My first blend, seeking advice

[jeffg]

Ok, I basically researched some beans and picked what I thought would appeal to me:

1 x 1Kg Ethiopian Sidamo
1 x 1Kg Ethiopian Yirgacheffe

I wanted something dark and strong and this sounded like a decent mix. Now, do I need to roast them each seperately or can I blend then roast them at the same time? I have a gene cafe roaster. I have a lot of trouble hearing cracks on my roaster so will likely just keep it running until I see the beans get fairly dark, then emergency stop and colander cool. Is anyone familiar with these beans? Should I blend them 50/50 or favor one over the other? Thanks!

[barry]

A blend should act to compliment one or more of the component coffees. The Sidamo/Yrg combination might just argue with each other.

The first question you should ask, when blending, is, "what am I trying to do with this blend?" In this case, are you trying to put body in the Yrg, or put floral/acidity in the Sidamo? Or are you trying for something else, or are you just throwing coffees together to see what happens?

The answers to these questions will help determine what course of action to take.

[another_jim]

Yrgacheffe is a town in the highest part of the Sidamo province. As Barry mentions, "extreme" Sidamos, sweet, heavy bodied, dried apricot, leather, and chocolate flavors, are very unlike "extreme" Yrgacheffes, think green tea, lemonade, and floral perfumes. However, there are lots that are sort of in between.

If you have no further descriptors, you can assume that both the Sidamos and the Yrgs will be like their descriptors. If you didn't pay a premium or get the coffee from a picky cupper, you can assume that the Yrg is going to be less than sweet, and the Sidamo will be more leather than chocolate and apricot. If this is the case, your best bet is 1/4 yrg roasted medium-light (first pops of the second) to 3/4 sidamo (roasted medium, start of a rolling second).

Your best bet overall when first buying green for espresso is not to worry at all about the descriptions (it takes some time to understand what they slightly do and mostly don't mean), and go for the sweetest beans. Dry process beans are usually sweet, and wet process ones sometimes are. If the seller isn't reliable on telling you about this, order a small amount of beans, give them a leisurely roast to the first pops of the second, or a little lighter, brew the beans, let them cool to room temperature, and taste. If they are taste more sweet than sour or bitter, the coffee is a winner. (I'm going to put this pearl up as a first cupping lesson)

[jeffg]

Well roasted up my beans yesterday. I ended up with the Yrg a bit dark a few of the beans started to show oil but just a few. And I roasted the Sidamo and was able to hear 2nd crack on these so stopped it shortly after that. This morning I put 12gms Sidamo in a cup, added 4gms Yrg and ground in the mazzermini.. it looked superb, smelled great. My shot was probably 3secs to long but good enough for a first taste and I made a flat white. Oh boy, it was great, just what I was looking for, a very earthy strong and bit chocolate/wine like flavor. I could definitely see this combo being a good base to add 1 or 2 more varieties. So pleased

One thing I was wondering is I do not need to roast as much Yrg so should I for example roast only 50gms at once in my gene cafe or will using too little just scorch it? I used 100gms the last batch.. or.. since my times were Yrg & 19mins & Sid at 17mins should i put in 50gms Yrg, roast for 2mins, then stop - add 200gms Sid and roast out for the 17mins.. the theory being at that point Yrg would get it's 19mins and the sid it's 17 and it will all be blended in 1 go. I also wonder how can you be sure it is mixed well? I found making the blend before grinding I was 100% sure how much of each bean was in the grind precisely 12 SID and 4Yrg, is that best practice?

Thanks!

[mrgnomer]

When researching home roasting I came across a philosophy, so to speak, of blending that I followed with very good success for about 3 years. It had to do with bases and notes.

Neutral type beans make for very good bases while strong character beans add notes to achieve a flavour profile. Neutral type beans suggested and the ones I use are mostly South American: Mexican Oaxaca, Honduras HG, Panama HG, Bolivia Caranavi. Notes are African, Indonesian, American (Kona), and stronger South Americans like Costa Rican Tarrazu, Colombian Supremo and Guatemalen Antigua. Africans tend to add a fruity note, Indonesians are spicy and stronger South Americans are earthy.

A good strong round blend could be something like 2 parts Mexican Oaxaca to 1 part each of Uganda Bugisu, Indian Monsooned Malibar and Yemen Matari.