Coffee blends have an interesting place in today’s specialty landscape. Although it is a craft as old as coffee production itself, the notion of what constitutes a ‘good’ blend has never been more scrutinised. With the landscape constantly shifting and roasting companies taking various different approaches, we thought it was a good time to re-illustrate the intent behind our Five Senses blends.
Let's talk about the four major facets we try to achieve with each blend and explore the unique characsteristics of each one to help you find the perfect match for your taste and preferences.
Profile Brief
Each Five Senses blend has an overarching profile brief. Much thought and deliberation has gone into each of these briefs and, essentially, we designed each blend to service a different niche in the market space. For example, the Crompton Road blend’s brief reads, “Rich flavours, balanced and heavy bodied.” Our aim then is to deliver a consistent blend of coffees, roasted to our specifications which constantly fulfil this profile and overarching brief throughout the year.
Profile through Seasonality
Our main vehicle (other than roasting) for accomplishing our profile brief is utilising the various harvest cycles of different origins.
Shipping coffee to Australia, in a seasonal fashion, is a complex logistical operation. Yet we believe it is an ideal worth following.
Espresso machines offer so much control and variability that simply handing a coffee over without suggestions for brewing could lead to unintended flavour profiles which stray far from the original intention for the blend. Thus we have included a suggested recipe to best accomplish the profile brief.
As coffees come in and out of the blend due to seasonality, this recipe will be updated, ensuring that the blend can be prepared proficiently all year round.
Blend Profile
This section is largely tied to the Seasonality and Recipe sections. As different seasonal coffees come into the blends and the recipes alter consequently, so too will the varying intensities of certain characteristics of the blend.
Just to reassure you, this will be nothing too drastic. The profile will still be accomplished as mentioned above, but some changes will occur. For example, a blend’s acidity might become less sharp or lime-like and round out, like an orange’s acidity.
These days, there are more options for your daily drinker that you can shake a stick at. It can be overwheming, even if you thought you knew what you were after when you jumped online. Are you looking for yourself? Are you looking for that someone special? Are you looking for something to upstage the relative that's always banging on about his home coffee set up? So here is a little guide about our blends to find a new favourite, spark some gift ideas or just wake you up in the morning to face the day.
Dark Horse Blend
Don’t let the name fool you—this blend isn’t darker than any of our others. This coffee is a crowd-pleaser and truly the people's champion. Can't agree on what temperature the house should be? Two camps on which way around the toilet paper roll should sit? Let's make coffee the easy part! Everyone from your old man that has only ever drunk coffee that's this side of motor oil all the way to your cousin that brings his own conical burr hand grinder to weekends away. With notes of cooking chocolate, yellow fruit and a full-bodied profile, it's versatile enough for milk-based drinks, a stovetop percolator in the Airbnb cupboard, or a French Press while tackling Sunday's crossword.
Crompton Road Blend
The ultimate morning companion! Think milk chocolate, caramel and nice biscuit. With a nod towards more traditional flavour profiles, this coffee is balanced with chocolate flavours and a heavy body. What else would you want to wake up to? Add some cow's milk, almond milk, coconut milk, milk of the soy, Tiger milk (yes, it's a thing) or no milk. Crompty is an OG staple for Five Senses and a nod to our roots, named after our first home. Crompton Road is all about comfort and history.
Hi Fidelity Blend
Now the party has started. Sweet, delicate and floral. Put your family's coffee nerd to shame. Blend shouldn't be a dirty word and Hi-Fi is the best example of this. We have some outstanding single origin options and there is always a time and place for those, but this blend is an incredible option for your daily long black or the standard coffee for all your black coffee beverages at your cafe.
Tightrope Blend
Heard of it? Probably not. This blend is a real "if you know, you know" for us here at Five Senses and truly a blend with character. Layers of vanilla and stewed berries make this a real connoisseurs choice. Big naturally processed coffees that compose this blend give you those coffee goosebumps from first to last sip. This coffee will mysteriously evaporate if left unattended around the other coffee drinkers in your circle.
Let's be honest, you're more than likely here to grab the same coffee you get every couple of weeks and we get it—you like what you like. There's nothing wrong with that! However, you now have all the facts and this may encourage you to try something new. Go on, you know you want to!
