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”.
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.
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.
I stop overthinking my coffee and make a cup with mixed grounds.
Worst case it sucks and you just pour it out.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mystery blend
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.
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.
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.
mix 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…
I usually make the last pot a bit stronger
Same, we got good quality beans and expresso machine anyway, so having a blend is a surprising but wonderful cup of coffee.
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.
