Lecture Description
For all the focus on single origin and micro-lots within specialty coffee, blends remain on the menus of many roasters, albeit often viewed as a necessity for an espresso at best, or a way to camouflage cheap or past-their-prime beans at worst.
This panel, will explore blends through three angles:
Dr. Verônica Belchior will explain blending in coffee from a chemical point of view, showing how the interaction of different volatile compounds, sugars and acids in the roasting process can bring balance to blends.
Mihaela Iordache will explore blending from a roasting point of view, placing it in the cultural context of France. By relating coffee blending to the French wine & spirits traditions, she will frame blending as a form of storytelling that also helps to deal with some practical challenges, from creating consistency despite seasonality to assuring a balanced flavour profile.
The panel will be moderated by Noa Berger, Sociology PhD candidate at the EHESS and coffee journalist (Standart, 25 Magazine), who will also present historical and sociological perspectives on blending.
Date: Thursday, June 22, 2023
Time: 2:15pm - 15:15pm EET
Location: Lecture Room 2
Presenters:
Verônica Belchior
Trainer, Veronica Belchior - Coffee and Science
Belchior is a biologist, Msc in Ecology, PhD in Food Science and currently working on her postdoctoral degree in Food Science. Belchior is also a Q-grader and has been working with coffee for 14 years, starting as a barista, then quality manager for a coffee exporter, when she also became part of The Coffee Sensorium Project. Today she has her own company offering courses and consultancy in sensory analysis and chemistry applied to cupping, roasting and extraction, and she also works for an export company, Cocolo Coffee Export.
Mihaela Iordache
Head Roaster & Chief of Operations, Belleville Brûlerie Paris
Mihaela Iordache is the head roaster and COO of Belleville Brûlerie in Paris, France. For the past 5 years, she has focused on blending in specialty coffee and helped launch a series of award-winning Assemblages composed with exceptional single terroir coffees. Mihaela won the 2019 Roast Masters title and has given talks at the Amsterdam and Paris Coffee Festivals.
Noa Berger
PhD Candidate, EHESS
Noa Berger is a Sociology PhD candidate at the EHESS, Paris. She studies the specialty coffee market in Brazil and France.
Noa regularly speaks on coffee culture and history at events (e.g Re:Co Boston, WOC Berlin, Expo Boston), write for journals and magazines (25 Magazine, Standart, Le Monde and Haa'retz). She was nominated for a "Sprudgie" for best coffee writing, included in the "Sprudge 20" list.
Her co-edited book (with Yahel Shefer), "Coffee: East and West" was published in 2021 by the Jerusalem Islamic Arts museum.