A Roaster's Guide to Creating the Best House Blend Coffee
When it comes to coffee, a house blend is nothing like a house wine. Instead of a cheap and cheerful, serviceable, but average, brew (like a house wine), today’s house coffee blends are expert combinations of some of the best single origin coffee beans in the world. When designed by a master roaster, they give the drinker an ultimate experience that far surpasses the sum of its parts. They become a symphony of coffee, separate notes combining to form one cohesively wonderful event.
In other words… house blends can be amazing.
Of course, creating a consistently high-quality house blend coffee is not easy. There are many unique challenges, ranging from your choice of beans to the optimal roasting time. But this is something we have a lot of experience with. From Luke’s award-winning BANTAT blend, to our Check Up Authentic Blend, and our Resuscitator Blend, we’ve been putting together house blend coffees for as long as we’ve been roasting beans. So, we thought we’d share our roaster’s guide to creating the best house blend coffee.
A Roaster’s Guide to Creating the Best House Blend Coffee
Why blend?
The first question we are always asked is why bother blending? Why is it worth searching for the best house blend coffee? Well, the golden rule of coffee blends is that they should always be better than the coffees were individually. Combining several individual beans can lead to a more dynamic flavour profile that provides balance and complexity and highlights the best of each bean. Just like a symphony.
How many coffees should you blend and in what ratio?
We generally recommend blending no more than five individual coffees per blend. And each of these should make up at least 8% of the total blend. Of course, no rule is set in stone. And if you’re blending a larger batch of coffee, then you will have the room to bend these rules a little bit more and add in smaller components if you like. At the end of the day, the right ratio for the best house blend coffee depends entirely on the types of coffee beans you’re putting together and the results you’re looking for.
How to choose your component beans for the best house blend coffee.
You have to remember that you aren’t trying to replicate something you’ve tasted before. When you’re designing your house blend you’re looking to create something distinctive, something unique, something that can become your signature blend. However, the blend still needs to be well balanced.
To create a well-balanced blend, you need the following components:
High floral or citrus notes.
The high notes in coffee are the fragrances and aromas that drive your first impression. These tend to be bright and assertive but dissipate quickly. Think citrus, ginger, floral and cinnamon flavours. Some types of coffee have very strong high notes, which can be overpowering by themselves, but are fantastic in a blend.
Great coffee beans for this are Kenyan and Ethiopian.
Mid-palate fruitiness.
The mid-palate taste is simply the flavours that come through between the first sip and the swallow and just after the high notes dissipate. This is the heart of the coffee drinking experience, and when this is dissatisfying (also called ‘hollow’), the whole experience is dissatisfying. When it comes to the mid-palate taste, you want to make sure that the taste sensation is full and juicy, with flavour notes of stone fruit, pears or green apples.
Great coffee beans for this are Colombian and Costa Rican.
A sweet base note.
The best house blend coffee finishes with a sweet base note, also called low notes. These bring a depth and solidness to the blend. To get this you’ll need beans that caramelise well, converting into sugars and sweet aromas. You’ll also want to consider the processing. Unwashed and fermented beans are generally sweeter.
Great coffee beans for this are Guatemalan, Brazilian and Mexican beans.
How to Select Your Blend Ratio
Once you’ve selected your beans, you’ll need to determine what ratios to use them. As a start we recommend 20% high notes, 40% mid-palate and 40% base note. Then from there you can tweak the ratios until you find just the right flavour profile.
Creating your own ‘best house blend coffee’
You can create your own house blend coffee at home. Start with some of the tips here, and just give it a go. Testing and tasting, and then testing and tasting some more will help you find a beautiful blend that you can be proud of.
Check out our shop to grab one of our fab house blends, or get the beans to make your own!