Coffee began as a straight or single origin, and it was probably an “estate” coffee, if only because people consumed the coffee that was grown closest to them. As trade developed, however, blending took over, and today, although the best coffees from a single estate or an origin coffee from a specific country can be drunk “straight” (or unblended), coffee is essentially a blended drink – just as champagne, cognac, and some wines are.

Indeed, some people would argue that the best coffee is achieved by blending the best characteristics from a range of different coffees – bright acidity from one, a floral aroma from another, full-bodied richness from a third – to make the best final product.

There have been times when blending has been something of an art form – Mocha Mysore is a popular blend of two quite different types of coffee, in which the soft richness of Mysore combines with the gamey flavour of Mocha – but on the whole it is done for commercial reasons.

Cheaper robusta is blended with arabica chiefly to reduce the price of the blend, and there can be no doubt that almost all blends are created to produce greater profit than if the individual coffees were sold separately.

The watchword in blending must be consistency. All commercial roasters are looking for continuity and consistency of flavour, and some regional roasters are known for their blends. It is good to experiment and try different coffee blends from various roasters in order to find your ideal flavour. The best introduction for a new coffee drinker might be a breakfast blend, which will be available from any good roaster. This is often made from a blend of African coffees for drinking with milk, or it might be a blend of two medium roasts of Kenyan and Colombian coffees to give a sharp, aromatic flavour to start the day. An after-dinner blend could come from the same source, but be darker roasted for extra strength. A strong but well-balanced after-dinner coffee might be a blend of mature coffee from Indonesia, made more racy and elegant by a touch of Kenyan and Costa Rican coffees.

The strongly flavoured, very dark-roasted coffee blends have an apparent initial bitterness, but you soon get used to it. The most extreme instance of power in a cup would be a dark-roasted continental blend, which, when made as espresso, produces that coffee with the characteristic bitter bite that is popular with southern Italians – although, it has to be admitted, with few others. Espresso blends from north Italy are roasted to a lesser degree, and they have a delicate defining balance and acidity that is more akin to fine wine.

Creating your own blends

There is nothing to stop you creating your own blends. Various styles of blending are found in different parts of the world, some leaning toward heavy Sumatran coffees, while others may be dominated by an acidic Kenya or the winy quality of beans from Ethiopia. Central American coffees – because of their more neutral flavours – very often form the basis of most good blends. When you are faced with a choice of 15 or 20 coffees, how do you make an informed choice? As with wine, it is, of course, a personal matter, but it does pay to take advice from specialist coffee merchants, such as the members of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) or the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE).

Coffee roaster and Speciality Coffee Association of Europe president Colin Smith advises: “A blend of Central American coffees will always produce an ideal, all-day coffee as long as they are not roasted too dark. Such a blend may include Santos (Brazilian) for its mildness, Colombian for body, and Costa Rican for its fruity acidity. The fruitiness of Papua New Guinea with Sumatran and Mocha will produce a rich brew at a darker roast. The addition of robusta will add an earthy flavour and give the blend more body.”

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