The art of the espresso — Miscela
This is the 2nd post related to The Four ‘M’s in a shot of espresso, today we will discuss the Miscela. The coffee blend.
A good cup of coffee is not the result of coincidence, in this post, you will learn the key aspects you should consider when buying coffee beans or a good blend.
I’m not a coffee roaster (yet) or a barista at a (real) coffee shop, but I have been choosing my own coffee beans since ~ 2015, I have been lucky enough to try amazing fresh coffees and a bunch of bad ones as well, so take this discussion as just a suggestion from a friend.
In Guatemala, there is a common saying:
“A good shot of espresso is a blend between Antigua and Coban coffees”
Even people that are not into espressos know that quote or have tried that blend for their coffee makers (filtered), however, if you are not from Guatemala or you are not into coffee, who knows what that means, right?
Well, Antigua and Coban are two regions in Guatemala. The coffee from Antigua Guatemala (which is at a higher altitude) tend to be aromatic but with a slightly weak body, and the coffee from Coban (located a few hundred meters below Antigua) tends to be less aromatic, but with a strong body.
The result of the mix of these two coffees (the blend) is a balanced cup with a nice good-old-coffee smell with a delicious flavor, and this is exactly what we are looking for in a blend, a beautiful combination of coffee beans that individually would taste like something is missing.
The Italian blend
The espresso culture comes from Italy, so there is no surprise that the Italians have nailed the art of the blend, when you go to Italy almost all espressos will taste amazing, not too bitter, not weak, great aroma, condensed in a pretty syrup. Last but not least, the average price for the coffee shot is just 1 EUR.
The Italian blend is a mix of several coffee beans from all over the world, one of the reasons is that the coffee harvesting time varies from location to location, so one of the ways to ensure availability for the whole year is to stock beans from all over the world and mix them according to their coffee profiles.
The roasting in general is a dark one, each group of beans is roasted individually (to leverage their own features) and then the coffee is mixed, packaged in a bag, and shipped to your coffee shop.
Arabica + Robusta
Another point to consider in the blend is the type of coffee bean, the arabica coffee plant tends to produce coffees with great aroma, but weak in the body (just as in the previous comparison of Antigua VS Coban) and the robusta coffee plant tends to produce coffee beans with a strong body and limited aroma. Other facts make these two plants different (and the graftings) but I will leave out of the scope those other facts in this post.
Usually, the Italian blends have a percentage of:
- Coffee from Africa(usually robusta from Ethiopia or Kongo)
- Coffee from Asia (maybe Indonesia)
- And coffee from Latin America (Guatemala, Colombia, or Brazil)
I have tried good blends literally called 70/30 which means 70% Arabica based beans and 30% of Robusta beans.
Roasting profiles
Previously I mentioned that espresso blends are roasted with a dark profile which implies that a higher temperature and/or longer time in the roaster are needed.
However, this is not a rule-of-thumb, nowadays with the specialty coffee trend (also called the third-wave of coffee), the coffee roasters experiment with different temperatures and times to bring the best notes in the beans.
In the image below, you will see three groups of beans, I took this picture over a year ago when I opened a blend from a new source. My all-time favorite blend is the bottom one (the darker), but the one in the middle was pretty decent in aroma, flavor, and crema. Just for comparison purposes I also included roasted beans for filter use (the light roasted one).
Here is something interesting to see, if you take a second look at the image above, you will see that each group of beans have different bean sizes … yep, that’s the result of the mix of coffees for the blend.
Single-origin vs blend
Are espresso blends the way to go? — Most of the time Italian blends are a proven way to have a conservative cup of coffee (let’s call it like that), by conservative I mean the classic aroma with chocolate, nuts, and vanilla notes and a solid body.
Single-origin coffee offers the possibility to experiment with coffee that features fruity or floral notes (just to mention a few). Another point to add is that if the single-origin beans are from a micro-batch or specialty coffee producer, the coffee profile could change from season to season, and this is ok. I know some good old entrepreneurs from Guatemala that made this an advantage, they offer fresh different coffees every season, you never get bored as a customer.
In my very own personal opinion, I’m up for adventures in single-origin filter roast coffee (for my V60, Melitta, or Aeropress) and I prefer a classic blend for espressos.
What coffee should you buy?
Look for freshly roasted beans from a local roaster or coffee shop. Most of the time the coffee shops use their own insignia coffee daily, so you can try it before you buy it.
Nothing beats fresh coffee, but if that’s not an option because the local beans are not the best ones, check if there is any shop in town that sells Italian blends. Make sure that the beans were actually roasted in Italy since most of the time the label will say something like “Italian blend” but it’s more like a synonym of coffee for espresso roasted locally, and that’s not the same.
One last suggestion here, once you have found a reliable source of coffee beans, buy small amounts instead of the 1,000 grams (1 KG) bag. Check if they have bags of 250 grams and buy a couple of different ones so you can explore different blends, if this is not your first rodeo, then go big or go home with the 1 KG bag.
As with everything in life, enjoy this step, take your time in looking for blends.
In the next post of The Art Of The Espresso series, we will discuss the coffee grinding topic.
Cheers ☕
