbana included) blend coffee because their customer base desires a specific flavor profile that's repeatable, but most importantly, is available year-round.
The golden rule for coffee blends is that the blend should be as good, if not better, as the coffee if it were isolated. Think of the ingredients needed to bake a cake: flour, butter, oil, sugar. They are fine on their own, but when they are added together in the right amounts, they are much better together.
Each coffee has a unique set of intrinsic values and a roaster only has those flavors to work with. Sometimes a single origin coffee is lacking something. It might be acidity, it might be body, or it might be a flavor imbalance. This is where a roaster makes the decision to blend - even everything out, create balance, while maintaining the integrity of the coffees on hand.
Signature blends, like Urbana’s House Blend and Espresso Blend, are available year round. These blends aren't tied to specific coffees. Rather, they are tied to flavor profile. This allows us to cater to our customers a coffee that will taste the same day in and day out.
Seasonal blends, like our VanLife Blend, are rotating blends based on what's in season right now. These blends change twice a year because they aren't particularly tied to a flavor profile, but rather coffees that are in season that mix together harmoniously.
To start blending, first the big picture of flavor is identified through these four categories:
1. Sweetness
2. Body
3. Acidity
4. Low, mid, and high range notes
Analyzing the sweetness, body and acidity helps identify strengths and weaknesses with the coffee and allows the low, mid, and high range notes to be identified.
Low Range: these notes would be considered a base note. They tend to be chocolatey, nutty, caramel-y, or woody, to name a few. Low range coffees tend to have a fuller, chewy, syrupy body and lower acidity.
Mid Range: These mid range coffees are going to make you salivate. These coffees might have notes of sugars, dried fruit, stone fruit, apple, or pear, to name a few. Mid range coffees tend to have a round, creamy, silky body and crisp, balanced acidity.
High Range: This range of coffees are typically roasted light. These coffees are going to provide bright, vibrant citrus and floral notes. High range coffees tend to have a light, watery, tea-like body and vibrant, tart, and bright acidity.
After it’s identified which coffees provide which characteristics, the decision between which coffees go well together and the ratio of each component in the blend has to be made. Normally, more than three coffees aren’t blended together. Adding less than 10% of any component begs the question: "should that coffee really be there in the first place?"
Our hope is you are pushed to appreciate coffee blends in a new way. Coffee blending is an art and it gives roasters an opportunity to create a completely unique product that shows off their skills.
If you are new to blends, a great place to start is with the VanLife Blend. Boasting notes of grape, plum, and toffee, it’s a crowd favorite that has people coming back time and time again.
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