Coffee blends - Year-round vs Seasonal

Year-round. Seasonal. Festive. Limited edition. Single origin blend. When it comes to coffee blends, there’s just a few options out there. But what’s the difference between them all? We don’t want to blast you with War and Peace, so we’ll cover the last three later down the track. Today let’s look at the difference between the two most common blend types you’ll come across - year-round and seasonal blends. 

Year-round blends

Year-round blends are by far the most common type of coffee you will come across. They cover almost all of the typical house blends or range of blends that most roasters offer, regardless of composition. 

A roaster will typically design this type of blend to present a certain group of flavours. A typical house blend for example might be designed for milk (or mylk) based beverages and showcase a traditional chocolatey, nutty, caramel flavour combo. To compliment this, they might also design another blend to favour a fruity profile for black or filter beverages. 

Year-round blends are often comprised of coffees from larger lots or farms that produce more coffee per crop. The idea being that there should be enough of the same coffee to last until the new crop comes in to maintain consistency. Occasionally however some roasters may need to substitute one component for another coffee with a similar flavour profile if they run short. Don’t worry about it too much though; chances are you’ll never taste the difference! 

Seasonal blends 

Just as the name suggests, seasonal blends change depending on the time of year. Roasters often design these blends to showcase their latest fresh crop offerings, or to convey their take on seasonal flavours. 

Here in Australia for example, some roasters angle their summer seasonal blends towards a light, fruity, and playful flavour profile to suit a refreshing cold coffee for a hot summer’s day. Similarly, they may design a winter blend to show off their latest Mexican or Ethiopian arrivals. 

Seasonal blends bridge the gap between roasters’ year-round blends and their single origin offerings. They’re often comprised of smaller lots from small to medium sized farms. They give us the opportunity to experience something different, but will often be available for longer than a single origin or microlot coffee. This makes them a great choice for the home barista who might be looking to try something new, but still keep to something familiar.. 

Trying the difference

Now we’ve explored the differences between these two blend types, why not try some? Here at The Roast Collective, we stock a variety of both year-round and seasonal blends from a range of roasters. Keep your eyes peeled for the specially marked seasonal blends, or take our quiz and select the ‘Seasonal’ option. Or choose a year-round blend and become a pro with that bean. The choice is yours!