30th anniversary blend

Carl has been working on his 30th anniversary blend, since Phoenix Coffee will be celebrating his 30th anniversary roasting coffee here in Cleveland this September. The blend is a redesign of our Dark Espresso Blend, it is downright buttery and tastes good out of our Saeco machine at home, and damned good out of my French Press for the past three mornings, but so far hasn't brewed well in the Astra at the Roastery Espresso Lab. So we may not market it as an espresso blend, just a regular drip coffee blend.

He has told me that one of the components is Tanzanian Peaberry, which surprised me, because somehow the brightness of the Tanzanian is so subtle in this blend that I missed it entirely. I have tasted other blends with Tanzanian where the Tanzanian has been discordant, but here, it folds in nicely, like adding a drop of lemon juice to a broth. Hmmm... maybe this connects to my earlier post about the interaction of acids and salts. That principle must be an important part of blending. I think this is something that Carl just intuitively understands, but my analytical mind still wants to understand why blending is not just a matter of putting a few good-tasting coffees together. There are some really interesting and surprising interactions between the coffees.

So stay tuned... the new blend will be making its debut in the next two weeks.
1976 Blend?
Disco Blend?
Coffee Guru Blend?
Carl's Blend 30 years later?
Three Caffeinated Decades Blend?
Bald and Proud Blend?