The Perfect Coffee Blend

We’re often asked at our little coffee van* ” what blend is it today?”

But some people don’t realise that not all coffees are blends. Here at Real Deal Roasters we sell a lot of single estate and single origin coffees as well as a few choice blends, developed by us at Real Deal Roasters over the past 9 years.

How coffee blends developed

Before the explosion of speciality coffee, blends were often developed to mask the flavours of some beans. A blend is developed from 2 – 4 different beans, if one bean came from a bad batch, the others can make up for it and probably cover it up. This is where the classic “Italian Blend” came from. Italian coffee beans blend 80% arabica & 20% robusta of fairly dark roast beans. Our Classic Coastal Express Blend follows this formula. The robusta beans give a blend that extra slug of caffeine as robusta beans contain about 40% more caffeine than arabica beans.

Coffee Blends

Coffee blends still have a big role to play, some are particularly good as a base for milky drinks with added robusta providing a great kick to your morning cuppa. Others, like our Big Deal Blend is a 50:50 mix of Guatemalan Coban and Costa Rican Tarrazu. These two central American coffees complement each other with rich, spicy flavours combined with a light fruity tang.

Single Origin Coffee

These are coffees which originate from one region or even one farm, when they are called single estate coffees. They are not blended with other coffees but are great just on their own

At the our little coffee stall, for example, we often serve our fabulous Hacienda bean from a little farm in Nicaragua. This is particularly amazing as an espresso as well as being a good background to the milky drinks. Currently this is our only single estate coffee bean.

Which is best?

Who knows! It depends on your brew method, your preferences and the time of day. Why not buy some coffee online by trying one of our Super 7 selection boxes and discover your own favourite. Or buy a Super 7 – World Coffee Selection and you could make your own coffee blend!

*Our little van can be found at Deal Town Market every Saturday as well as the monthly farmers market at Cliftonville