Alongside this recent resurgence, there is often an ongoing conversation in the industry about how roasters can successfully develop a balanced, consistent, and high-quality blend. There are seemingly endless factors to consider, such as origin, variety, roast profile, and the solubility level of each coffee. 

To get the best results, most roasters will roast each blend component separately, and then combine all coffees together – a practice known as post-roast blending. But are there other ways to blend coffees that are just as effective?

In today’s article, coffee professional Elizabeth Sturges explores this practice and questions how practical – or challenging – it could be for coffee shops and home brewers.

You may also like our article on specialty coffee blends: how exciting can they be?

Changing attitudes about blends

Blends have been a staple of coffee shop menus and roastery offerings for many decades now. For consumers who are looking for more classic flavour profiles, blends are often the most dependable and reliable option.

But at the same time, specialty coffee’s interest in blends has also been rising. And this has created new sensory experiences altogether. While we traditionally think of blends as containing at least two coffees sourced from different countries, specialty coffee has helped to broaden the definition to include:

• Various regions within a country
• Coffees from different producers in the same region
• Different varieties or processing methods from the same farm. In this case, we can refer to these coffees as single-origin blends

Similarly, blends have been historically perceived as being lower in quality than single origin coffees. These negative associations mostly stem from larger commercial roasters who typically blend arabica with lower-quality robusta to keep costs down.

This narrative, however, has changed in recent years – even at high-level competitions like the World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup. Roasters, coffee shops, and competitors are now becoming much more thoughtful and deliberate when developing or serving blends.

For instance, 2023 World Barista Champion Boram Um used a blend of anaerobically fermented Gesha and natural Pink Bourbon in his milk beverage course. Italian competitor and 2023 WBC runner-up Daniele Ricci also used a blend of Colombian Gesha and Caturra sourced from the same farm.

During their performances, both competitors emphasised how blending their coffees helped to create a more balanced and well rounded taste experience – which even some high-quality single origin coffees may not be able to do on their own.

How do roasters usually blend coffees?

If you ask most specialty coffee roasters about how to best blend coffees, it’s likely they will say post-roast blending. This is when each blend component is roasted separately to achieve the optimal roast profile. Then, all the coffees are mixed together.

And there’s a reason for this practice. While pre-roast blending (when all components are roasted together) can be more efficient, it often leads to uneven roast profile development. This is because different coffees have different bean densities and sizes (as well as hardness levels), which influence how you need to roast them.

Denser coffee, for instance, typically contains more sugars and has a higher moisture content. To ensure proper roast profile development, you should roast these coffees for longer and in smaller batches.

The relationship between grind size & solubility

Grind size is a key variable when extracting coffee – both as filter and espresso. In simple terms, if your grind size is too fine, your coffee will be overextracted. As a result, there will be more bitter and astringent flavours, with a thinner texture, too.

Conversely, when ground too coarsely, water will flow too quickly through the bed or puck of coffee. This leads to underextraction, with sour flavours and a quick finish on the palate.

Finding the right grind size for every coffee depends on a number of factors. Generally speaking, it boils down to a particular coffee’s sensory profile – and trying to balance acidity, sweetness, bitterness, and mouthfeel as much as possible.

In a coffee shop setting, baristas need to continuously tweak grind size – especially for espresso – to serve balanced and high-quality coffee throughout the day. And this is particularly important when baristas need to add a new coffee to the grinder hopper, as it’s likely they will have to make significant changes to grind size to get the best results.

It can take some time to find the right grind size, even for experienced baristas. But one crucial factor to always take into account is solubility, which relates to how easily coffee can be extracted. Essentially, different kinds of coffee extract at different rates, which depends on a number of factors such as:

• Origin
• Variety
• Processing method
• Bean density
• Roast profile

For roasters, this has significant implications on how to create blends, ranging from selecting the coffees to developing roast profiles. All blend components must have similar solubility levels – otherwise the blend will taste both under and overextracted at the same time.

Exploring other ways to blend coffees

Given that grind size and solubility are integral to extracting excellent coffee, are there better ways for roasters to develop blends other than post-roast blending?

One technique could be blending coffees after grinding them. 

Let’s say we have a blend made up of two coffees. On their own, each coffee is likely to need a slightly different grind setting to extract the most balanced and well-rounded flavour profile. 

Suppose the grind setting is X for the first coffee and Y for the second. If roasters blend both coffees prior to grinding, the grind setting can neither be X or Y, as adjusting to either one may result in under or overextraction.

This is where post-grind blending could be a useful practice to create a more harmonious and balanced blend. The dose for each blend component would need to be ground separately, and then combined just before extraction.

Using the above example again, you can use grind setting X for the dose of the first coffee and grind setting Y for the second – before thoroughly mixing both doses together and extracting (whether as espresso or filter).

Is post-grind blending too impractical?

In theory, post-grind blending could help to achieve more balanced and consistent results when using blends. However, there are also many practical challenges that could be very difficult to overcome – especially in coffee shops.

As coffee needs to be ground fresh before it’s extracted, grinding separate blend components is likely to be far too time consuming and complex for most baristas to carry out. Moreover, without formalised training procedures, baristas may struggle to carry out this technique successfully – which could be detrimental to maintaining coffee quality.

Home brewers and coffee professionals could certainly try experimenting with post-grind blending to assess how this method might enhance the sensory experience of blends. Following any results, we could then gauge whether it would be possible to implement this technique successfully in coffee shops.

It certainly seems that post-roast blending still remains the most effective and practical way to develop specialty coffee blends. And with blends becoming more and more popular, roasters need to make sure that quality remains a key focus.

While post-grind blending could be a useful practice for home brewers and coffee enthusiasts, those who decide to use this technique still need to be mindful of the potential challenges – or risk reducing coffee quality.

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on how specialty coffee roasters can use blends to drive brand identity.

Perfect Daily Grind

Want to read more articles like this? Sign up for our newsletter!

The post Post-grind blending: An impractical or novel way to blend coffees? appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.

At the same time, certifications are also useful marketing tools – efficiently communicating more ethical and sustainable practices to roasters and consumers. 

However, given that most producers don’t market their own coffees, understanding how certifications can retain more value in producing countries is essential.

To learn more, I spoke with three coffee professionals involved in Falcafé’s Neighbors and Friends Program. Read on to find out more about how certifications are used to market coffee.

You may also like our article on certifications and direct trade in the coffee industry.

The evolution of marketing in coffee

Although the coffee industry has certainly changed over the years, its current marketing model is largely a product of its history. In turn, many smallholder farmers don’t market their own coffee – and roasters handle the majority of marketing in consuming countries.

To better understand this, we need to consider the colonial history of the coffee sector. Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, European colonial powers established the coffee trade as we know it today. As the vast majority of coffee produced during this time was exported to Europe, marketing was targeted towards consumers rather than traders or roasters – albeit in a much more rudimentary form compared to today.

This trend of marketing coffee in majority consuming countries continued over the following centuries. During the 1700s and 1800s, coffee was branded as an “exotic” product. This means it came with a higher price tag that many people couldn’t afford.

However, at the turn of the 20th century, coffee businesses started to shift their marketing focus to meet changing demand. As convenience became a more important purchasing factor, more and more consumers expected their coffee to be roasted for them. At the same time, coffee also became more affordable and accessible to the masses.

In many major consuming countries since then, coffee marketing has continued its focus on the consumer. As such, almost by default, business-to-consumer marketing remains the responsibility of roasters and coffee shops. 

Ultimately, this means most of the value in the global coffee market is created after coffee leaves origin. This is because roasting adds significant value to coffee, after which it is marketed and sold. 

While there are some roasters in origin countries, because the majority are based in consuming countries in the Global North, this is where much of the marketing takes place.

What about specialty coffee?

The foundations of marketing strategies in the coffee industry have largely remained the same for centuries. However, that’s not to say the way coffee is marketed hasn’t changed – especially with the growth of the specialty coffee sector.

Humberto Florezi Filho is the CEO of Falcafé, a specialty coffee exporter in Brazil. 

“Generally speaking, with specialty coffee, there are more direct trade relationships between producers, exporters, and roasters,” he says. “The price of specialty coffee is also based on a wider range of factors, such as quality and flavour profile.”

There are many reasons for these changes, but evolving consumer demand has played a huge role. Now more than ever, consumers want to receive more information about coffee production, as well as knowing that farmers receive a “fairer” price.

Victor Fachinetti Vuolo is the Export Manager at Falcafé. He explains how demand for more information about producers and their coffees has increased in recent years.

“Traceability is becoming a very important factor in sourcing and marketing coffee,” he says. “Today’s specialty coffee consumer wants to know how the coffee was grown, who the producer is, and where the farm is located.

“Different processing methods have also had a big impact on specialty coffee,” he adds. “Over the past few years, there have been many new processing techniques, including controlled fermentation. This means roasters need to provide more information about coffee.”

How are certifications used in coffee marketing?

With a bigger focus on sustainability, quality, and traceability than ever before, certifications have started to play an important role in coffee marketing.

In theory, certifications can prove that a specific coffee is grown or purchased in an environmentally, socially, or financially sustainable way. Producers achieve this through implementing formal agricultural training programmes, as well as adhering to a strict set of protocols and standards.

For example, to receive the 2020 Rainforest Alliance certification, producers need to comply with a number of sustainable requirements. These include safe and healthy working conditions, environmental protection schemes, and no forced or child labour practices.

Other examples of prominent certifications in the coffee industry include:

• Fairtrade
• Organic
• 4C (the Common Code for the Coffee Community)

Over the past few years, several coffee companies have also launched their own private certification schemes. Some of these are:

• Nespresso’s AAA programme
• Starbucks’ C.A.F.E. practices
• Falcafé’s Neighbors and Friend Program

In turn, including certifications on packaging means roasters and other coffee retailers can more effectively showcase their commitment to ethical business practices. 

“Certifications help to assure consumers that the coffee they buy is grown sustainably and ethically,” Humberto tells me.

Moreover, research has shown consumers are willing to pay more for certified coffee. For instance, the Specialty Coffee Association found that people paid up to US $1.36 per pound (0.45kg) more for organic coffee – with interest in other certifications also playing a role in purchasing decisions.

How do producers benefit from certifications?

It’s certainly evident that roasters reap the rewards of selling certified coffee. But do the producers who have to adhere to these standards see similar benefits?

By obtaining certifications, producers can showcase a dedication to maintaining quality, sustainability, and fair labour practices. This can help to strengthen their branding, differentiate from competitors, and even gain access to different markets.

“Certifications demonstrate producers’ commitment to quality and safety,” Victor tells me. “It affirms that their business practices have passed specific and strict performance and quality assurance tests.”

In theory, this also means farmers can receive higher prices for certified coffees.

Gabriele Maia Teajs is a producer in Brazil involved in Falcafe’s Neighbors and Friends Program.

“If farmers meet all the criteria for the certification programme, they can get a better price for their coffee,” he says. “This means they can invest more in their farms, and also improve their quality of life.”

Overcoming challenges when obtaining certifications

When opting into certification programmes, there are clear advantages for producers. However, growing certified coffee can be both financially and logistically challenging.

The process of obtaining certifications is neither easy nor cheap, with extensive documentation, audits, and ongoing compliance involved. Ultimately, this increased level of administration can take time and attention away from core farming activities, such as irrigation and quality control.

Moreover, the fees needed to obtain and maintain certifications can strain producers’ already limited resources. This is especially important considering that coffee farmers are usually paid in a lump sum once a year when they sell their harvest, so finances need to be managed as effectively as possible.

It is therefore crucial that producers receive the right level of support when applying for and adhering to certification schemes.

In response to these challenges, Falcafé’s Neighbors and Friends Program was designed to help smallholder farmers achieve similar outcomes to more traditional certifications in a more accessible manner.

“The Neighbors and Friends Program provides one-to-one agronomic assistance, as well as offering training courses in partnership with Brazil’s National Service of Rural Learning (SENAR),” Gabriele says. In turn, producers have the opportunity to improve coffee quality and yields.

“With its expertise in the specialty coffee sector, Falcafé helps Brazilian producers to sell their coffees in many different international markets,” he adds.

Support in formalising agricultural best practices

For certifications to work most effectively, they need to have strict standards and requirements. To adhere to these successfully and sustainably, producers need to receive the right level of support based on their needs.

“When we share knowledge – such as choosing which varieties to plant in certain plots of land, proper fertiliser application and management, or best practices for drying coffee – farmers can benefit and maximise yields and quality,” Victor says.

Humberto agrees, saying that support can extend beyond farming practices.

“As well as providing training on how to reduce the use of pesticides and increase productivity, we also inform producers on how to take better care of their equipment and how to work in harmony with nature,” he explains. “This helps to improve the quality of life for producers, local communities, and coffee production in general.

“Moreover, when we provide this support, we don’t charge producers,” he adds. “This makes Falcafé’s Neighbors and Friend Program more accessible for smallholder producers.”

Certifications have played an integral role in coffee marketing, and will continue to do so in the future, too. At the same time, they are also part of much broader marketing strategies that highlight a wide range of factors, including origin, processing method, and sensory profile.

While it’s up to producers to implement stricter farming practices in line with specific certifications, the responsibility to support them in these efforts must be shared.

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on growing sustainability in the coffee supply chain.

Photo credits: Catenacom

Perfect Daily Grind

Please note: Falcafé is a sponsor of Perfect Daily Grind.

Want to read more articles like this? Sign up for our newsletter!

The post How are certifications used to market coffee? appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.

It’s fair to say that historically, the global trade of green coffee has typically favoured larger and more established importers and roasters. Moreover, it was often a complicated process – with plenty of logistics and bureaucracy to navigate.

However, thanks to the growing prevalence of technology and online platforms in the coffee industry, it is now easier and more streamlined than ever to buy green coffee. This is true for small and medium-sized coffee businesses, too.

To learn more about how green coffee trading has changed over the decades, I spoke with three people at Covoya Specialty Coffee. Read on for more of their insight.

You may also like our article on what a green coffee trader does.

How has green coffee been traded through history?

The way we buy and sell green coffee has changed dramatically in the past 100 years. However, in order to understand how, we first need to look back at the history of the global coffee industry.

The coffee trade as we know it today is traced back to colonial structures in the 17th, 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. For hundreds of years, European colonial powers established commercial systems to grow and export coffee in Caribbean, Asian, Latin American, and African countries. In many cases, this was to the detriment of indigenous and local communities, as colonial powers often forced them to work as slaves on coffee plantations.

Many of these former colonies have since gained independence and we have largely abandoned colonial trade structures. However, the effects still linger in parts of the modern coffee industry. This is especially apparent when we consider that millions of smallholder coffee farmers are unable to earn a living income.

Buying coffee

Alongside this, over the past few centuries, the trade of green coffee has largely been exclusive to a small group of larger multinational importers, exporters, and roasters who dominated the global coffee market. 

Mike Ferguson is the Chief Storyteller at Covoya Specialty Coffee – formerly known as Olam Specialty Coffee. The company rebranded in November 2022 to better represent its values and mission. 

“Since 1956, traders bought and sold coffee in very large lots by the container,” he says. “In previous years, nobody would sell to you if you couldn’t buy coffee by the container.

“Today, however, it’s difficult to imagine such a steep barrier to entry for small to medium-sized coffee roasters,” he adds. “But it wasn’t that long ago that if you wanted to be in the exclusive club, membership dues were counted in containers and not bags of coffee.” 

One of the most prominent people to help change this system was Erna Knutsen – who coined the term “specialty coffee” in the early 1970s. While working at coffee brokerage B.C. Ireland in San Francisco in the 1980s, Erna saw the opportunity to sell coffee by the bag, rather than just by the container. Ultimately, this had a huge influence on direct trade as we know it today, where roasters can buy as little as one bag from a farmer or co-operative.

Moreover, Erna also was a pioneer in making the global coffee industry more inclusive for women. Historically, the industry – especially on the green coffee trading side – was heavily male-dominated.

What about transporting green coffee?

Phil Schluter is the Managing Director at Covoya Europe.

“The transportation of coffee has undergone major change,” he explains. “In my great-grandfather’s day, everyone used boats to transport coffee. 

“If you wanted to visit coffee farms or overseas clients to buy or sell coffee, you had to take a boat, which would take weeks,” he adds.

The introduction of steamships and railways across Europe and North America helped to facilitate the transport of green coffee from producing countries to major ports in both continents. Furthermore, while most coffee today is still transported by boat (albeit faster than it used to be), air freight is also emerging as an option.

Containerisation

Ultimately, more accessible transport has played a profound role in the global trade of green coffee. Since the 1970s, containerisation has become the most common way to transport coffee by freight. This is when you use large containers to stack and transport goods.

When roasters transport coffee this way, they usually have to pay for the entire container – whether it’s full or not. However, roasters can partner with other companies to spread the costs, making it more affordable.

“Now, in the specialty coffee market specifically, there is often no need for futures or hedging, little need for currency hedges, and margins are sufficient to cover what can sometimes be minimal overhead costs,” Phil tells me. “We have also seen a proliferation of smaller traders who only offer coffee from as little as one or two origins.

“This helps to forge more direct trade links and allows companies to trade smaller volumes of coffee at respectable profit margins,” he adds. “Conversely, the more commercial end of green coffee trading has become less accessible – it continues to operate on much thinner margins, requires traders to buy and sell certain volumes, and there are increasingly complex compliance regulations.” 

How has technology helped to change green coffee trading?

Alongside these major changes in green coffee trading, technology has massively shaped how the global coffee industry operates. As well as making importing and exporting more streamlined and efficient, technology has also improved sustainability and transparency in the coffee supply chain.

The biggest change by far has been the emergence of the internet. Almost any coffee professional with access to the internet can now see plenty of relevant real time data. These includes market prices for coffee.

“All information which you would need to set up and run a coffee business is now widely available online,” Phil says. “This ranges from how to choose and source your green coffee to how to roast, brew, and serve it.”

Furthermore, the growing number of green coffee ecommerce platforms has made the trade of coffee much more accessible. People would trade green coffee over the phone or on paper prior to online platforms. 

Today, roasters and importers of any size have access to a wide range of coffees, including information on:

• Origin
• Processing method
• Variety
• Price
• Certifications

As part of these platforms, green coffee buyers can quickly purchase coffee, as well as ordering samples and downloading paperwork.

Ross Nicholson is the Ecommerce and Marketing Manager at Covoya Europe.

“The transfer of ownership of coffee is still the same as it was,” he says. “We are bound by central coffee contracts like the GCC (US) and ESCC (Europe), so when a roaster buys coffee online, the coffee is effectively ‘contracted’ to them.

“With our website, there is no need to exchange signed contracts to purchase, or exchange multiple emails with a trader to find out the information you need,” he adds. 

Technology & sustainability

Ross explains that online platforms like Covoya help to provide buyers with more information about green coffee.

“Information which adds value to specialty coffee – origin, farmers’ stories, and cup profile – can now be found in many places online,” he says. “Alongside cup quality, this added value can be passed onto consumers, which helps to differentiate specialty coffee from ‘commercial’ coffee, and means farmers can receive higher prices.”

With direct trade becoming more prominent in the coffee sector, facilitating a closer connection between roasters and producers has never been so important. Communications technology (such as WhatsApp and video calls) help with this when in-person visits might not be possible.

“A factor that has not changed is that the trade of green coffee has always been primarily about relationships,” Phil tells me. “To do it successfully, we need to understand both those who grow and supply the coffee, as well as the people we sell to. 

“Green coffee suppliers like Covoya can only do that if we build relationships and trust,” he adds.

Why is it important that we democratise green coffee trading?

The global coffee industry’s increasing reliance on technology has been instrumental to its changes for the long term. However, why is it still so important that the trade of coffee green coffee remains open and accessible?

“Many coffee farmers still live in poverty, while many coffee professionals in the Global North occupy positions of relative privilege,” Ross says. “One of the most effective ways to change this is to diversify market access and scale our ability to share the stories and relationships which add value to coffee.

“If the barriers to entry in the specialty coffee sector are lowered, and the voices we hear can become more diverse, then coffee professionals can thrive and innovate sustainability for many decades to come,” he adds. 

Mike agrees, saying: “The more information and data that is shared across the supply chain, the more equitable the coffee industry can be.

“Covoya’s online green coffee platform plays an important role in this way as it dismisses the historic concept of exclusivity, and helps to break down barriers for small and medium-sized roasters who want to buy bags of coffee,” he adds.

Mike emphasises that green coffee trading has become much more straightforward for small and medium-sized roasters over the past few decades.

“Even if you are new to roasting, or operate a very small roastery, you can buy green coffee,” he tells me. “Fifty years ago, there was almost no such thing as a start-up coffee roaster.

“Technology allows us to serve those very small roasters as they grow from selling bags of coffee to pallets to containers,” he adds.

Naturally, scaling is important for a roaster of any size in order to stay profitable. However, the level at which each individual needs and wants to scale can differ widely. 

Improving access for smaller-sized roasters

“The process of buying green coffee has been simplified to make discovering new coffees and finalising a purchase far more efficient,” Ross says. “Covoya’s platform streamlines this process. Firstly, with ‘discovery’, roasters can browse our full catalogue with live available inventory. 

“Every coffee has a unique page with information about the lot, terroir, producer, and region, as well as accompanying photos,” Ross continues. “Roasters can also request free samples, and when they are ready to buy, they can arrange delivery to their roastery with all logistical costs included at checkout.”

In turn, accounting for these differences is essential to keep green coffee trading accessible and inclusive – which Mike Ferguson discusses on the Getting Started with a Green Coffee Supplier episode of Covoya’s The Exchange Extra Shot podcast.

“Covoya aims to support our suppliers and buyers as they grow,” Phil explains. “We share our collective knowledge with those we work with to ensure that we trade in an equitable way.”

It’s no understatement to say that technology has revolutionised how we buy and sell green coffee. Coffee trading is now arguably more efficient and transparent than it ever has been. Moreover, there are certainly fewer barriers imposed on smaller roasters and importers than in previous years.

Similarly, we can also bridge the gap between producers and roasters.

“The farmers we work with around the world have their own experiences and challenges,” Phil concludes. “Roasters and consumers do too, so the more we can connect the supply chain and share stories, the more value we can add to coffee.”

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on simplifying green coffee grading.

Photo credits: Covoya Specialty Coffee

Perfect Daily Grind

Please note: Covoya Specialty Coffee is a sponsor of Perfect Daily Grind.

Want to read more articles like this? Sign up for our newsletter!

The post How has technology helped to democratise green coffee trading? appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.