Roasting and Blending Question

[tucafe]

I hope it's okay to ask questions in this section.

I have a question about blending. I heard that you first roast the coffee beans before mixing them to create a blend. I thought you mix the raw coffee bean and then roast them together. Is there a proper way to do this or does either way make a difference?

Thanks for any help,

John

 

[PinkRose]

Hello "tucafe" (John)

Welcome to the Coffee Forums website! One of the great features here is the search box that's at the top of your screen (on the right). Just type your topic into the box and click Go.

We have had a lot of discussion about roasting and blending. The general agreement is that it's best to roast the coffee beans separately, and then blend. If you mix the green beans and roast them all together, they will not all roast the same. (and some may be overdone or underdone and the batch will be ruined).


Rose

 

[eldub]

However...

Some, like Jay at Coffee tech disagree. He recently told me he prefers to blend his green beans hours or a day before roasting so the beans can reach equilibrium as far as moisture content goes and then "rub shoulders," in the roaster.

lw

 

[expat]

I'm quite a novice at all this but the more I roast, and I'm roasting 2 10kg batches of coffee this morning, the more I think it depends on the blend. Some of the "softer" beans roast well together because they can all achieve similar "goodness" at about the same level of roast. But I know for one of my blends I've got one "hard" bean in there and it seems to take more roasting time to develop so I am going to give it a try roasting that separately and see what my results are when I blend it.

 

[PinkRose]

So, Jay at Coffee tech thinks the beans share the moisture as they're mingling overnight? Interesting.

I know when you put crunchy cookies in a cookie jar with with moist cookies, they both gain or lose moisture and they lose their personality (and they get ruined)

I guess with coffee, if you're looking for a certain flavor it's possible it can work out okay. But will the result be the same each time?

Roasting the beans separately makes more sense.

Rose

 

[expat]

When we roast, and right now I still blend everything but getting ready to start roasting individually and then blending where it makes sense, we mix our beans together and let sit for at least 24 hours, preferably at least 3 days, and hopefully 7 days. Besides the gentleman from Coffee Tech I know several roasters that agree with his point of view. And hey, how much or how little pre-blending and "aging" helps it can't hurt so go on, give it a try.