Changing coffee beans: What do you do when there aren't enough beans to make a final brew?
Changing coffee beans: What do you do when there aren't enough beans to make a final brew?
In our house, we generally go for variety in our coffee beans. That means when we are finishing one bag, we're going to open a different bag with totally different beans inside.
What do you do if there aren't enough old beans to make a full serving of coffee?
It may be heresey, but I mix the final old beans with a few beans from the new bag and call it my "bonus blend".
I stop overthinking my coffee and make a cup with mixed grounds.
Worst case it sucks and you just pour it out.
Yeah, it's definitely ok to pour out your coffee if it doesn't taste good, it's also fine to drink a mediocre cup.
Never had that happen. Every time good beans of the nearly finished bag mixed with good beans of a new bag results in a surprisingly excellent cup.
It'd have to be a really really bad espresso to pour it out. There's no way a filter brew of blended beans could suck so much.
Unless it's a single origin bean, it's probably a blend anyway. I just blend the leftovers with the new beans and call it a good cup. I'll try to find a complimentary roast, though. e.g. mixing a light roast with a dark roast leads to an odd cup.
Honestly? I just fill the remaining weight in the grinder with whatever I've opened to brew next. Unless the old beans are getting stale, then I just bin the tiny remaining amount.
Mystery blend
Just like Dum Dums.
I call it my zombie blend. I have a mason jar that I add a little to each time I switch, then when I have enough to do a cold brew I use it for that. I find cold brew to be more forgiving with stale beans.
I just throw em in with whatever beans are next in line. It occurs to me now, though, I could espresso grind them and save it for some dessert...
Yeah, I stress about this a little as well. I'm all pumped to experience the new roast but by mixing in the old I know I'm not getting the signature of it for that first brew. I still do it though, I'm not gonna waste good beans and it's usually just fine. I find that the mix usually isn't as good as either bean on its own and it gives me some real respect for blend masters that are able to make good bean blends.
I usually make the last pot a bit stronger
I usually mix grounds and deal with a weird cup but you can also mix a small number of grounds with vanilla ice cream as a topping. I'm sure it can be an additive to a few other things, as long as it's fine enough but to disrupt the texture of things too much.
Sometimes if I'm feeling classy I'll grind the rest and set them aside to make cold brew with later. That's more forgiving so I do it to use up old, stale beans that I end up with for whatever reasons.
Most of the time I don't care and I just top off the weight with whatever I'm using next and drink whatever comes out. It's usually fine, and when it's not it's at least novel.
mix beans
Coffee grounds can be added to enhance almost any chocolate dessert, in my experience. I use such times as an excuse to make brownies (go go Costco's Godiva brownie mix!) for the kids and I.
I buy two bags at a time for flavor variety and to reach the free shipping threshold. I have one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.
I’ll usually order more before running out and will mix whatever seems like a good combo if one bag gets too low for a full dose on its own.
Same, we got good quality beans and expresso machine anyway, so having a blend is a surprising but wonderful cup of coffee.
I pour my old grounds out of my storage bag into a small bowl, pour my new grounds into my storage bag, then I pour the old grounds on top of my new grounds, and they should get used first.
I don't shake my storage bag to mix the old grounds and the new evenly.
I usually have a few bags on the go as well, variety is nice. Once there's not enough left for a cup I'll wait until another bag is in a similar state and combine. Sure it's not as fresh and sometimes it'll be a weird blend, but usually super good enough.
If there is like 12gr left, I’ll adjust my recipe a bit and make smaller cup. Especially if the coffee is very bold or funky.
Otherwise I’ll mix it with beans that are similar. I usually have four or five bags open.