Whether you’ve been in the specialty coffee industry for years or you’re just starting, choosing the right coffee to roast for a new espresso blend can be an exciting endeavor! It allows you to both tap into your creative side and showcase a unique vision to your customers. That being said, with so many options available, it can be difficult to know where to begin. To help you get started, Mike Ward & Mike Romagnino discuss how to select the best coffee for espresso blends and how to roast them!

Crafting Your Blends

Best Coffee for Simple Espresso Blends

A simple approach to creating a new espresso blend is to make something sweet and full-bodied, yet not too over-the-top with character. In this category, coffees from Brazil are typically used as a base and blended with a washed mild from Central America, such as an offering from Guatemala or Honduras. You’re looking to hit flavor notes like caramel, almond, and milk chocolate. The sugary notes will help your espresso pair well with milk for the perfect cappuccino or latte.

Coffees we like for this blend:

Brazil Cerrado 17/18
Guatemala SHB Huehuetenango EP

Together, they offer a nice chocolatey body with just a touch of acidity. This creates a classic espresso profile with lots of body and sweetness.

Regarding ratio, this is where the experimentation begins. We recommend a 60/40 blend: 60% Brazil, 40% Guatemala. However, that’s where you come in! It’s important to try different percentages to figure out what ratio works best for you.

Best Coffee for Elevated Espresso Blends

Now is when things start to get interesting. In this kind of blend, you can really exercise your creativity. An elevated blend lets you to formulate something more you than the classic allows. This type of espresso blend can have a bit more character and shine to the profile. Some of the notes you’ll look to achieve include citrus fruit, toffee, and decadent chocolate.

Unlike the simple blend, this profile lets more of the exotic notes in the coffee come forward, though they’re not too overpouring. These notes let the customer know that this blend is more distinct and thought-provoking than their go-to order.

Coffees we like for this blend:

Brazil Cerrado 17/18
Uganda AA Bugisu
Guatemala SHB El Progreso “Finca Las Moritas”
Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe

As you’d imagine, the ratio for this blend is a bit more experimental than the one above. Since you can use the Brazil coffee as the base again, you may want to consider using it as the dominant bean in the blend. Alternatively, you can go with the Uganda offering as your base! Blending with either option will result in an elevated espresso, and it ultimately depends on how you want to plan your menu.

To give you a starting point, we’ve provided the following ratio:

Brazil/Uganda: 50%
Guatemala: 25%
Ethiopian: 25%

If you want more of the stone fruit note to shine, increase the percentage of Ethiopian coffee and decrease the Guatemalan. This will help bring that note closer to the forefront of the cup!

Best Coffee for Process-Forward Blends

Lastly, this blend puts more of the focus on the processing method of the coffee or on the fruitier notes in the cup. This profile will give your customer something to discuss with the barista or their friends when they notice that their flat white or cortado has notes of strawberries and cream instead of the more traditional notes of chocolate and sugar.

Coffees we like for this blend:

Colombia Huila Santa Maria
Organic Ethiopia Natural Sidama Grade 4 Fair Trade Oromia
Ethiopia Natural Sidamo Durato Bombe Kontama GR1

Once again, this ratio emphasizes the vibrance and overall character of the cup profile. When you use a lighter-bodied Colombian offering, it eliminates the dense, chocolate note of a Brazilian or Ugandan coffee. In fact, it replaces that chocolate note with a silky, caramel one that helps the berry-forward natural offering pop.

For the ratio, this one could be as simple as a 50/50 blend of your base with your fruit-forward coffee. On the other hand, this blend is a great opportunity to avoid mixing coffees altogether and try offering a single origin espresso on your menu. This gives you the chance to educate your espresso-focused customers on the differences between origins and allow them to try new offerings.

Roasting for Espresso Blends

from Mike Romagnino

I like to focus on development time when roasting for espresso. Of course, development time depends on your preference and how long and how far you want to take the roast. While many people like to take their espresso roasts deeper, sometimes hitting second crack and beyond, I prefer a medium to medium-dark for mine. In order to bring out a nice, creamy body and still retain sweetness in the cup, I use 4:00 – 4:45 minutes of development time. Developing coffee to this level brings out classic notes of dark chocolate, caramel, and black cherry with a balanced, well-rounded cup.

When you work with a new espresso recipe, it’s important to do trial roasts and see how they perform. I have always had success with pulling espresso shots and batch brews. Doing this gives you the opportunity to taste the coffee how it’s prepared for your customers. Plus, you can receive commentary from the baristas actually pulling the shots. Once you have feedback, you can adjust the roast profile to dial in the espresso if needed.

Final Thoughts

Overall, espresso blending is a great opportunity to explore coffees from around the world and create a unique vision for your “perfect” cup profile. As always, feel free to contact your trader about what they think would work well for you. We’re here as a resource to guide you throughout your entire process. Most importantly: have fun testing out these coffees and finding your ideal espresso blend!

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