Has anyone spent much time trying to make a blend from roasted beans? I realize most people doing the blending are probably roasting the beans themselves, so they have more control over the roast profiles. But I've ended up with a few odds and ends, including some SOs, in the freezer, and thought I'd try making a brazil/ethiopia blend.

Only had time to try out one shot this morning, which was somewhere between interesting and good. It may be a bit of an adventure to get it dialed in.

Most of the time, I'll roast coffee for Single Origin use in pour-over and/or espresso, but sometimes I'll try a blend of the beans I have on hand, especially when I'm starting to run low.

It has often worked out pretty well, even when they were not roasted with blending in mind. A recent example would be a blend I made of the following that I really liked (I don't remember the exact percentages):

• ~60% Brazil Moreninha Formosa roasted to Full City+
• ~20% Guatemala Bourbon -Finca San Diego Buena Vista roasted to Full City+
• ~20% Ethiopia DP Jimma-Nigusie Lemma roasted to City+ that I had pulled out of the freezer

This one was blended for a double espresso shot on an as-needed basis, not a blend of a larger quantity of beans.

yakster wrote:~60% Brazil Moreninha Formosa roasted to Full City+
~20% Guatemala Bourbon -Finca San Diego Buena Vista roasted to Full City+
~20% Ethiopia DP Jimma-Nigusie Lemma roasted to City+ that I had pulled out of the freezer

Boldjava wrote:Magic triangle.
I don't blend prior to roasting. After roasting, I will often use an El Salv in the middle and a Yemen as a closer. Fun to play with it.
B|Java

+1, although I did mistakenly mix Monsoon Malabar and Brazil Cerrado greens (approx 50-50) once, roasted them together to 2nd crack of the Malabar and discovered that it made a very nice drip and press coffee! This has become my mother's standard blend. Nasty as espresso tough.

The combination are endless and fun. There is no rule! The only limit is one's taste. Mine changes all the time

Do people usually brew the individual coffees or try them as espresso first before blending them? The two I'm blending are both good SOs (from Barrington Coffee) that I've been drinking. It's 2/3 2007 Daterra Reserve and 1/3 2009 Ethiopian Nekisse.

The Nekisse in particular is an excellent coffee, even though Barrington didn't roast it for espresso, and I'm probably only 'dragging it down' by using it in a blend. But I got the best shots from it as a tight ristretto, so I thought a blend might extend or open up the flavors. On the other hand I found the Brazil to be finicky, and enjoyed it most with a lower dose pulled a little fast but short to get a light and clean double. The two coffees are on different ends of the spectrum by themselves, so I started pulling the blend somewhere in between yesterday, and went to a higher dose and more ristretto today.

The shots this morning were 19g for almost 2oz in 30 seconds at 199f (a temp that worked well for both). I wouldn't say they were 'well balanced' but there were distinct sour and then sweet fruit flavors with some nutty bitterness in the aftertaste. Also pulled a couple singles to try with milk which was very interesting. As a machiatto the fruit completely disappeared and the cup was dominated by nuts, but adding just a touch of sugar brought out all the fruit (although it was almost too sweet). So, definitely lots of interesting flavors, but I don't think I've found the sweet spot yet - if there is one.

Next I think I'll raise the temp a bit to see if that will bring the sour fruit flavors in to better balance.

TrlstanC wrote:Do people usually brew the individual coffees or try them as espresso first before blending them?

I always taste each coffee as singles before blending. Even knowing that I do not really like Monsoon Malabar as single espresso, I will check what it taste on it's own and than try to identify what it brought to the blend.
I try everything on the espresso machine because I mostly blend for espresso.

I have done this on occasion, but not precisely enough to come to any conclusions. Counter Culture is not going to be hiring me anytime soon.

I always wondered if a "blending kit" would sell. Several SOs sold with instructions on how to blend, for experimentation.