Heard a barista say single origin vs blend is a false choice

I was grabbing a pour over at a shop in Portland last Tuesday and overheard this barista telling a customer that picking single origin over blend is just marketing hype. He said the real question is roast profile and freshness, not where the beans came from. Made me think about how I've been turning my nose up at blends for no good reason. Anyone else had their mind changed by a random conversation like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

cora5186d ago

Totally agree with that barista. I started paying way more attention to roast dates and how fresh the beans are rather than just grabbing a single origin bag, and it made a huge difference. My local shop does a blend that's honestly better than most single origins I've tried, just because they nail the roast profile. It's more about how the beans are handled after they're grown than some fancy origin story.

margareto265d ago

@cora518 you're making me feel bad about my own coffee habits haha. I still get tempted by a pretty bag with "Ethiopia Yirgacheffe" on it even if it's been sitting on the shelf for six months. My kitchen counter is basically a graveyard of old beans that tasted great once but now just remind me of sadness. At least I'm consistent about it.