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CTI Class

• 3:00 (A) is well over-extracted and, finally, (B)is tasting great! … Damn. None of the components are hidden or dimin-
At no point during that brew did both of the coffees taste at their ished by the presence of the others, they just
best. No matter how skilled you are as a barista, the brews you make of all exist peacefully side by side. It’s magical.
this blend will always be a compromise. There is, quite literally, nothing So if you’ve been sitting in the anti-
you can do to fix that. The best you can do is to stop the brew around blending camp, maybe give it another go. Talk
2:30-3:00 where neither coffee is aggressively under- or over-extracted. to your roaster and understand a little more
[Some call this mix of roast flavour “melange” and strive for it as a about the solubility of the components in a
desirable characteristic. Just like over and under-extraction being boring, blend. Maybe ask for some of your blend com-
generic and definitively ‘non-specialty’ flavours, this mix of roast flavour ponents to taste individually, and play around
has less to do with the coffees used and more to do with the varying with different ratios.
levels of extraction created because of it.] After all that talk about magical blends I
I’m about to throw out a very personal opinion that many won’t can’t leave you hanging. Here are three ex-
agree with.If a roaster isn’t fastidiously matching the solubility of every amples of blends (geographically dispersed to
component in a blend it will never taste great. There’s nothing anyone avoid postal pains) that I know are definitely
can do to fix it. Once blended, varying solubilities of coffee will always solubility matched. Maybe order some and give
be extracted differently and will taste muddled or incoherent. I really, blending another chance. See if you can taste
really dislike blends with varying levels of solubility and extraction. I will the individual components all at once, rather
not waver on this one. It’s game over for me.When adjusting the ratio of than a boring old melange!

coffees in a blend with varying solubilities, you’re not adjusting the inten-
sity of each coffee’s flavour. You’re actually adjusting how disparate their About Barista Hustle
extractions will be. A sobering thought. Barista Hustle is an
I know of a few companies that measure and match the solubility of online blog, commu-
their blend components. It’s also really difficult to manipulate roasts ac- nity for baristas found-
cording to that kind of information. I have a very strong suspicion that this ed by Matt Perger,
is the root cause of why many specialty coffee professionals don’t like World Brewers Cup
blends. It’s not the blending itself, it’s the result of blending coffees with
differing solubilities.When performing quality control on blends for Sen- Champion 2012. It is well known amongst
sory Lab, I’ve been blown away by just how much better things are when Baristas worldwide as a source of advanced in-
the solubilities are matched. It’s night and day. When mismatched, the formation and equipment for coffee making, and
blend will taste jumbled and confused; it’ll be a big mix of under-, ideal- for the ultra premium coffee bean subscription.
and over-extraction. When matched, every coffee can be easily identified.

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