Creating A Coffee Blend

Have you ever wondered how, and why custom coffee blends are created?

Or maybe you’re a small business and want to know more about coffee blending, and creating a coffee blend for your own business. Whatever it may be, get comfy and grab a coffee as we explore how we blend coffee today.

Why blend?

Blending coffee usually happens for one of three reasons; to hide a taste within a coffee, to create something with a unique flavour, or to keep the flavour the same.

Here at Two Chimps, we only ever blend coffees to create something with a unique flavour.

Types of Blending

Firstly, let’s look at types of coffee blending. When creating a coffee blend, there are two types of blending; harmonious and tension. A harmonious blend is a blend of coffees that work in harmony together. For example, two coffees that have light and fruity notes.

On the other hand, a tension blend involves the bringing together of coffees which have quite different flavours. As the name suggests, this type of blend creates a tension of flavours within the cup. For instance, if you were to combine a lemon acidity coffee and a chocolatey coffee together, this would create a tension blend.

There is no right or wrong way. Creating a harmonious blend doesn’t necessarily mean it will taste better than a tenuous blend; they will just produce two very different coffees.

The Process

Cupping

To start the blending process off, we hold a cupping session. Coffee cupping makes sure that everything is the same. The amount of water, amount of coffee, size of the grind and the brew time are all kept the same for each coffee that is cupped. By keeping everything the same, the only thing that can change the taste of the coffee is the coffee itself.

Our cupping sessions are always blind. We don’t show or share anything about the coffees in case this sways opinion. For example, if you like Colombian coffee and we advise that one of the coffees is from Colombia; naturally you will gravitate to that one. Want to cup at home? Sure. Head over to our Guide to Coffee Cupping.

Wet Blending

During the cupping process, we encourage notes to be made to highlight the coffees that tickle your fancy. Once a shortlist has been created, the wet blending starts.

Wet blending is precisely that; bringing two or more coffees together in liquid form to see how they taste together. Add a spoonful of your favourite and a spoonful of your second favourite and try it. Love it? Great. Not so much? Keep searching. The options are endless! For instance, one spoon of coffee A and two spoons of coffee B gives a ratio of 1: 2 whereas one of coffee A and three of coffee B is a ratio of 1:3 and so on.

When blending, we recommend a maximum of three coffees per blend. If a blend included seven different parts, for instance, trying to guarantee one gram of each was ground for a single shot of espresso (7g) would be much harder to achieve than 2-3g of each for a three coffee blend. This could impact the taste from cup to cup too as an even amount of each coffee is needed to keep the taste consistent.

Custom Blends for Wholesale Customers

Lucky enough to run a coffee bar? Or anywhere else for that matter that wants to serve awesome coffee? As a wholesale coffee customer, the option to create a custom coffee blend is always available. Having your own coffee blend can help to make you stand out from your competitors, add wow factor and will undoubtedly give you a unique selling point. It’s not often you see a small business with their own coffee! Why not join the few?

Once created, your blend becomes unique to you. No one else will be able to sell your unique blend; just you.

Are you a small business looking for a wholesale coffee supplier and like the sound of a custom blend? Well, get in touch today and join the Two Chimps Troop!

Don’t own a coffee shop? No problemo. We run create your own blend courses too. How cool is that!

We look forward to seeing you on one very soon.

Create Your Own Blend