Fall, Coffee, and Blends

October 22, 2007 · Filed Under Blends, Coffee, Roasters, Seasonal, Texas Roasters 

While I am not generally such a fan of blends, sometimes a skilled blender can throw together a combination of coffees that direct the senses to relish in the cooler weather, diminishing daylight, and the dying of leaves.

 How common are seasonal blends?  

 I can think, off the top of my head, of quite a few roasters who will offer flavored coffee as a “holiday blend”.. although the coffee itself is not a blend.  In my mind, this is the wrong approach.  We want to taste the coffee, not the flavoring.  If we wanted brownie flavored liquid, we’d order a hot chocolate, or just stay at home and whip up some Swiss Miss.

Every year, Starbucks has a Christmas blend.  They start it a little early (November) and let it run until usually around mid January.

My question, dear readers, is how many of you like the idea of a seasonal blend?

Are there any TX roasters putting out any seasonal blends worth noting?

I’m genuinely curious to know.  Even as someone who generally doesn’t like the idea of the blending of individual coffees, I quite like the idea of an annual blend to commemorate the season.  If nothing else, it’s something to look forward to every year to keep customers coming back out of curiosity, if not anticipation.

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No Responses to “Fall, Coffee, and Blends”

  1. Andrew Scribner on October 23rd, 2007 11:01 am

    Egg-Nog Cafe Lattes are gross. :-(
    But nutty flavored blends are great, maybe with a little bit of earthy taste or smokyness to bring up the thought of a nice toasty fire. Its all a mind thing in my opinion, can we create the ambiance of a romantic winter scene through flavor and smell inside of a coffee cup? Maybe, why not try…it could be fun.

    I don’t know of any roasters personally doing this, but just like snowmen shaped cookies, why not?

  2. Brent patton on October 26th, 2007 9:09 am

    We have been offering a “Holiday Bend” for about 10 yrs now, and have had great Success with the sales of the coffee.
    Some customer request that we offer the Blend all year long.
    We look to find some really top shelf Single Origin Coffees that really shine and develop a blend that is unique and remarkable.

    and as mentioned it also builds customer anticipation for the coffee.

  3. Jason Haeger on October 26th, 2007 5:20 pm

    It sounds like the blend changes every year. Is this a culmination of new crop arrivals?

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