An instagram post by esbenpiper https://www.instagram.com/p/DTBAuwTgAE2/?igsh=MWR2anp4bmE5dmo0bQ== > I know many of my coffee friends will be skeptical here, and rightfully so. Blending has, in many cases, not been done particularly well in our industry. Too often it has been used to hide flaws or to standardize flavor rather than to elevate it. > > Is a blend less interesting to talk about than a single origin? > > Most often, yes. And personally, I will probably always continue to brew single origin coffees for pour over. But interest is not the same as quality, and storytelling is not the same as drinking pleasure. The goal is not to have the most easily explained coffee, it is to serve the most satisfying one, especially when it comes to your cappuccino. > > Many single origin coffees that are compelling on their own become flat, sharp, or one dimensional once milk is introduced. That is not a flaw in the coffee itself, it is a mismatch between intention and use. > > As always, wine offers a useful parallel. Champagne is more often than not a blend, not because producers lack access to great vineyards, but because blending creates harmony, longevity, and tension that a single site rarely achieves on its own. In Jura, many of the region's most expressive wines are blends across parcels, grape varieties, and sometimes vintages, built for vitality rather than single site purity. We drink wines that fit the moment, the food, and the company. > > Coffee is no different. There is a time for single origin coffees that express place with precision. Those coffees can stop you in your tracks and make you pause and reflect because of their depth and layers. But they are becoming rarer and more expensive. There is also a time for coffees designed to perform, to lift milk, to stay vivid through texture and temperature, and to be enjoyed more easily and more often. > > Wine shows us that blending can be a serious, quality driven craft when guided by intention, restraint, and respect for context. Coffee has often failed to meet that bar. The work now is to do it properly.