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.
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.
I'm thinking of going with 50% Kenya, 50% Sumatra, pre-blended and using a roasting plan quite different from either of the components. The press I'm drinking now tastes pretty good, but that's on approximately 0 rest so I want to taste how it does as drip tomorrow.
The cat didn't come to bed with me last night, which is unusual. Maybe she doesn't like the new sheets I put on? When I left for work today she was sitting on the heat vent in the kitchen (I turned the heat up because the bedroom was a little too cold) so it could be a warmth thing as well. She rarely wants to get under the blankets.
Looked at the report for how my city voted and it's kind of all over the place (not uncommon for Wisconsin), though apparently we can all agree that federal policy on pot is wrong. I've no personal interest in the stuff, but there's plenty of evidence that it shouldn't be schedule 1, that it's less harmful than lots of stuff that's legal for recreational use, and that the war on drugs has had a massively negative impact on society and needs to be rolled back.
I don't think I've ever had a number as high as today's when I went to vote. On the one hand, it's great to see people actually carrying out their civic responsibility. On the other hand there were more people trying to help me get to the right place and I'm just like, I go there, same as I do every election.
Author of Typica software for coffee roasters.