That pre-blend I mentioned yesterday turned out exactly as I hoped it would now that the coffee has had time to de-gas. It's a combination of coffees from Kenya and Sumatra roasted darker than I normally take the Kenya and lighter than I normally take the Sumatra (keeping good notes from product development helps). The signature flavor characteristics of both of these coffees are present in the blend, but with a more balanced expression than the coffees display separately.
That's going to go on the shelves later today as Holiday Blend. The thing I like about working on this blend each year is that I don't try to match a flavor profile that I've done previously (it's different every year) and I only need to worry about having enough coffee to sell it for a couple months. It's an opportunity to be creative and demonstrate what coffee blends can be when disconnected from normal business constraints.
