Blending coffee bean varieties is one of the most fun and challenging elements of coffee roasting. This is where we, as coffee roasters, get to put our palettes to use and taste all of the amazing combinations of beans from around the globe. As the world of coffee has become more focused on single origin Arabica coffees, blends have become less part of the overall conversation in the gourmet coffee world. This said we thought it would be good to put a little focus back on what we feel is one of the most interesting parts of our business.
Here's a little history on blending...
Previous to the growth of the independent coffee roasting market globally in the 1980's and 90's, the average consumer of coffee was not getting the highest quality of beans in their cup. In the early 20th century, consumers were most likely getting a blend of higher and lower quality levels of Robusta beans. Robusta beans are known as the lower quality coffee in the commercial coffee world. Mainly grown in Asia and African, the robusta plant is much heartier than the more fragile Arabica plant. This attribute makes robusta much easier to cultivate and therefore a cheaper option for roasters. Even with the demand for Arabica growing each year to this day Robusta is used more than Arabica globally. The flavor of Robusta is what most of us over the age of 40 remember as the way our parent's coffee tasted, acidic and without body and in need of cream and sugar. To be fair, all Robusta is not innately bad. The flavor issues arise in the harvesting process: simply said, you get Un ripened cherries along with the fully ripened cherries. This can create an uneven roast and unwanted acidity and the unpleasant flavor we mentioned earlier. To combat this effect, better quality Arabica beans were added to create a more palatable flavor in the final cup.
As micro roasters started popping up all across the land, the interest in Arabica beans followed and roasters began to feature 100% single origin Arabica coffees. This in turn showed the coffee drinking world the higher level of quality and wider flavor range (due to origin) in Arabica beans, hence leading to increased interest in single origin Arabica coffees. As interests in Arabica coffees rose, a wider knowledge of coffee attributes at the consumer level also came to pass. Now, single origin beans are more commonly purchased by those in-the-know, rather than blends. However, blending is still a major part of what is widely produced for public consumption and is a great way to expand on the flavors of the coffees you drink.
We invite you to enjoy endless possibilities of coffee blends and let you in on the fun with our new "Blenders Kit".
Comes with 4 half pound bags (2lb. total) of different blendable coffee beans for you to create your own palette of flavors.
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