YULE EMBER

Yule Ember is the winter blend. Yule is the old midwinter festival, when a log was kept burning through the longest night. An ember is the glow that stays warm after the flame. That is the cup: fruit that glows over a warm chocolate base, low in acidity, made for cold mornings.

Three origins go into one bag: a washed coffee from Kenya, naturals from Chikmagalur and naturals from Tamil Nadu. Washed means the fruit is cleaned off the bean before drying, so it tastes clean and bright. Natural means the bean dries inside the fruit, so it tastes fruity and sweet. Yule Ember has both, so the cup is bright without being sharp.

As espresso it tastes of cinnamon bark, toasted hazelnut and chocolate, thick and sweet with a long finish. As pour-over it opens up: dried cranberry, clementine peel and dark cocoa, soft and round. If you like Blind Spot or Paper Moon, this sits close to them.

Roasted medium light, Depth 40 out of 100. Depth is our 0 to 100 scale for how far a coffee is roasted, 0 the lightest. For espresso: 18 g in, 36 g out, 92 °C, 28 to 32 seconds, grind fine. For pour-over: 15 g to 250 ml of water at 93 °C, about 2:45, grind medium fine. If it bites, grind finer. If it is flat, grind coarser.

Lit for one winter. It runs until mid-February, and then it is gone.