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that people anticipated (Weinberg, 2011). This creates a consistency across the board that desperately needs to

be reversed.

But blends aren’t supposed to be bad-tasting. While there is a tendency to burn, there are advantages:

“blended coffees create a smooth, well-rounded drinking experience,” author Emma Watson claims. “There’s

a real science, a skill to creating the perfect mix of coffee with roaster having to really understand how various

coffee flavours work with each other.” (Watson, 2015). But what is lost in the blending to utter consistency in

coffee? Blends may hold value, but they’re an all too easy way to hide low-quality beans and become mass-

produced; something that the United States tends to rely on commercially. However, there’s a changing

environment within the United States that may swing back toward single-origin coffee roasts. Countries like

Peru are ready to meet the new interest.

THE BEANS’ REAL DEAL

Figure 3. Bean Belt (Quist, 2012)

“It would be financially stupid for a large chain to buy high-quality coffee beans and use them for dark roast

coffee.” Brain Stoffel, a journalist for Medium Corporation, writes. “They can pay less for low-quality ones

that will yield — more or less — the exact same taste.” (Stoffel, 2017). With this logic, it would be almost

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