Understanding Coffee Blends: A Fresh Perspective

In this early morning episode, I dive deep into the fascinating world of coffee blends, sharing my personal experience with an accidental discovery that turned into a delightful surprise. I discuss how I combined my Honduras and Peruvian coffees in a 50-50 split, creating a harmonious blend that exceeded my expectations. Through this exploration, I shed light on the reality that most coffees we drink are already blended to some degree, even when labeled as single origin.

I share insights about how coffee, much like wine, is influenced by specific regional conditions, weather patterns, and growing practices. Throughout the episode, I encourage listeners to experiment with their own coffee blending adventures and provide practical tips for trying this at home. Listeners will learn about the nuances of coffee blending, gain a deeper understanding of coffee origins, and discover how to approach coffee tasting with a more experimental mindset.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Morning Coffee Ritual
• 1:15 Introducing Today's Topic: Coffee Blends
• 2:30 Current Coffee Blend Experience
• 3:45 Understanding Single Origin vs Natural Blends
• 5:20 The Accidental Honduras-Peru Blend
• 7:10 Coffee Roasting and Blending Process
• 8:45 Temperature and Brewing Experiments
• 10:15 Tasting Notes and Flavor Evolution
• 11:30 DIY Coffee Blending Tips
• 13:00 The Reality of Blended Products
• 14:15 Closing Thoughts and Encouragement

Transcript

[0:00] You cannot beat that sound - first cup of coffee, any cup of coffee. When you hear that sound, it's amazing. Today is Wednesday before 6 a.m., December 4th, 2024.

[1:15] Today we're talking about coffee blends. Do you like coffee blends? Do you notice that your coffee is blended already? Let's talk about it.

[2:30] This coffee is about three weeks old, but it's still vibrant. I brewed this at 200 degrees Fahrenheit (92-93 degrees Celsius). This is actually a blend - my Honduras coffee and my Peruvian coffee.

[3:45] This was an accidental treasure. The Honduras is really off season - it's been about two years. This coffee has a very orangey type of taste. It excelled well as a medium to dark roast, but now as it has aged, it presents better as a lighter roast.

[5:20] The Peruvian coffee smells very perfumey. It's lively but kind of weird, where I've noticed people don't order it as much compared to my Brazilian and Mexican coffees. I was bored one day roasting coffee for a client and decided to try a 50-50 split of the Honduras and Peruvian coffee.

[7:10] When it comes to making coffee or creating or crafting, I think it's more of a hit or miss type of art. Sometimes the coffees just gel right together. I usually roast the coffees together - I don't do it separately. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

[8:45] When it works, it works. I've tried it many different ways. It didn't really work in an AeroPress because this is more of a medium roast type of blend. Even as an espresso, it works out really well, which surprised me.

[10:15] When you're tasting coffee, when you're enjoying it, try to go deeper into what you're actually drinking. If it says Honduras, fine. If it says Peru, fine. It tells you the elevation, fine. But also go beyond just what the roaster is telling you about the tasting notes.

[11:30] You can do this too. If you have a couple of bags of coffee, whether it's ground coffee or whole bean coffee, try mixing them in a 50-50 split or a 30-70 split. Try to see what you taste. You'll probably realize that with those combinations, you have a new coffee experience.

[13:00] When we think about it, we are drinking or eating a lot of blended products. When we go to the store and pick up ground beef, we have no clue where it came from, and it tastes different when you do it separately.

[14:15] Think about if you really do enjoy blends or not, because more than anything, you're probably drinking a blended drink even though you may think it's single origin. Let me know what you think about this. Talk to me about any of the blended drinks that you have or don't have, or if you're just a single origin type of person.

[15:02] End