Coffee merchandising

Most roasters blend the different types of coffee when green. Some blend them after they have been roasted separately. When blended before roasting, the coffees are mixed by a machine built especially for that purpose. The mixing machine in general use consists of a large metal cylinder which, in wholesale operations, is revolved by the factory’s general power plant or by a separate motor. The cylinder is equipped on the inside with sets of reverse-screw mixing flanges that tumble the beans around until they are thoroughly blended, and there is usually a fan attachment to remove dust. This operation serves also to smooth down and to polish the surfaces of the beans, which add to the style of the coffee when roasted. The average blending machine will mix from 10 to 20 bags of coffee at a time. The actual mixing requires less than five minutes, but a longer period is needed for feeding and discharging.

Rarely is a single kind of coffee drunk straight. The common practice in all countries is to mix different varieties having opposing characteristics so as to obtain a smoother beverage. This is called blending, a process that has attained the standing of an art in the United States. Most package coffees are blends. In addition to other qualities, the practical coffee blender must have a natural aptitude for the work. He must also have long experience before he becomes proficient, and must be acquainted with the different properties of all the coffees grown, or at least of those which come to his market. Furthermore, he must know the variations in characteristics of current crops, for in most coffees no two crops are equal in trade values. Innumerable blends are possible, with more than a hundred different coffees to draw upon.

A blend may consist of two or more kinds of coffee, but the general practice is to employ several kinds; so that, if at any time one cannot be obtained, its absence from the blend will not be so noticeable as would be the case if only two or three kinds were used.

In blending coffees, consideration is given first to the shades of flavor in the cup and next to price. The blender describes flavors as acidy, bitter, smooth, neutral, flat, wild, grassy, groundy, sour, fermented, and hidy, and he mixes the coffees accordingly to obtain the desired taste in the cup. Naturally, the wild, sour, groundy, fermented, and hidy kinds are avoided as much as possible. Coffees with a Rio flavor are used only in the cheaper blends.

Generally speaking, a properly balanced blend should have a full rich body as a basis, and to this should be added a growth to give it some acid character, and one to give it increased aroma.

Personal preference is the determining factor in making up a blend. Some blenders prefer a coffee with plenty of acid taste, while others choose the non-acid cup. For the first-named, the blender will mix together the coffees that have an acidy characteristic, while for a non-acidy blend he will mix an acidy growth with one having a neutral flavor.

Coffees may be divided into four great classes,—the neutral-flavored, the sweet, the acidy, and the bitter. All East Indian coffees, except Ceylons, Malabars, and the other Hindustan growths, are classified as bitter, as are old brown Bucaramangas, brown Bogotas, and brown Santos. The acid coffees are generally the new-crop, washed varieties of the western hemisphere, such as Mexicans, Costa Ricas, Bogotas, Caracas, Guatemalas, Santos, etc. However, the acidity may be toned down by age so that they become sweet or sweet-bitter. Red Santos is generally a sweet coffee, and is prized by blenders. High-grade washed Santo Domingo and Haiti coffees are sweet both when new crop and when aged.

Practical coffee blenders do not mix two new-crop acid coffees, or two old-crop bitter kinds, unless their bitterness or acidity is counteracted by coffees with opposite flavors. One blender insists that every blend should contain three coffees.

Some Bourbon and flat-beaned Santos coffees are better when new, and some are better when old; but a blend of fine old-crop coffee with a snappy new-crop coffee gives a better result than either separately. A new-crop Bourbon and an old yellow flat bean make a better blend than a new-crop flat bean and an old-crop Bourbon. Probably the very best result in a low-priced blend may be obtained by using one-half old-crop Bourbon Santos with one-half new-crop Haiti or Santo Domingo of the cheaper grades.

Typical low-priced coffee blends in the United States may be made up of a good Santos, possibly a Bourbon, and some low-cost Mexican, Central American, Colombian, or Venezuelan coffee, the Santos counteracting these acidy Milds.

Going next higher in the scale of price, fancy old Bourbon Santos is used with one-third fancy old Cucuta or a good Trujillo.

For a blend costing about five cents more a pound retail, one-third fancy old Cucuta or Merida is blended with fancy old Bourbon Santos.

The highest-priced blend may contain two-thirds of a fine private estate Sumatra and one-third Mocha or Longberry Harari.

In blending coffees, those coffees which hold their own from the start, or boiling point, until they become cold, or even improve right through, are more desirable; those which are best at the drinking point should be given the preference.

Coffee Blends for Restaurants

The coffee of prime importance in preparing restaurant blends is Bogota. We advise the use of a full-bodied Bogota and an acid Bourbon Santos in the proportion of three-fourths Bogota to one-fourth Santos. Blends may also be made up from combinations of Bogota, Mexicans, and Guatemalas.

The average blend of good coffee when made up, two and one-half pounds of coffee to five gallons of water, will produce a liquor of good color and strength. For many hotels, however, this may not answer, as it is not heavy enough. More coffee must then be used, or 10 percent of chicory added. A blend with chicory may be made by using two-thirds Bogota, one-third Bourbon Santos, and 10 percent chicory. No steward, hotel man, or restaurant man should, however, advertise “coffee” on his menu, and then serve a drink employing chicory; because, while there is no federal law against such a practice, there are state laws against it. Chicory is all right in its place, and many prefer a drink made from coffee and chicory; but such a drink cannot properly be called coffee.

Hotel men should purchase their coffee in the bean, and do their own grinding. Then they need never have cause to complain that their coffee man deceived them, or that some salesman misled them. The hotel steward wishing to furnish his patrons with a heavy-bodied coffee, particularly a black after-dinner coffee, without chicory, will use three, four, or even four and one-half pounds of ground coffee to five gallons of water.

With so wide a choice of coffees to choose from, a coffee blender can make up many combinations to meet the demands of his trade. Probably no two blenders use exactly the same varieties in exactly the same proportions to make up a blend to sell at the same price. However, they all follow the same general principles laid down in the foregoing flavor classification of the world’s coffees.

Formulas for coffee blends are best worked out in actual experience. So much depends upon the nature of the business, whether wholesale or retail, capacity of the plant, nature of equipment (with or without grinders, packing machines, etc.), class of trade sought, price of blend, etc. The beginner should consult the machinery man from whom he buys his roasting equipment or his green-coffee supply house. After careful consideration, the author of this work has decided to omit specific formulas from the volume, for the reason that they are so likely to prove misleading. What with constantly changing market conditions, differences in chops of the same coffee, it is exceedingly difficult to lay down hard and fast rules for any set of sample blends. It is doubtful if any of the large roasters and successful blenders ever use the same coffees in the same proportions three times running, and yet they know how to keep their blends uniform. A good knowledge of cup testing becomes a first essential for successful blending. The general suggestions given here are as far as the author feels it safe to go in this matter. For more specific rules, the novice needs to consult competent trade authorities, and his trade paper is one of the best places for him to go to be put into touch with these.