Christmas Blend

Expect notes of Cinnamon, Red Apple, Brown Sugar

Our Christmas Blend brings two long-standing partners into one festive cup. Eighty per cent is washed Mariana from Aquiares Estate, on the slopes of Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano, where Diego Robelo grows coffee under more than 50,000 native shade trees. It gives the blend a clean, sweet base. The other twenty per cent comes from Jairo Arcila at Santa Monica, outside Armenia in Colombia's Quindío, where the cherries ferment alongside cinnamon sticks before drying. Together, they deliver notes of warm cinnamon, crisp red apple and brown sugar.

Jairo Arcila is a third-generation grower, and his sons Carlos and Felipe founded the export house Cofinet, which processes the family's coffee. The cinnamon goes in at fermentation, with the cherries, rather than on the roasted bean, so the spice comes from the coffee itself and not from a flavouring. Mariana is an F1 hybrid that Aquiares grows for its resilience to a changing climate. We roast the blend for espresso and filter alike. With milk, the cinnamon and brown sugar lead. Black, or as a pour-over, the red apple comes forward.