6
Useful Links:
Definitions of terms and numbers
Roast Pictorial Guide
Flavor Quality Analysis graphs

Sweet Maria's Green Coffee Blends

Sweet Maria's offers a few pre-blended coffees for use as espresso and dark roast. There are pros and cons to blending. We feel strongly that good coffee does not need to be blended ... we want to discover the "origin taste" in the cup, the singular essence of the place the coffee is from. This is lost in blending. However, there are reasons to blend. Here are some excerpts from our Blending Article ...
 

Our blends are made with our best coffees. We don't treat blends as a way to get rid of older coffees, or ones we need to clear out! In many cases, our blend components are sourced just for the blend, based on test roasts and cupping. They are not all comprised of coffees on our green coffee offering list.

While trying to present information about why not to blend, and why some roasters use blends as a way to reduce costs, to promote their name, and enforce customer loyalty, let me also add that many good small roasters are like us ... they are proud of their single farm, single origin offerings and they are proud of their blends! They too use great coffee in their blends. Whether a roaster adheres to the pre-roast or post-roast blend school, the cup cannot acheive excellence if average quality greens are used.

Blending Basics

Coffees from different origins are blended together for several reasons. Presumably the goal is to make a coffee that is higher in cup quality than any of the ingredients individually. But high quality arabica coffee should be able to stand alone; it should have good clean flavor, good aromatics, body and aftertaste. So one reason coffees are blended in the commercial world might be the use of lower-quality coffee in the blend. Another reason might be to create a proprietary or signature blend that leads consumers to equate a particular coffee profile with a particular brand image; consumers don't often call Starbucks by the origin names used in the coffee but simply as "a cup of Starbucks" as if the dark carbony roast tastes were somehow exclusive to that brand. Coffees are also blended to attain consistency from crop year to year. This is done with major brands that do not want to be dependent on any specific origin flavor so they can source coffee from the least expensive sources. Such blends generally reduce all the coffees included to the lowest common denominator. But let's put aside the less-than-noble reasons that coffee is blended and focus on details that concern the quality-oriented roaster.Before blending any high-quality coffees you should know the flavors of the individual coffees and have some goal for an ideal cup that cannot be attained by a single origin or single degree of roast. It would be a shame to blend a fantastic Estate coffee ...after all, you are supposedly trying to attain a cup that exceeds the components and its not likely you can do this with top coffees. And given that you have both a reason to a blend and a logical process for doing it, there will be little need for more than around 5 coffees in the blend. Blends with more than 5 coffees are considered to be fanciful, or indulgent, or confused by more than a few expert coffee tradespeople I know.

The Case Not to Blend

While blending requires the expert skill of knowing each ingredient coffee, having a clear cup profile as the goal in mind, and knowing how to achieve it, blends should not be considered a "higher" form of coffee by any standard. As indicated above, the opposite case is often true. For me personally there is much more satisfaction in enjoying single-origin and estate coffees roasted to their peak of flavor. In my opinion, even a so-so single-farm coffee is more intriguing than a blended cup ...even if the blend is admittedly superior! Why? Because when I taste an unblended coffee it is the end result of a long road from crop to cup, without any one person deciding what I will be experiencing. While I enjoy that cup, I like to think about that process, and it informs my opinion about that region or that specific farm. I enjoy feeling connected to the origin of the coffee and the process in this way...

Blending Before or After Roasting

I get a lot of questions about blending before or after roasting ...which is better? Well, if you have an established blend it certainly is easier to blend the coffee green and roast it together. If you are experimenting with blend ingredients and percentages you will want to pre-roast each separately so you can experiment with variations without having to make a new roast with each change. The case for roasting coffees individually is strong with the Melange type blend (see below) and with a handful of particular coffees, such as Robusta in espresso blends. Some coffees are more dense, or have extreme size variations. These will roast differently than standard wet-processed arabicas. All dry-processed arabicas require roasting to a slightly higher degree of temperature. But in most cases the coffees can be roasted together and I would advise this: roast the coffee together until you encounter a situation where the results are disappointing and for success you must roast them separately. Every coffee roasts a bit differently but there is a great deal of averaging that occurs between coffees in the roast chamber, especially in drum roast systems. And then there's the coffees that do not roast evenly as single origins either: Yemeni, Ethiopian DP coffees, etc. Uneven roast color is not a defect, and only when it occurs in a wet-processed arabica that should roast to an even color (and sometimes not even in this case) is it of any consequence.Please see the reviews of the blends below... we do not tend to rate some blends with cupping numbers, especially with espresso. Espresso must be cupped as espresso and standard terms are undeveloped at this time

More Information: Our Blending Article.


Our Blends: (You will need to read the reference page to interpret terms and numbers used below)
Sweet Maria's Moka Kadir Blend
Blend:
Grade:
4,5
Region:
Hararghe, Sidamo-Limu, Yemen
Mark:
Sweet Maria's
Processing:
Dry-Processed
Crop:
All current-new crop
Appearance:
1d/300gr
15 to 18 scr
Varietal:
Heirloom Arabica Moka

 

Frag/Aroma:
86/88
Notes: This is a powerful blend of coffees from the Red Sea area, from Yemeni coffees on one side, and Ethiopian coffees on the other. I intended for the exotic espresso shot or filtered coffee. It incorporates three excellent Dry-Processed coffees that contribute to a huge body, strong bittersweet chocolate roast-taste, and intense fruity aromatics. Since all are Dry-Processed and have nearly equivalent denties and moisture contents, this an acceptable pre-roast blend (as opposed to blending coffees after roasting them separately). None these coffees roast to a uniform color individually, which is part of their character and complexity in the cup. My purpose here is to offer a precisely blended coffee I love, and save you from buying the coffees separately. The Yemeni, Sidamo and Ghimbi coffees we use for our Moka Kadir are stocked just for the blend, which makes it hard (well, impossible) for you to recreate this though; and I feel the coffees need to be pre-blended and equalize moisture content with eachother, something that works well in large batches.
***Rating numbers to the left are for filter-drip or French Press coffee, but this blend is great for espresso too. For espresso, let this coffee rest at least 48 hours ... I think it's best at 3+ days
*** PLEASE NOTE: Because this blend has dry processed, hand sorted coffees in it, it is not unusual to get the occassional rock or dirt clod. Be sure to cull through the green and the roasted carefully - one small dirt clod can really ruin a pot of coffee (and small rocks can get jammed in a grinder).
Acidity:
85
Body:
90
Flavor:
90
Aftertaste:
87
Roast: Full City+, or Darker. Like other DP (Dry Process) North Africans, roasts are uneven. Lighter roasts than this can be potent and bright, but the brightness seems a little askew with the overall pungent cup character ---so I prefer a darker roast to tone down brightness and underscore chocolate roast tastes. Let the "vanguard" beans enter 2nd crack, and the lags will be at City stage.
Overall:
87.6
Compare to: eating a bar of bitterweet chocolate while sniffing flowers, or wild, DP, natural North African/Yemen coffees.
Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium to Bold / Fruity, earthy, winey

Sweet Maria's
Moka Kadir Blend
$5.60 add to cart
$10.64 add to cart
$24.36 add to cart
$46.48add to cart
$86.24 add to cart


Sweet Maria's Espresso Monkey Blend
Blend:
Sweet Maria's
Espresso Monkey
Blend
Coffees:
My secret, mister!
Processing:
Mostly DP
Crop:
All current-new crop
Appearance:
15-17 screen
Varietal:
varies
Frag/Aroma:
-
Notes: My favorite espresso blend intended solely for pump and piston type espresso extraction. This is a sweet but punchy little cup, and roasted farly light it is a shock to the palette, but has great body and a smooth, sweet, stunning aftertaste. The joke behind the name: I imagine a fancy roaster charming a client in the cupping room, effusing about their "Master Roaster" and "Master Blender" and "Master Cupper", all in the trade for decades of course. Then I imagine the scene in their warehouse where hired apes rip open bags of green coffee and randomly hurl handfulls into the hopper for roasting. In other words, there's a lot of BS in the coffee trade, and blending is NOT really a noble art ...it's done to save cost and disguise coffee defects 80% of the time.
The Irony? I have never worked so hard to develop a blend as this one, designed to cup well at a full range of "espresso" roasts, and developed as a pre-blend (all coffees roasted together to same degree of roast). Am I going to tell you exactly what is in it? No! I am feeling a bit snobby today! Another tip: use my blend as a base for your experiments --like adding 10% good Robusta to alter the cup. (PS: Premium Robusta availablility from Sweet Maria's is provided on a need-to-know-basis :-)
Acidity:
-
Body:
-
Flavor:
-
Aftertaste:
-
Roast: I prefer Northern Italian style re: Illy's Normale blend. I like this blend best when the roast is stopped just as second crack becomes rapid, and shows no sign of slowing down. Actually, I like it a lot lighter than that too! I don't like this roasted to a dark, dark roast stage, Full French or Italian. This is because Brazilian coffees become ashy and began to bitter when roasted extremely dark. I believe strongly in a 36+ hour resting period before use for espresso extraction! It wont kill you to use it sooner... but you might notice sharp unpleasant notes.
Overall:
-
Compare to: Darn fine espresso. This was cupped exclusively as espresso, not traditional cupping, so cupping numbers are omitted. I dont like it when brewed as filter coffee! Also see our article on Blending for more about espresso
As espresso: Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium / Balance, complexity, fruit

Sweet Maria's
Espresso Monkey Blend
$5.00 add to cart
$9.50 add to cart
$21.75 add to cart
$41.50add to cart
$77.00 add to cart

Sweet Maria's Classic Italian Espresso Blend
Country: Brazil (multiple regions), Guatemala, India Grade: - Region: - Mark: -
Processing: Dry-processed, Wet-processed Crop: All current-new crop Appearance: .5 d/300gr, 17 to 18 Screen Varietal: Arabica and Robusta
      Dry Fragrance: - Notes: Espresso is a basic drink, not a fancy concoction. With a bit of dread that espresso is now being transformed into a wide range of drinks, from something squirted out of a dispenser at a gas station mini mart to a 8 ounce coffee that just happens to come from an espresso machine, we wanted to create a blend that was essentially espresso ...the rest is up to you. Espresso does not ask for much, but it demands that the basic requirements are met: You need a good fresh espresso blend, the right grind, the right amount of compacting of the grind into the filterbasket, and a machine that delivers adequately heated and pressurized water in a timely way. The result is 1 to 2 oz. of a aromatic, intense drink with a long, long aftertaste. Our contribution to your successful espresso-making is this fundamental espresso blend that you would find at a backstreet Italian espresso bar. It has excellent caramel, excellent body, great aromatics, and a strong, long aftertaste. This blend contains 12.5% Robusta which increases the caffeine content of the espresso slightly, and adds body and crema. Robusta also helps espresso to cut through in cappuccino, so this blend is recommended for milk drinks ...except Latte, which is simply the Big Gulp version of an espresso beverage and will hopefully fall out of fashion soon! Please note: on 11-1-03 I changed the lot/type of robusta. The new robusta is a premium Indian, has more chocolate, less wild flavors, with a nice clean chocolate-pungent aftertaste.- Tom
Wet Aroma: -
Brightness- Liveliness: -
Body- Movement: -
Flavor- Depth: - Roast: Full City+ to Vienna for Northern Italian Espresso. Also see our article on Blending for more about espresso. An important roast note: do not underroast this coffee: It should at least be roasted a few snaps into the 2nd crack. Robusta is terrible when it is underroasted. But conversely the Brazils will become ashy and began to bitter when roasted extremely dark. So try to stick to the Full City+ to Vienna window if possible, and rest the coffee 48+ hours after roasting. If you notice a tingly "baking soda effect" in your mouth, then the coffee could use more rest.
Finish- Conclusion: -
Score: - Compare to: Traditional Italian Espresso -this blend was developed cross-cupping green samples brought from Italy
As espresso: Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium to Bold / Balance

Sweet Maria's
Classic Italian Espresso Blend
$4.80 add to cart $9.12 add to cart $20.88 add to cart $39.84add to cart $73.92 add to cart

Sweet Maria's Liquid Amber Espresso Blend
Coffees: A secret! Grade: All top grades  
Processing: Dry-processed, Wet-processed, Monsooned Crop: All current-new crop Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 17-19 Screen Varietal: Arabica and Robusta

 

 

Notes: I wanted an espresso blend that was potent, sharp, intense; but without excessive mustiness, fruitiness, or earthy flavors. But I wanted it also to be complex and hint at all of those tastes, and more! Here's the product of a lot of overly-caffeinated days of experimentation: the Liquid Amber Espresso Blend. It is named for the rich color and multitude of crema it produces. The blend was fairly complex to come up with ... after I found the general tastes I wanted, emerging from aroma and first sip through the very long aftertaste (if I don't cleanse my palate with water I will taste this coffee for 20+ minutes) I needed to play with the exact percentages. The specific blend, hey ... it is my secret! But I will tell you that the 5 coffees that really worked toward the flavor goal I imagined ended up surprising even me! I will say that there are Dry-processed, Wet-processed, and Monsooned coffees in here. I will also admit that there is a modicum of quality Robusta. And to keep this a mystery, the blend contains some coffees not on our list. Extracted in a properly-functioning, clean espresso machine the blend produces a lot of crema, making the mouthfeel very thick and creamy. The sharp pungent bite to the blend is not bitter, and fades into a rich tobaccoy-milk chocolate aftertaste. If properly roasted (not scorched) the blend will not be ashy, something I really don't like in espresso. (With any espresso, if the aftertaste turns acrid and bitter after 3 minutes or so, clean the heck out of your machine.) In the Liquid Amber Blend there are hints of fruit, mushrooms, sweet smoke, caramel, and cream in the extended aftertaste. This blend works extremely well in milk drinks, meaning by that a true cappuccino (6-9 oz.) or machiatto. I make no claims for Latte ... is there any coffee that tastes potent mixed down 8:1 in a Slurpee-sized cup of milk?Please note: on 1-05 I changed the type of Monsooned coffee. It is paler, sweeter, and is not a coffee we offer on our list. It's a special purchase for the blend to increase sweetness and reduce mustiness. -Tom
Liquid Amber Note: If the coffee arrives and doesn't appear evenly blended, this is because of the vibration during loading and shipment. I can positively guarantee your that the blend was packed in the exact, correct proportion (we are extremely careful about this), but the difference in size/density of the Monsooned/non-Monsooned can make them separate a bit with vibration. Just give it a stir....
Roast: I advocate a Northern Italian style roast (lighter espresso roast, really a Vienna roast, stopped 30-45 seconds into 2nd crack), but the blend works very well at the darker Southern Italian style roast (a full French roast actually, at the peak of a rapid 2nd crack). Either way, get this into 2nd crack and allow proper resting that espresso demands: 48+ hours is best. This blend works great in air and drum roast machines and I developed it testing-roasting on both. If you notice a tingly "baking soda effect" in your mouth, then the coffee could use more rest.
As espresso: Intensity/Prime Attribute: Bold / Pungency, Power, Aftertaste
Compare to: Very potent espresso blends … Illy has a blend that is somewhat similar but is not domestically available. Other blends with monsooned have a much higher percentage of monsooned coffees and are lighter in body, and a little more musty in flavor.

Sweet Maria's
Liquid Amber Espresso Blend


$5.30 add to cart $10.07 add to cart $23.06 add to cart $43.99add to cart $81.62 add to cart

Sweet Maria's Decaf Espresso "Donkey" Blend
Country: Brazil,Sumatra, Ethiopia + ___ Grade: Top Grade Region: Variety Mark: WP Decaf and Natural Decaf
Processing: Wet-processed, Dry-Processed Crop: All current-new crop Appearance: 1 d/300gr, 16/17 scr Varietal: Varies
 
Notes: People have requested that we offer a pre-blended espresso, a decaf counterpart to the Espresso Monkey blend. Working under the codename of the "Donkey Blend" (don't ask how all these ridiculous names started ---I think it was George's fault) we came up with this. It is intended to be used several ways. As an all-decaf espresso blend I wanted it to work well under a wide variety of roasting conditions, in terms of both lighter Northern Italian type espresso roasts (the equivalent of a Full City to Vienna Roast) and the darker Southern Italian type roast (roasted to a French roast). I also wanted a good espresso from both air and drum roasters, and I wanted good crema. This is a lot to ask from a decaf, but I think this blend works very well. While origin tastes are muted in decafs, I think the bittersweet roast tastes from this blend are very good. My second focus was having the blend not have too much character so that it can be used as a base blend for a "low-caf" espresso. This means it should work well as 50-75% of your blend where you add other caffeinated coffees to give more aromatics and flavor: my choice would be a Ethiopian Harar, or a Central American (see our Blending Basics article for more). Why do we call this Donkey Blend? Frankly, I can't remember .. it just is...
Roast: As with all decafs, remember they roast faster and have the propensity to get away from you and end up darker than you expected. So attend to the roaster and stop the roast manually if possible to get it just right. Roast preference with espresso is up to you. I personally prefer the lighter N. Italian roast -just a bit mire than a Full City.

As espresso: Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium / Balance, fruit

Compare to: Good, balanced, clean sweet espresso!

Sweet Maria's
Decaf Espresso Donkey Blend
$5.60 add to cart $10.64 add to cart $24.36 add to cart $46.48add to cart $86.24add to cart

Blend:
Sweet Maria's French Roast Blend
Coffees:
South American, Indonesian,
Ethiopian, East African
Processing:
Mostly Washed
Crop:
All current-new crop
Appearance:
16 to 18 screen
Varietal:
varies
 
Frag/Aroma:
84/86

Notes: This is my favorite blend designed to endure the rigors of dark roasting, and produce excellent pungent tastes, attractive bittersweet/carbony flavors, and great body. Body is so important to a darker roast. Extended roasts incinerate body, and a thin cup of burned water IS NOT what French Roast coffee is about! You do not want to fully burn up all the sugars, you want some degree of bittersweet, overlayed on the carbony charcoal tones of the burned woody structure of the bean itself. You want something still volumnous, and something sharp that stings you a bit down the center of the tongue. Well, at least if you do want these things, then we share common ground, and you might like my blend.

Please note that we made changes to improve the blend on 7/20/01. I have changed the percentages and added a new coffee that became available that really enhances the chocolatiness in the Vienna stage, and the pungency in the darker French stage

Acidity:
79
Body:
88
Flavor:
86
Aftertaste:
90
Roast: I like this blend best roasted to the point where 2nd crack slows, but has not yet ended. Roast to the absolute end of 2nd crack, and you might as well be drinking roasted radish. I believe strongly in a 24 hour resting period for darker roasts.
Overall:
85.5
As French Roast: Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium to Bold / Balance, Body
Compare to: Watch out Peets, I got your number!. This was cupped as a dark roast, cupping numbers omitted. Also see our article on Blending for more about the subject.

Sweet Maria's
French Roast Blend

$5.00 add to cart
$9.50 add to cart
$21.75 add to cart
$41.50add to cart
$77.00 add to cart

Sweet Maria's Puro Scuro Blend (Italian; Pure Dark)
Country: All Indonesians and Africans Grade: Tops …

Region:

Mark:

Asst

Processing: Wet-, Semi- and Dry-Processed Crop: new /current crop(s)

Appearance:

Varietal:

.4 d/300gr, 16-19 Screen

Asst

Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.6 Notes: We have been working on this blend for a very long time. It started with a lucky accident about a year ago. I was working with some premium Sumatras and a combination of Yemen and Ethiopian coffees toward a Mohka-Java blend. But I didn't want it to be all bass note, all deep end. It is the problem with some blends intended for darker roast levels - there is a big "hole" in the cup profile, and that hole is located in the medium/bright range of the cup. I stumbled across a combination of coffees (no, I am keeping this one a secret!) that could do all this, and offer some nice aromatics to a darker roasted blend. Another key factor: I also wanted a blend that had a darkly sweet finish, not ashy, not carbony. With this blend I wanted to prove that I am not anti-darkroast. The problem is, too many dark roasts are simply burned. Roast this as intended and I think you will find the cup decription and the name to be fitting! Oh, the name? I wanted to call it Barnabas Blend (from my favorite '60s TV show Dark Shadows) but Puro Scuro has a better ring to it, and says a lot about the cup: Pure Dark, in Italian. So the sole remnant of the Dark Shadows theme is our motif for the coffee, a bat. Overall, this blend boasts exceptional depth - yes it is one deep cup ... what we call "good coffee to brood by." The blend leaves a lingering, graceful finish on the pallate. The target roast range is from Full City+ with a few snaps of 2nd crack, to a Light French roast. In between those two, is a Vienna roast where this blend excels. My favorite is a roast stopped about 20-30 seconds after the first sound of 2nd crack. (Don't think that roasting it to darker French stage makes it more intense; it is most intense at a Full City+, but don't go lighter becase it has odd baked flavors at the City+ stage). There is some variability in the cup results based on how long it is rested, how it is brewed and (mostly) because this blend involves a healthy proportion of dry-processed coffees. If you want every batch to be exactly the same, don't buy this coffee. If you like to taste a range of flavors, and enjoy complex shifts in character, then you will enjoy the Puro Scuro. The cup has intense sage and anise herbiness, with lingering dried apricot notes. Alternately, I get intense spiciness in the cup; clove with jasmine hints, over a darker tobaccoy flavor. There is a sweet mollasses note in the aromatics that reemerges in the finish. I think it makes excellent espresso too; a rare but accurately-named "dual-use blend."
Wet Aroma (1-5) 4.2
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.4
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 9.3
Body - Movement (1-5) 4
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.7
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium to Bold intensity / Darkly sweet
add 50 50 Roast: Full City+ to Light French, with Vienna being ideal. That will be about 10-30 seconds after the first sign of 2nd crack, depending on the roaster. Here's what that looks like. The ideal final roast temperature is in the 450-465 farenhiet range. Now some of the "darkly sweet, non-ashy" cup results depends on the person doing the roasting: you can't burn this to a crisp and expect it to be sweet because it will simply taste like charcoal-soaked hot water. Here's what that looks like. But if you keep the roast within the target "window" between Full City+ and Light French, I think you'll find the cupping description to be quite accurate. Rest it a day and enjoy. Brewed coffee tip: best in a French Press! Espresso tip: allow 2 days rest.
Score (Max. 100) 88.2 Compare to: Overall, a deep flavor profile found in Indonesians, with the complexity of Yemen and Harar, and a sweet aromatic brighter note punctuating the cup.

Sweet Maria's
Puro Scuro Blend
$5.40 add to cart $10.26 add to cart $23.49 add to cart $44.82add to cart $83.16 add to cart

Central America: Costa Rica | Guatemala | Honduras | Mexico | Nicaragua | Panama | El Salvador
South America: Bolivia | Brazil | Colombia | Ecuador | Peru
Africa/Arabia: Burundi | Congo | Ethiopia | Kenya | Rwanda | Tanzania | Uganda | Zambia | Zimbabwe | Yemen
Indonesia/Asia: Bali | Flores | India | Java | Papua New Guinea | Sumatra | Sulawesi | Timor
Islands/Blends/Others: Australia | Hawaii | Puerto Rico | Jamaica | Dominican | Chicory | Sweet Maria's Blends
Decafs: Water Process, Natural Decafs, MC Decafs, C0-2 Decafs
Robustas: India Archives: A - COL | COS - F | G - K | L - P | R - S | T - Z | 2005-2006 | 2004 -2003 | 2001-2002 | Pre-2000
Tom's Sample Cupping Log | Moisture Content Readings

Click here to return to our Green Coffee Offering Page. Click here to go to our Shopping Cart System
This page is authored by Thompson Owen and Sweet Maria's Coffee, Inc. and is not to be copied or reproduced without permission
Search our Site