You Don’t Have to Be a Coffee Nerd to Design Your Own Blends At Home

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to create your own custom coffee blend? Hey…we feel ya.

Blending coffee flavors is one of the most satisfying parts of our jobs.

But you don’t have to be a coffee nerd like us to make your own personal blend.

In fact, while there are lots of pre-made custom coffee blends on the market, making a custom blend at home is easier than you might think.

And it’s the simplest and tastiest way to get the exact flavors you love in your cup of coffee.

Since you pick what goes into it and the exact ratios of each, you get a mean cup of joe exactly the way you want it.

So are you ready to try your hand?

Then let’s get this blending show on the road!

EASY STEPS TO GET STARTED

To make your very own coffee blends, you’ll first want to grab a couple of your favorite single-origin coffees (or ones you’ve been meaning to give a whirl but haven’t had a chance to yet).

The reason we like to stick with single origins for blending is that when you use a blend in your blend, you can lose some of the nuances and end up with a muddied flavor. It’s kind of like when you’re cooking. If you throw in too many ingredients, you won’t be able to appreciate the flavors of each individual ingredient.

Think about it – while chocolate and peanut butter make a tasty treat, and chocolate and peppermint go together like peas and carrots, if you mixed them all together, you probably couldn’t even choke them down.

Since we like to be able to taste all those amazing notes in our coffee, we believe single origin is hands-down the way to go.

So which single origins should you choose?

Well, that’s totally up to you and exactly why your blend will come out perfect for you. 

However, we can offer a couple of tips.

If it’s your first time creating a custom coffee blend, whether you plan to drink it hot or drink your coffee cold brew, you might want to try kicking things off with one single-origin that’s a light roast and one single-origin that’s a medium or dark roast.

For example, you could blend our light roast single-origin Peru Herrera Organic that hits all those good, sweet notes like vanilla, orange zest and pie crust with our Papua New Guinea, a medium roast with wildly exotic full-bodied brew is tangy and sweet like ripe mango and Darjeeling black tea.

Très exciting!

And be sure not to let yourself get stuck in a rut.

While you might be a big fan of certain types of roasts, blending is an adventure. Give other types of roasts a try and you might be surprised at the incredible flavors you come to appreciate.

FINDING THE BLEND RATIO THAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU

The next thing on your list for making your perfect custom coffee blend is to determine which blend ratio is right for you.

And the only way to do that is to experiment!

While you might start out with two parts of your single-origin light roast to just one part of the single-origin dark roast, adjusting as you go is the name of the game.

You can always use less of one, if you prefer one type of roast to the other. For example, while I love a dark roast, you might prefer a 60/40 or 70/30 ratio of light to dark.

There’s no right or wrong here. 

It all comes down to creating a blend that makes you smile.

So don’t stress. Just enjoy the process and the taste testing!

BONUS TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST CUSTOM COFFEE BLEND

And we’re not going to just drop you there.

Here are some extra bonus tips to help you create the best blend for you.

When making your custom blend, we don’t recommend choosing flavored coffee beans. However, if you happen to be a chocolate fan feel that using chocolate flavored beans are a must, be sure to go light.

In other words, spare the flavored beans or risk spoiling the cup. By adding just a little of your flavored beans of choice to another single-origin, you’ll still be able to pick out the nuanced flavors of the other coffee.

And once you’ve settled on a blend of two single-origins you really like, why not take it up a notch and try adding a third?

You might find yourself wondering where the blend has been all your life, but take it slow since small additions of a third coffee can completely change the taste of your blend.

Finally, if you’re finding that the subtle flavors of your blend just aren’t coming through like you hoped, we recommend using a higher ratio of the blend to water. This helps to concentrate the flavors, so that you can feel the love with every sip.

Remember, it may take time to find the blend that you’ve been looking for all your life. The key is to keep blending until you dial in on the flavor you want and get the blend you love.

TRY SOME OF OUR IN-HOUSE COFFEE BLENDS

At Metropolis Coffee, we carry a huge selection of coffees and coffee gear to make creating your perfect blend easier than ever. We offer single-origins that can help you achieve the flavor profile you’ve been looking for as well as pre-made, in-house blends with roasted to order goodness.

As self-confessed coffee nerds, we obsessively craft our coffees, so that you don’t have to be a coffee nerd like us to create your own blend, just a coffee lover.

Explore our coffees today and discover why we’re called the best Chicago coffee roasters!