To Blend, or Not to Blend, That is the Question

If Chazzano Coffee roasts over 30 different single origin coffees every day, why create blends? 

We're running out of coffee, let's try to look like geniuses: The main reason for creating blends is that we are always selling out of our most popular coffees while we wait for the next 2000lb. shipment of beans. We then scramble to find a suitable blend that is well balanced and similar to the missing single origin coffee. There are many wonderful examples of blends developed under duress: Tres Arias Blend, Domani Blend, Frank's Blend #2, Frank's Blend #3, Frank's Blend #4, (we don't talk about Frank's Blend #1...), Lecca Lecca Limone, Lisa Lisa, Mighty Mint Blend.

Crazy Curiosity: The biggest reason is we are insatiably curious. We love coming up with new blends that have a completely different flavor profile. Our newest blend, the Domani Blend, was invented because we had a few minutes in between busy times to treat the cafe like a Coffee Lab. Some wonderful examples of keeping ourselves out of trouble: Jen's Blend, Winter Blend, Klaire Bear's Tropical Summer Blend, Rob's Espresso Blend, Theresa's Blend, Rachel's Wedding Blend, The Lunch Cafe Blend, the original Chazzano Espresso Blend.

My Wife has a Bad Husband: Another reason for creating a new blend is that my wife and I (and our children) used to live in Farmington Hills.  I spent all day at the cafe drinking coffee and would always forget to bring home fresh roasted coffee. Therefore, my wife would suffer with 3-4 week old coffee. In order to make it a bit palatable, she would blend different coffees and thankfully, remember what she blended. In this way, Creamy Dreamy and P-Jam were created.

Happy Accidents: Finally, the last reason for creating a new blend is what I call, the happy accident. With the happy accident, I forget that there are beans already ready in the hopper and then I drop in another unrelated bean. I cuss loudly only to myself, send out a primal scream to the universe, and then I dump the beans and hope that I'm more genius than dope. 

New Coffee Offerings!

I am going to start cupping some new Papua New Guinea Purosa (Fair Trade Organic (FTO)), am El Salvador Organic Cuzcachapa Rainforest Alliance as well as a SWP (Swiss Water Process) Decaf Peru (Fair Trade Organic).

Even though I have cupped the PNG Purosa for many years and it remains one of my favorite coffees, with each batch and with each new crop, I need to experiment to find the sweet spot. There is a process by which I investigate the roast profile that will bring out the awesome character of the particular coffee. I roast the coffee at different roast profiles- from a light City Roast to a Full City+. Rarely do I roast a coffee to Vienna- the coffee flavor profile has too much to lose when coffee is roasted too dark. (However, Sumatra Mandheling is superb at Vienna roast- there is a great bittersweet chocolate that survives and thrives at that profile.

I'm interested in how the El Salvador will work as part of a blend. I have not been impressed with coffee from El Salvador- yet. I'll let you know.

I buy only Decaffeinated coffee that became that way through the Swiss Water Process. I have found that the coffee does not lose all of its aromatics and complex flavor profile. Besides, I appreciate the lack of chemicals in my cup of coffee. Several years ago, I forgot that I was drinking my Decaf Extravaganza blend. It was so good, I forgot that it was Decaf. If coffee isn't full of aromatics with a great mouthfeel, it just isn't worth drinking. Besides it won't make you sing- only, Good Coffee Makes You Sing.

Papua New Guinea


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New "Frank's Late Night Special Espresso Blend"

We are introducing a new Espresso Blend that we like to call "Frank's Late Night Special Espresso Blend." "Late Night Special" is appropriate because anyone who knows me well, knows that drinking a few shots of espresso at midnight has no negative effect on my sleeping habits. This is an interesting blend of some awesome single origin coffees from Indonesia, Brazil, and India. I love cupping coffee and experiencing the surprise and wonder that comes from blending coffees with their own specific taste profiles. With this new Espresso Blend, you will enjoy a complex palate of dark chocolate and blueberries. Of course, there are many single origin coffees that are wonderful all by themselves as espresso. My favorites include- Mexico Chiapas and Sumatra Mandheling.

Cupping and Blending- The Best Blend, so far...

At the Chicago CoffeeFest, I learned how to cup coffee. Cupping is just advanced tasting. The goal is to carefully document the flavor, aftertaste, and defects of each single origin coffee. Cupping is very similar to wine tasting. In fact, coffee has twice the amount of flavors and chemicals than wine has. Coffee is actually more interesting to cup or to taste than wine. Great coffee should be interesting to drink. One should be able to taste different flavors without adding milk, sugar, or artificial flavors.

I have finally developed a blend of Central American coffees with some African coffees that is creamy and sweet and has an incredible floral aroma. I have been told that blending more than a few coffees is not recommended. However, I added a few scoops of another coffee to my Giggles Blend which includes 5 different coffees and I truly found the best coffee that I have ever had. I have read that blending should be done after each individual coffee is roasted. Again, I roast them all together. The new "Rock the House" blend will help you give up adding milk- I hope.