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Notes of: Dark Chocolate, Pecan, Nougat, Robust

It's that time of year again when things in New England tend to get cold and dark. We love the change of seasons and look forward to the holidays and activities that come along with winter. For our newest seasonal blend, we've created a dark roast coffee that you will want to keep sipping all winter long and that will keep you warm and cozy through even the harshest of winters.

Some notable attributes that make this coffee really stand out are:

• A rich flavor and enhanced sweetness that translates extremely well through emersion brewers like the French Press, Aeropress, and Clever Brewer for a full body
• Subtle notes of Pecan with a very long finish that perfectly complements the overall cup profile
• Complemented well by milk, cream, oat milk, almond milk, or eggnog for a nice winter holiday treat

Blend Components & Roasting Approach

The first component we chose for this blend is a wonderful coffee from Brazil of the variety called Yellow Bourbon. This coffee is a Natural process coffee and when taken to a medium/dark roast level, you achieve some incredible depth of flavor. This coffee is used to bring out the body in our Winter Blend as well as its Robust finish.

Roast Level: Medium/Dark Roast Type: Filter Roast – This coffee being Naturally processed means it will require the roasting drum to be cooler than normal when beginning the roast cycle (charge temperature). Once the coffee has begun the roast cycle, we bump up the temperature and keep the airflow to a minimum until first crack, which dramatically increases the body in the cup. Once first crack has begun, we cut the heat to half and increase airflow to draw out any smoke that the bean is letting off. Then we carefully allow this coffee to coast all the way to a medium/dark level. When done right, this coffee will also exhibit a very robust finish which we feel is very noticeable in this Winter Blend.

The second component we chose is a washed coffee from Ethiopia. Coffees from Ethiopia are typically very fruit forward in flavor and floral in aroma when roasted light. In this instance, we decided to apply a dark roast to this coffee and the results were impressive. We were able to add a complimentary layer of vibrancy to this blend, as well as a beautiful note of Nougat. Each year we are more and more amazed at what can be achieved when roasting high quality coffees from Ethiopia.

Roast Level: Dark Roast Type: Filter Roast - The goal when roasting this washed processed Ethiopian coffee was to roast it dark to access some of those much-loved “roasty” notes, but still retain as much vibrancy as possible. This is no easy feat, but when you are using a coffee naturally high in acidity, this is very achievable. We started with a hot drum and high flame energy and pushed this coffee rapidly into first crack. As soon as first crack began, we immediately increased airflow and significantly reduced flame energy for the remainder of the roast cycle.

As with most high quality specialty coffee, both of these coffees are protected by GrainPro hermetic storage solutions to protect the freshness of the coffee while protecting it from mycotoxins due to mold/fungus growth which can compromise the integrity of a specialty coffee

Recommended Brew Methods: AeroPress, Clever Brewer, French Press, Espresso, Mokapot and all electric drip coffee machines. 

*Like other fruits, coffee is seasonal and we love that! Because of this seasonality, we will occasionally switch out a component for another coffee variety with very similar characteristics. By changing the components with the seasons, we are able to offer the most vibrant coffee flavors all year round, which also allows for importing the freshest green coffee possible. 

Current blend components - 50% Natural Brazil Mogiana, 50% Washed Ethiopia Yirgacheffe