Preblending

[Petteri]

I'm thinking of going to roasting (waiting for the iRoast2 to land Europe). As I don't have a roaster yet so this is a little premature but I post this anyway (being an impatient type ).
I'm thinking of making a preblended mixture of beans and aiming for something like "south Italian style espresso".

Our local bean supplier has following beans:
Colombia Excelso
Kenya AA
Monsun Malabar
Old Brown Java
Robusta Indian AAA
Santos, Brasil
Sumatra Lintung
Yirgacheffe/Sidamo

Which beans could be mixed before roasting and which not? (Is there any "definitly not"s or some "definitly yes"s?)
Any suggestion for a starting point for south italian espresso?

[simonp]

This is very much a matter of debate, some say never pre-blend, and some say it helps flavours mix in a blend.

In general you can roast wet processed beans together, and they will roast at a similar rate. Also dry processed Indonesians can be done with them as they take a lot of heat to roast.
Other dry processed beans such as some Brazils, Harar etc need to be roasted away from wet processed ones, but can be done together.

If you want a different level of roast on each bean to accentuate certain flavours then you will have to do them separately. For example, you would possibly want Lintong a lot darker than Yirg, if you wanted to maintain the floral notes in the Yirg, so you would do them separately.

I found that pre-blending works better in a slower roast profile of a drum roast, as it evens out the roast speed somewhat.

[phil]

I've always felt that some people, much as I love them dearly, have tended to make a virtue out of necessity with their advocacy of pre-blending.

The same people tend to do a lot of post-blending these days.

[JonathanM]

OK - daft question time.

Given that it is much easier to preblend when using a home machine like a Hottop, why not just load the beans that need a longer roast earlier, and wait 'an appropriate amount of time' before adding the quicker roasting beans in the blend. The profile will be wrong, but may well be wrong anyway if some of the beans need more heat than others.

I guess the answer is that adding beans during the roast will cool those that have started roasting (and would be 'light green' sort of stage in the roast) and that would be detrimental to the roast.

Has anyone tried this?

[simonp]

I've always felt that some people, much as I love them dearly, have tended to make a virtue out of necessity with their advocacy of pre-blending.

The same people tend to do a lot of post-blending these days.

You wouldn't be talking about a certain commercial roaster would you?

I have a valid excuse for at least pre-blending things like Cachoera and Harar, that I like done to a similar degree anyway. Even if I stuck to a 3-bean blend, there is no way I could get through 750g in the time from resting to stale. I don't want to throw away 1/3 of the beans each time, hence usually splitting the blend in to 2 roasts, which is a good compromise. The much admired Jim Schulman does a similar thing with his blends, so we can't be that wrong

[Beanie]

I'll admit to roasting 3 beans together at different times. I've done variations 3x but am still experimenting. My 2nd try resulted in the sweetest smelling blend aroma ever. I would still like to play around with the times I add the beans though. But basically, Monsooned Malabar went in first, then Brazilian Lagoa, then the Harrar Longberry. We were fairly pleased with the results considering the strangeness of the experiment; however, as mentioned earlier, I want to experiment more and then I'll let you all know what I did and maybe someone else can try to see if its any good?

[phil]

Simon

As an expedient to ensure fresh coffee, I understand pre-blending (although I never do it myself). I *think* that's why Jim does it too - althoguh it's a long time since we've spoken so I can't be sure.

However I remain deeply sceptical of the claims of positive benefits for pre-blends.

[Beanie]

Well, to be honest, other than the Daterra, we've always preferred SO. I do maintain, that my 2nd during-roast blend was the sweetest roast we've ever smelled... but no, not the sweetest tasting, nor very balanced; however, still drinkable. Because we're not fans of MM as SO, I'm not sure when we'll ever get the chance to post-blend this combo. Then again, I think perhaps we're not even looking for that balance in espresso, but rather the variety and vast differences that has us preferring SO.

Of course now, I'll just HAVE to send Phil this crazy roast Should I take a poll on what he'll do with it? a. He refuses delivery & has it "return to sender" b. Gives it to his least favourite people (or even they don't deserve such cruelty?) c. ______ (fill in the blank).

[Steve]

Pre blending I think gives a balance to "some" blends more that anything else. Its ok guys who post blend your allowed to be wrong .

Seriously I see nothing wrong with both ways, and there are some blends I wouldn't dream of pre blending. But if it tastes better then I'll do it, if there's a component that needs something different then it gets it. I think its silly to blinker your self to one mode of roasting enjoy both aspects when its called for. More tools in the tool box


Steve