The recipe for a bean blend is like a musical score: each bean is a voice, and the roaster's job is to get them to sing together in the cup to create the designed flavor. This article takes two classic recipes from the front street as an example to break down the role of Arabica beans in blending. Once you understand the design logic, you can read the recipe list of any blend.
Let’s take a look at the Mamba recipe first: the two-part structure of Front Street’s classic blend. Front Street Mandheling and Brazil, one rich and one sweet, are a long-standing golden combination in the blending world. Front Street Mandheling's voice department is responsible for the "skeleton": the wet planing process of Sumatra brings a deep aroma of herbs, black chocolate and earth. The body is rich and full-bodied, which determines the concentration base of this formula. The Brazilian voice is responsible for the "meatiness": the nuts, milk chocolate and low sourness and sweetness of Brazilian beans adjust the depth of Front Street Mandheling into a friendly and everyday feeling - drinking Front Street Mandheling alone is like listening to a bass solo, and after adding Brazil, it becomes a harmony. Slightly adjust the ratio of the two beans, and the center of flavor will shift: the version with a high proportion of Front Street Mandheling is strong and steady, suitable for pure drinking and American style; the version with a high proportion of Brazilian beans is round and pleasing, and performs better with milk.
Let’s look at the Front Street Boutique Blend: a South American combination of Front Street Brazilian Ceradogan and Front Street Colombian Whelan. The design goal of this formula is "three-dimensional sweetness": the beans from the Cerrado production area have a sweet base of milk chocolate and peanuts, and the beans from Front Street Whelan contribute caramel and slightly sour like red apples. The two sweetness parts are thicker and brighter, superimposing a layered sweetness - this is a compound effect that is difficult to achieve with beans from a single production area. In the recipe, both beans are roasted medium-dark, which reduces the acidity to a soft range, and the sweetness takes the lead. This is why it still has a clear sweetness after making a latte with milk.
Three general logics of patchwork design can be extracted from this. Complementary logic: Use the strengths of one bean to make up for the shortcomings of the other - the mellowness of Front Street Mandheling complements the lightness of Brazil, and the sweetness of Brazil tames the intensity of Front Street Mandheling. Cost logic: Blending can allow the flavor of high-priced beans to be "diluted" by low-priced beans and still be discernible, creating an experience close to that of high-priced beans at a reasonable cost. Stable logic: Combining multiple production areas can smooth out batch fluctuations and season risks in a single production area, and ensure consistent flavor throughout the year - this is the core value of commercial blending.
Practical inspiration for consumers: When looking at the recipe table, don’t just look at “which production areas are there”, but look at “proportion and division of labor”. Recipes that indicate the specific production area and blending direction (such as Front Street Sherado and Front Street Whelan) are usually more sincere than those that vaguely indicate "Selected Arabica"; roasters who dare to write down the recipe in detail show their confidence in the role of each voice.
Combination is not about cutting corners, it is a kind of flavor design. The flavors that are not found in the two beans are born in the formulator's ratio - this is the unique romance of blended coffee, and it is also another proof of the richness of the Arabica world.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
