Blends: these often underestimated coffees
Blends are a staple on most café menus and something every roaster should master. However, designing and roasting them presents several challenges; from knowledge of coffees to roasting beans of different origins, varieties, densities, you name it !
A bit of history
Early European coffee shops relied on blends to attract customers. As coffee companies grew larger, pre-ground coffee became more popular, resulting in a significant decline in quality.
Major brands continue to create blends largely for economic reasons, to mask differences in taste and standardize the coffee profile. Until specialty coffee arrived, enthusiasts consumed mass-produced blends made from basic beans. This can be satisfying… as long as you don't know what you're missing. Once you've had a cup of specialty coffee, you can never go back! Specialty coffee roasters combine diverse flavors and experiment to create the best possible in-cup experience.
Why the mixtures? 
As a roaster, we turn to blends not only to provide comfort, but also to create unique coffees and winning combinations that offer a consistent and balanced profile. Some blends are born from trial and error, while others are the realization of a desired profile. When done well, they create a kind of harmony that single coffees often cannot replicate.
At Faro, we create blends by tasting several coffees, then preparing combinations of what we believe to be complementary and capable of producing a unique result. Sometimes we get it right the first time, and other times we have to test it again and again!
Creating blends is not without its challenges. It's a science that relies heavily on knowledge of the coffee bean itself and how different coffees react together. For example, if you have two coffees, one with fruity notes and the other with a chocolatey profile, you can't simply combine them to mix the flavors. If you want to capture all the different notes and ensure they harmonize well, you need to understand the chemistry behind coffee—how the size and structure of the beans react to heat, which flavors are enhanced at various points in the roasting or extraction process, and so on.
Furthermore, as an agricultural product, coffee is greatly influenced by climatic conditions, growth cycles, and harvest times that differ from region to region. Needless to say, these variables present a mountain of challenges for us as roasters, who must constantly adapt to the variations in coffee.
The Golden Gate Espresso: our newest addition 
With the Golden Gate blend, we wanted to create a light roast coffee with a profile that bridges the gap between Western American roasts and Italian tradition. So we tested numerous coffee combinations to achieve a profile for the pale, fruity espresso lover, but without excessive acidity. What we were aiming for was a taste of strawberries rather than acidic lemon, you know what I mean? A blend of two microlots achieved this: our latest direct purchase lot from Las Lajas, the Costa Rica Black Honey , and the Colombian Central Farallones . With their distinctive yet complementary profiles, these two coffees were a real standout during our tastings.
This blend has been highly anticipated this year, and we won't hide it from you, it's even better than our first recipe!
