What Are the Five Core Steps of Espresso Blend Formulation?

Espresso blend formulation follows five core steps that take a roaster from choosing components to dialing in the shot at home. The aim is a blend that stays stable through the year, creates flavors a single origin cannot reach, and keeps a long sales cycle. Blending is a craft, not a way to hide cheap beans.

Coffee is an agricultural product, so each season's harvest shifts, and adjusting the types and proportions of blended coffee beans keeps the cup steady. When different characteristics meet, the result is not simple addition: some blends still show each bean's identity, while in others one component dominates and mutes the rest.

In the specialty coffee wave, single-origin beans are certainly highly sought after, but the value of blend beans should not be underestimated either. From a roaster's perspective, this article systematically outlines the five core steps of espresso blending, analyzes the unique advantages of blend beans in stability, flavor creation, and sales cycle, and points out that blending is by no means synonymous with passing off inferior goods as superior. Front Street Coffee, drawing on its own practice, shares several delicious blend recipes, and also explains in detail the extraction parameters and operating process of espresso, helping coffee lovers recreate a cup of full-flavored Espresso at home.

In today's specialty coffee circles, more and more people are fond of single-origin coffee, which is completely understandable. Roasters can tailor the most suitable roasting curve to the characteristics of a certain bean, thereby pushing its flavor to its peak. Moreover, when selling single-origin coffee, they can also tell customers about the bean's origin, terroir, and story.

However, the status of blend beans still cannot be underestimated. Roasters can customize exclusive recipes according to customer needs, which itself is a test of their skill level.

Why make blend beans? Front Street Coffee's view is that keeping the taste of coffee beans stable throughout the year is the goal pursued by roasters. After all, some customers want to drink the taste they like all year round. But coffee is ultimately an agricultural product, and each season's harvest varies. Therefore, how to adjust the types and proportions of beans in the blend becomes a path to making fresh and stable coffee.

There is another more crucial reason for making blend beans—it can create flavors that a single coffee bean simply cannot achieve. So blending is more like an art, not just a tool. Interestingly, you will see that when coffees with different characteristics collide, a completely new taste is born, definitely not a simple 1+1=2.

When different coffees are combined, in some blends the individuality of each bean can still be recognized, and cuppers can even determine which beans are included; but in some combinations, one side may be too dominant, suppressing the characteristics of the other beans.

Another advantage of blend beans is that an excellent blend has a very long sales life cycle, meaning it can cater to most people's tastes, and even after ten years, the blend can still be popular. In addition, a good blend bean should perform excellently whether used for espresso or brewed by filter method.

Are blend beans made from inferior coffee beans? Of course not!

Five steps to blend a delicious espresso coffee bean!

First, plan the process of making the blend in advance. At this point, you need to think about several basic questions, such as: Who is your blend aimed at? Is it for home consumers, cafes, or a multi-purpose blend? These questions will determine what flavor the blend needs to present and how deep it should be roasted. Roasters must be clear about what taste they want to roast, and all of this must be determined in advance.

Second, every coffee bean used in the blend must have its own characteristics, and when made into a single-origin coffee on its own, it should also perform well. Some roasters mix lower-quality beans into their blends, attempting to use roasting to cover up bad flavors. Personally, I think this approach gets twice the result with half the effort, and customers will not be satisfied either.

Third, determine the roasting degree of each bean so that they each show their characteristics, and then use these different characteristics to combine into your blend. It is recommended to roast separately first and then mix. You must try each coffee's performance at different roasting degrees; this process is extremely critical, so be sure to test repeatedly! It is often seen that many roasters skip this step and finalize each coffee's roasting degree too early. Please remember that each coffee bean's optimal roasting degree is different, and each coffee often has more than one optimal roasting degree. In this way, countless coffee combinations multiplied by so many roasting degrees will turn the work of blending into an endless nightmare.

Many roasters copy certain well-known recipes, but in pursuit of so-called complete caramelization, they spare no effort in roasting dark until the original flavor is lost. What is ultimately presented is a pile of black and burnt products. Through lighter roasting, you can preserve the coffee's original taste, complexity, refreshing quality, and its own sweetness. Everyone is encouraged to try using a lighter roast to present your blend. It should be noted here that if a lighter roast is adopted, the roaster's technical foundation must be taken seriously; fully automatic roasters cannot roast medium-light roasted coffee well!

Fourth, you must personally select the types of green coffee beans needed and their respective roasting degrees. Please remember to keep detailed records of the green beans used, the roasting methods, and the blend proportions. If you create a good blend, you can refer to the data in the records to continue optimizing it.

Coffee beans from each season's harvest will differ, so it is recommended that you re-evaluate your blend every season. The craft of blending lies at its core in ensuring that every bean in the blend has been roasted to perfection. To create a perfect blend, you also need to rely on your tasting ability. Even if you think you have already made the best blend, the final judgment still rests in the hands of customers.

The following are some common espresso coffee bean blend recipes:

Whether blended or single-origin, as long as it can express coffee that is recognized by people, it is a good coffee bean. But this also gives rise to a question: Front Street is not boasting that blending is great; if you blend for the sake of blending, then it becomes meaningless. Therefore, from the perspective of a blender, the blended coffee beans must make up for the shortcomings of single-origin coffee beans. In this regard, Front Street shares several delicious blended coffee bean recipes.

Steps for making espresso

The coffee machine used by Front Street has a double shot basket capacity, requiring 20 grams of coffee powder each time, and the extracted powder-to-liquid ratio is 1:2, that is, 40 grams of coffee liquid is produced within a reasonable time. The extraction time is related to the flow rate of the coffee powder. Generally, a single extraction time is controlled between 20 and 35 seconds. If it is less than 20 seconds, the coffee taste is likely to be thin and bland, while if it exceeds 35 seconds, over-extraction is likely to cause a burnt and bitter taste in the coffee. Therefore, when Front Street produces it, the espresso time is controlled within the range of 26 to 32 seconds.

Coffee beans: Front Street Sunflower · Warm Sun Espresso Blend

Coffee powder amount: 20g

Coffee liquid amount: 40g

Powder-to-liquid ratio: 1:2

Extraction time: 26～32 seconds

Grind setting: Galileo 2.0

Before extraction, we need to first wipe the portafilter basket dry, turn on the grinder, grind a double dose of coffee powder, place it on an electronic scale to measure and adjust until it reaches 20 grams. Then use a distribution tool to level the coffee powder, and use a tamper to press vertically downward with force, tamping the coffee puck firmly to ensure more stable coffee extraction.

Then turn on the extraction switch and let water run for 1 to 2 seconds to moisten the group head, while also carrying away the coffee grounds stuck on it. Place an electronic scale under the cup that will receive the Espresso, and reset the weight to 0, placing it together under the group head during extraction.

Gently lock the portafilter onto the group head, and begin to toggle down the extraction switch. Observe the changes in the extracted liquid. When the electronic scale shows that 40 grams of coffee liquid has been extracted, at about 30 seconds, toggle down the extraction switch. The brewing parameters will produce subtle changes according to daily air humidity and the condition of the coffee beans, so it is necessary to adjust the amount of coffee powder, the grind setting, and the extraction amount of coffee liquid up or down.

The extracted espresso can be drunk directly. Paired with a glass of ice water for rinsing the mouth, you can taste the dense crema and the mellow texture of the coffee liquid underneath, while the espresso extracted using Warm Sun has rich aromas of vanilla, cream, cookies, and whiskey, and after swallowing, a toffee-like aroma remains in the mouth.

If you cannot accept the strong bitterness, you can also add water according to your preference to make a refreshing Americano, or add a certain proportion of milk to soften the taste, making it a delicious latte.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.