Do you blend before the roast or after the roast

[Chris Kay]

Each coffee bean has a preferred roast profile.
Roasting them together is not always presenting the beans at their optimum.
Economy wise its best to pre blend. Meaning if theyre for yourself its fresher to do one batch of 250 grams than 4 or 5.

 

[BeanGrinder]

Alun_evans is right on target about moisture content. Here's what I would add...before you roast different beans in the same batch, blend and store them for 24 to 48 hrs - this will help the moisture to balance. Put them in a Tupperware, shake them around and leave them.

I'm like Alun - I usually blend post-roast, especially if the beans are different sizes and hardness. Roasting them separately gives me a more even roast for each type of bean.

Fluid-bed (hot air) roasters may have better success roasting blended green coffee.

AS Alun_evans said, pre- or post- is probably less of an issue for a home roaster than a larger commerical batch roaster. The only time I blend pre-roast is if it is a small batch of our house blend and the customer is waiting while I roast. I keep a few pounds blended "in the green" for that purpose.

Happy roasting!

-Steve

 

[Coffee Guy]

Boy I have to take my hat off to you this is a great question every day gourmet, I hope you don't mind if I call you E.D.G. otherwise I'd get writer's cramp every time I type your name :wink: In any case I agree with A.E.' s take and B.G.'s take, and believe it or not even N.W.J.'s take...As you can see I'm not sitting on the fence on this one :roll: Truthfully I have tried roasting each single origin individually and blending, and I've also blended and roasted, and like B.G. says if you let them mingle with one another for about 24 hours or so the moisture does balance itself some what. It doesn't hurt to blend prior to roasting especially when you are dealing with large batches that you are distributing to your commercial espresso accounts that use them up at a higher rate. But also keep in mind that you have to go through a lot of trial and error when you are developing your receipes. Only do this once your receipe is developed well enough to be consistant with your roasts. If you are doing smaller batches for let's say a coffee shop or cafe or can afford to spend the time to roast each individually and specialize in your own house blends in smaller quanities. Well that's my 2 cents worth...Time for me to catch a cup and reach a good book so I can get some sleep :wink: