Seattle Sunrise

Beans: Seattle Sunrise
Roaster: Seattle Coffee Works
Roasting degree: Medium

【Impression】
Medium, nutty aroma, soothing, lightly citric, cardamon, caramel, cinnamon, smooth texture, high lemony tone, white grape fruits, soothing acidity, a touch of lime and orange, mellow but sheer sweetness, light bitterness bottoms flavor, creamy, raw cacao, dark chocolate like cacao flavor, cacao like sweetness as a long lasting aftertaste.

【Note】
According to Seattle Coffee Works, this blends makes the best cup in the morning and mix of Central American beans with Medium roast.  Seattle coffee still provides better mouth feel when roasting degree stays medium dark to dark.  Especially, at Seattle Coffee works, cup flavor is impressive with deeper roasting.  

Grit City Blend

Beans: Grit city Blend
Roaster: madrona Coffee Co.
Roasting Degree: full City
Origin/Area: N/A
Grade: N/A
Screen: N/A
Defect: N/A
Altitude: N/A
Variety: N/A
Process: N/A 





【Impression】
Medium, sweet orange, caramel, cacao, touch of lemon peel as a top note, vanilla, almond flower, smooth mouth feel, mild, citric acidity, pearly, lightly lemony, lime, mellow sweetness, cacao nib, dates sugar, slightly tangy bitterness,dried burdock root, apricot kernel, almond, Chinese leafy herb mix, roasted almond like sweetness as a long lasting after taste.

【Note】
Medium dark but smooth and clean enough for hand brew.  This has more room to develop flavor balance and gives a sense that "coffee geek" blends beans to seek fine flavor coffee to fulfill his cravings for fine flavor.     

valkyrie blend

Beans: Valkyrie Blend
 ※Blend of 50% Sumatra, 25% Ethiopian Harrar, 
     and 25% French Roast. 

Roaster: Valhalla Coffee Co.
Roasting Degree: City to Italian
Origin/Area: N/A
Grade: N/A
Screen: N/A
Defect: N/A
Altitude: N/A
Variety: N/A
Process: N/A

【Impression】
Medium to medium dark, savory aroma, dark chocolate, mellow roasted nuts like aroma as a base note, followed by herbal, a touch of high tone citrus peels as a top note, light touch, juicy mouth feel, fresh plum like flavor over taken by tangy bitterness, smokey, lemony acidity, lime, cinnamon, a touch of natural but thick sweetness hidden, prune, dates sugar, a smorky bitterness and tangy-ness as a long lasting after taste.
Overall, very interesting and unique flavor as beans do.  Flavor significantly changes not only by the brewer but also by time to time.  It is difficult to describe a profile of this blend and may need more time to repeat try and error.

Prologue ~ Storyville's House Blend

Name:　Prologue
Roaster: Stryville coffee company
Roasting degree: Full City

【Flavor scale】
Aroma: 3
Sweetness: 4
Acidity: 2
Bitterness: 3
Richness: 3          ※Grade 1 to 5 

【Impression】
Medium, sweet and mellow, milk chocolate, a touch of cardamon, well balanced sweetness and bitterness, no notable acidity detected in hot cups, mild, hot chocolate like sweetness, a bit earthy as African beans, cinnamon, raw cacao like sweetness as a long lasting after taste.

【Note】
According to them, Prologue is the signature blend, only one Stryville has, sourced from three continents.  If you prefer decaf, pick epilogue blend. 

Stryville is simple.  There are only two kind of coffee beans they carry:  Prologue and Epilogue.  This simplicity make things easier if for people feeling tired of choosing specialty beans by regions and estates.  The Prologue is the signature blend, also the only one coffee they carry besides decaf, Epilogue.  This makes much easier for both customers and the roaster, but much bigger challenge for the roaster to present who they are through one blend.  
Signature means does not change.  However, unchangeable matter gradually changes underneath along the change in environments.  Hope Stryville will stay as challenging as they are now from now on.  

corazón blend

Beans: corazón blend
Roaster: cafe de corazón
Roasting degree: Medium  

【Impression】
Medium dark, cacao, chocolate aroma as top note, scented w/ citrus, lemon peel, smoky, watery, tangy bitterness followed by dates sugar like vague sweetness, smokey bitterness as a long lasting aftertaste.  

Seasonal Special Blend ~Winter 2013~

Beans: Seasonal Special Blend ~Winter 2013~
Roaster: Akai-mi Coffee
Roasting Degree: N/A, After-mix ～　Blend

【Impression】
Medium, aromaful, lemony citric impression followed by Almond flower, Jasmine, sweet aroma as roasted almonds, hazelnuts, toasty, crisp, focused, well balanced bitterness and sweetness, round, hazy sourness follows after dignified sweetness, layers of sweetness raps dark chocolaty bitterness & spiciness, mellow sweetness as a long lasting aftertaste.
Tangy bitterness grows when cup is chilled.  

【Note】
Warm winter welcome enjoyment from Akai-mi coffee.  This year, Loma Grande adds sweet but heavy and rich flavor.  Seasonal blend always entertain and surprise coffee geeks with a creativeness of the roaster.  Also, they reminds us of that coffee is balance and creation of flavor, aroma, and so on...  Thank you always for reminding me the core of coffee.

This time, Loma Grande and Udo's Micro lot came with this one.

Eleven Of Spades

Beans: Eleven Of Spades ～ Blend
Roaster: EXTRACTO COFFEE ROASTERS
Roasting degree: Medium

【Impression】
Light to medium, flavorful, lightly citric, chocolaty, almond flower, sweet, well balanced, smooth, juicy, fruity, top note sweetness of fresh pear, apricot and plum, Polysaccharides like slow sweetness, brown rice malts, plane almond milk, oat milk, clean bitterness, nutmeg like spiciness hidden, multi-layers of sweetness as a long lasting after taste.  

【Note】
First one to try for mellow coffee lover enjoys pour-over.  "Eleven of Spades" is Extracto's signature blend and the first one to recommend for first timers to bring home.  Eleven of Spade stays rather lighter compared to "Seattle roast" but reminds me of Blue Bottle in SF.

Yamazakura

Beans: Yamazakura ～Blend～
Roaster: Sepia Coffee
Roasting degree: Medium 

【Impression】
Light to Medium, sweet nutty aroma as almond butter, maple syrup on a hot frying pan, slight citric tone as yuzu on the bottom, light texture, watery, juicy, well-balanced sweetness and bitterness, honey like layered sweetness, mellow bitterness, tint of fruity sourness, pear, black berry, blue berry, delicate and refreshing, juicy sweetness as a long lasting after taste. 

Yamazakura ”山桜" means Wild cherry blossoms.  This blend is characterized with fruity & flowery aroma combined with soothing after taste inspired by silently blossomed dark pink yamazakura.    

【Note】
Ymazakura is specially created for Cafe Yama by Sepia Coffee, coffee bottega Sepia in Sakaide city, Kagawa-ken.  The owner of Cafe Yama performs pour-over with HARIO and offer aroma-ful cup with their original blend, Ymazakura and Yamabuki.
These two beans can be purchased at Cafe Yama, Tadotstu in kagawa.

Cafe Yama:
1 Chome-４-３８ Sakuragawa, Tadotsu, Nakatado District, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan

Seasonal Special Blend ～ Fall 2013 ～

Beans: Seasonal Blend ～Fall 3013
Roaster: Akai-mi Coffee
Degree: N/A, After mix

【Impression】

Medium body, watery texture, spicy, nutmeg, cacao nib, a touch of satsuma citrus flower aroma, juicy, layer of sweetness followed by citric acidity bottomed with tangy bitterness, maple syrup, honey, demerara sugar, caramel, lime, bitterness as dark chocolate, tangy bitterness as a long lasting aftertaste. 

【Note】
Compared with Fall 2012, fall 2013 is lighter in flavor and deeper in aroma, as well as less in mellow impression. 

   

Queen Anne

Beans: Queen Anne ～Blend
Roaster: Caffe Ladro
Roasting degree: City

【Impression】
Medium dark to dark, creamy texture, dark chocolate, a touch of roasted nuts, citric sourness merged into bitterness, a thin layer of syrupy sweetness, brown sugar, 90% cacao dark chocolate like bitterness as a long lasting after taste.   

【Note】
Qeen Anne is the signature coffee named after their first neighborhood cafe, according to the note.       

1950 Blend Moka & Java

Beans: 1950 Blend Moka & Java
                              ~ African beans Blends
Roaster: Verve Coffee Roaster

【Impression】
Medium to Medium Dark, fruity aroma, lemony, citric, nutty, roasted peanuts&hazel nuts, orange, jasmine, white grapes, mellow, round flavor, mild citric acidity, tangy, nutty sweetness, natural sweetness as beats sugar, woody, layers of flavor start with light acidity, bitterness, juicy sweetness as finish, juicy soft sweetness as a long lasting aftertaste.    
This makes beautiful weekday afternoon cup, which gives you soothing break between hard work.

【Note】
According to Verve website, "The 1950 Blends" is described as below:

Farm: Various
Processing: Wet-Process
Region: Sidamo
Cultivar: Ethiopian Heirloom
Elevation: 1,800 Meters
Tasting Notes: Brown sugar sweetness, Clove,
                    Pecan

The 1950 Blends brings cozy breeze from Santa Cruz even with African origin beans.  Ocean sounds, blue sky and fresh air...  There are more comes with this cup with each ship.  

Thesis ~ House Coffee

Beans: Thesis - Ceremony House Blend
Roaster: Ceremony Coffee Roasters
Roasting degree: Medium

【Impression】
Medium to dark, fresh cacao, dried figs, fruity, smooth, creamy, high acidity, passion fruits, dark chocolate, green raisins, Mojave Gold's raisins, fresh plums, casis, settled sweetness of nuts, tangy, a tint of dark sweetness wrapped with layers of high and balanced acidity as a long lasting aftertaste.
Once cup cools down,  acidity accelerated and maximized, dark body turns like tar, bitterness stands out separately.  

【Note】
Located in Annapolis, MD, Ceremony Coffee roaster runs both the roastery and cafes.  Local wholefoods carry their beans, where this bag of beans was found.  Wholefoods may present "local color" of not only coffee but also food culture so that it always gives better clues of where to visit, what to look for and so on, at the very first visit.        

Special Blend

Beans: Special Blend
Roaster: Okino Coffee

Organically grown, After mix
Imported individually

Peru 60%, Ecuador 30%, Guatemala 10%    

【Impression】
Medium to dark body, nutty, cacao nib, a tint of orange, sweet, mellow, silky, clear, cocoa, roasted almonds, dark chocolate, rich, full-flavored, layers of bitterness with a touch of mellow sweetness between, a long lasting juicy sweetness as after taste.    

Seasonal Special Blend ~ Spring

Beans: Spring Special Blend 2013
Roaster: Akai-mi Coffee
Roasting degree: medium to medium dark 
                       ※After blending


【Impression】
Medium light to medium, light, smooth, clean, mild, fruity & flowery aroma of fresh apricots, almond flower, white grape, mellow sweetness bottomed with clear nutty bitterness and followed by a tint of grapefruits like sourness, sweetness of roasted macadamia and walnuts, well harmonized but simple, long lasting juicy sweetness as after taste.

Kobai ~ Spring blend

Beans: Kobai（紅梅） 
          Seasonal Blend～After Blend
Roaster: Kasyu

【Impression】
Medium dark to dark, mellow, nutty, fresh apricot, matured plum, peach, light texture, dark chocolate, sweetness of fresh fruits, boiled red barley, roasted nuts, cashews, almonds, touch of orange, a long lasting after taste of bitterness and sweetness, juicy sweetness gradually grows. 

【Note】
Fresh roasted batch may brings "handy&easy" morning coffee with a coffee machine.  Kasyu always gives antique names to their blend coffees, some of which are named after "The Tale of Genii" written in the 11th Century.  Their flavor does not cue any line of the story but the names somewhat successfully add elegance to their image.

Autumn Special Blend 2012

Roaster: Akai-mi Coffee
Beans: Special Seasonal Blend 

【Impression】
Medium body, citrus mixed with ripe apricot like sweet aroma, light texture, juicy, mellow, moderate, organdie like transparent light layer of flavor enfolding, plums like fruity mass and thick sweetness, slightly tangy at the end, no outstanding acidity, tender texture of sweetness as an aftertaste.  
This light and pure flavor may stand out without sugar/milk.  

【Seasonal Blend】
Akaimi coffee's seasonal blends has wide variety.  Since Coffee is agricultural products, flavor varies and so does amount of crop.  Owner, Roaster/blender, of Akaimi coffee enjoys to create unique seasonal special blend with "this years" crop so that origin and percentages vary every year.  

Seasonal Blend is always challenge.
There is always wonderful harmony created by each seasons' offerings. 


Autumn Blend is offered sometimes in the end of September to November.  In 2012, Autumn was on still on selection in the very first week of December.

Winter Special Blend 2012

Roaster: Akai-mi Coffee
Beans: Special Seasonal Blend 

【Impression】
Medium body, fruity aroma of apricots and plums mixed with almond's flower, weightless texture, smooth, crisp, wide range of mellow and juicy sweetness, mix of hazelnuts and cashew nuts, light touch of limes hidden, nutty bitterness as accent, juicy sweetness as a long lasting aftertaste.

【Note】
Special blends shares refreshing taste and a clean after taste based on seasonal impression as an accent. In 2012's Special winter blend,  India  creates core flavor: juicy and sweet.
Fruity flavor is well harmonized with bitterness and a tint of acidity.  After mix is now standard of independent roasters like Akai-mi coffee, since each origin/variety has its "best" roasting degree.

Blending means experiment.  House blend ensures stability in taste, requires blender's sense of taste; whereas, Special blends challenge tasters' palate.  

Seasonal Special Blend 2012

Glad to stop by at Akai-mi coffee, Osaka.

Akai-mi coffee offers seasonal special blend created by beans arriving seasonally.

Not to mention that coffee cherries are "the agricultural product" whose quality/amount of cultivation certainly vary by climates and other factors.  

Flavor varies, of course.  

Here are seasonal blend of Autumn and Winter.

This year, Autumn offered through Beginning of December.

Offering duration varies by year, so break the ice by asking him about seasonal blends.       

Vivaldi Blend

Beans: Vivaldi Blend
Roasting Degree: Medium

【Impression】
Light to Medium body, light note, nutty, light white grape aroma, Well balanced clearness, moderate but juicy sweetness of cotton candy, sharp and light flavor, no acidity and bitterness, a tint of clear sweetness as short lasting aftertaste.
Once a cup is chilled, light herbal acidity grows.
Good flavor for morning cup, w/o milk and sugar.

 【Note】
Coffee benas from South Korea!  
In these days, so called "third wave coffee" has boomed in South Korea as well as China in recent years.  On COE auction, some Korean buysers as well as Japanese buyser to export South Korea has often found.  There were many "Starbucks" in Seoul, but more individual cafe's hidden, which posts "SPECIALTY COFFEE" signs.  I enjoyed micro-farms and COE "hand brew" and "espresso" while in Korea as I do in US and other coutries.  However, at the same time, I wonder how coffee had been before this "third wave" boom.     
This beans was found in Paju Provence Village in North Korea.(→)  Paju Province Village is known as "flower garden"  as well as "foodie paradise".  Unfortunately, there were not enough evidence collected to prove the latter, but there is a bag catchy enough.

Strictly talking about this blend, roasting technique may resembles to Japanese before "Seattle style" and "Specialty": light roast, high quality of green beans.  If green beans has full flavor and higher quality, dark/deep roast is not necessary.  If space is limited, roasting machine tends to be smaller and so does roasting portion.  This Vivaldi blend may remind us of factors make a cup wonderful.      

Summer Special Blend 2012

Beans: Summer Special Blend
Roaster: Akai-mi coffee


【Impression】
Medium Light to Medium body, orange flower like aroma, smooth gentle texture, well-balanced, hint of citrus acidity followed by mellow and moderate juicy sweetness as maple syrup, ripe gooseberries, gentle bitterness of cacao beans, crisp short lasting aftertaste.  Light refreshing cup for summer morning, well-balanced sweetness and bitterness gives layered flavor depth, lemony acidity gradually grown beneath.  Good for morning cup without sugar and milk.

Compared to 2011's summer blend, mellowness is increased.  Syrupy, fruity sweetness grows more than bitterness as 2011's blend did.  This increase impression of "Well-balanced" flavor more.  A hint of lemony citrus acidity softly touches as a top flavor, mild/round pearly sweetness as a middle and base.  Bitterness detected, but not as much as 2011's.

【Blending Beans...】
"Special Bend is experiment", the owner of Akai-mi coffee said.  Seasonal Special blends gives different impression every year; Summer 2010 was high acid, 2011 bitter/bold, and 2012 mellow.  2011 flavor was more like Tanzanian, earthy and spicy flavor compared with 2012.

The beans differs every year: in terms of flavor, in terms of quality, in terms of cultivation and so on.  Certainly, they are nature given gifts which affected by weather, soil, and so on.  Hence,  blending is the best tool to value/grade roasters technique.
"House blends" types are usually expected to be "same" or "stable", so blending beans to create same impression.  "Seasonal Blends" are often the way to show "creativeness."  
Blending is always based on creativeness and experiments, and so as roasting.  Flavor can be categorized by varieties, regions and countries, but cupping is only and the best way to "see" the flavor of each beans.  Maybe, Blending builds on experience and memories.