July 28, 2025

Blends & Single Origins - what’s the difference?

Our Senior Roaster Ryan Webb guides you through the difference between Coffee Blends and Single Origin Coffees and what it means to you as the coffee drinker.

As is common with Speciality Coffee Roasteries in developed countries, at Trading Post we offer two variations of ‘coffees’. These are:

• Blends; a roasted coffee product assembled from green coffees sourced from multiple different coffee-producing-countries.
• Single Origins; a coffee product originating from one, single coffee-producing country.

Blends

A coffee blend is created by a roastery, most often, to give control over the flavour profile of a ‘house coffee’; the product that the roaster of the coffee wants its customers to primarily associate with the business. As a roastery, we don't follow this model. Instead, we opted to create and constantly offer multiple ‘house coffees' - our signature blends - Black Pearl, Green Monkey, Grand Espresso, Mono Loco and Mountain Water Decaf, and we follow this model for different reasons. 

It gives our customers more range of choice, allows our baristas to cater to a larger audience (in an ever-changing world of ranging palates) whilst also allowing our customers to indulge in their preferred coffee-drinking routine or ritual. By combining different ‘single origins’ into one coffee product the flavour will consist of the dominating notes of each origin. i.e. a Brazilian coffee tasting predominantly of chocolate, a Colombian coffee tasting mostly quite like brown spices and a Kenyan coffee tasting complex but with prominent flavours of rhubarb, when combined, will most likely (ideally) give tasting notes of chocolate, brown spices & rhubarb. It is not always this simple as there are other factors to consider, but it is the general theory of blend-crafting.

Single Origins

Any singular ‘coffee‘, for example, from Ethiopia, whether it be from one micro-lot (single estate farm) or a coffee sourced through multiple farms in a region (still considered a ‘single origin’) is going to have a flavour ballpark that is unchangeable to a roaster.

We can roast it darker, to bring out some body and darker notes, or roast it lighter to encourage more acidic notes, but we cannot change the fundamental flavours that the bean variety, soil at origin, green processing and storage has given to the product. i.e. if a natural processed, Red Bourbon coffee from Ethiopia tastes like raspberry, lemon and jasmine, we cannot have an extensive impact on those tasting notes. It’s a fixed variable. If we believe this coffee’s tasting notes would be pleasant, interesting and enjoyable for our customers, when tasting this coffee ourselves at the roastery, we will offer it in our stores on espresso and sell it in retail bags both online and in-store for home-brewing or otherwise. Our current Ethiopia Single Origin has those tasting notes atypical for coffee from the region; berry and bright citrus with Tropical Fruits, Raspberry and Lemon taking the lead.

Blends & Single Origins - what’s the difference?

From a consumption perspective, the difference between blends and single origins is the dealers choice.

A roastery like us, can recommend things like, for example, to brew our Grand Espresso blend on either an espresso machine, moka pot/stovetop or something akin to espresso. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it on filter methods, too. In my opinion, a blend is a crafted, identifiable product, elevated for purpose. Whereas a single origin coffee is a celebration of the effort gone into the bean at country it has been grown; processes, harvesting, soil upkeep amongst many things.

Which one is for you?

Ultimately, there is no right or wrong when it comes to choosing blends and single origins. There is no superior option between the two, but what matters is you're getting a coffee that you can brew the way you like, and has the tasting notes that appeal to you most.

Try taking our coffee quiz to find a coffee most suited to you and if you add it to your basket, use code BvS15 at checkout for 15% off any coffee you decide to try!

*BvS15 valid until 25/08/2025.