The Method

When done properly, the right blend of great beans produces a coffee with no flaws just like a great Bordeaux. When done improperly, the result is a dull and flat coffee experience.

The traditional approach to blends is a one-step, stock-recipe, that results in an unsatisfactory coffee experience. At King’s Row Coffee, we draw on the assemblage method of great Bordeaux wines to leverage blending as an enhancement, rather than a shortcut.

The most complex fine wines rarely have more than 250 volatile molecular compounds contributing to their remarkable bouquets. By comparison, the Maillard reactions in the roasting process of a fine coffee can produce more than 800 flavor and aroma compounds. Every coffee bean has a whole spectrum of flavors and aromas that, while hidden at first, can be produced depending on the roasting level.

At its best, coffee can be a beverage of amazing richness and elegant complexity. But setting the needle at one temperature (traditional blends) leaves us with a narrow band of expression, a dull flavor experience, and untapped flavor potential, leaving so much hidden.

Rather than take the easy way out, King’s Row Coffee leverages the full flavor potential of each bean. The result is a full-spectrum, complex coffee experience that is unachievable in other blends and single origins.

I've heard you use the phrase "wine inspired roasting", what do you mean by this? The traditional approach is to roast different coffee varietals together, in equal amounts, at the same temperature and time interval. Would you cook a flank steak and a pot roast at the same heat for the same amount of time and expect both to come out perfectly? Of course not.Coffee varietals, like cuts of meat, vary in size, shape and composition and require individual attention.

We leverage the full flavor potential of the coffee bean with a Bordeaux-inspired approach that turns blending into an enhancement, rather than a shortcut. World class Bordeaux’s use the highest quality grape varietals, each chosen for a specific flavor to contribute to the cumulative complexity.

Drawing on this assemblage method, we choose 4 to 6 of the world’s highest quality single origins and roast each one individually in small batches to a customized temperature and time interval, in order to achieve specific flavors to be communicated in the finished blend.

After a cupping of each bean to verify that desired flavors have been achieved, the beans are blended in precise and unequal portions in order to achieve the wide range of expression needed to be perfect in the various settings that affect coffee flavor.

The result is a full-spectrum, complex coffee experience that is unachievable in other blends and single origins.

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