Let’s warm up this cold (at least in Kansas City!) Tuesaday morning with a coffee from new-to-me roasters, Blue Nile Coffee Company. I have their light-roasted Sunrise Blend to share with you this morning, so let’s slurp!
Purchase this coffee directly for $19/12oz with free shipping
BLUE NILE COFFEE COMPANY SUNRISE BLEND
One of the things I love about Instagram the most is how easy it is to find the things you’re interested in and connect with those people. It was through this social media platform that I learned about Blue Nile Coffee Company, who appear to be based out of the Fort Wayne, Indiana area. Blue Nile was founded out of a love for coffee and sharing that passion with others and it looks like they got their start sometime during late 2017. Additionally, Blue Nile gives a portion of their sales to worthy causes, with this month’s recipient being the Women’s Bureau of Fort Wayne, which serves women in the NE Indiana area who have been victims of addiction and assault.
This morning’s coffee is Blue Nile’s Sunrise Blend, which is currently a mix of Pacas and peaberries from Honduras and Tanzania, respectively. Sunrise Blend is roasted to Blue Nile’s “light” and has flavor notes of, “candied orange and dark chocolate.” Blue Nile adds that this coffee, “embodies notes of fruity, bright acidity and chocolate with a creamy finish.” I’m using my standard pourover setup of a 1:16 ratio of 28g of coffee to 450g of Third Wave Water in a notNeutral Gino dripper with Kalita 185 filter. I just switched from a Handground grinder to a Knock Aergrind from their Kickstarter campaign and, not including the bloom, this brew took about 2:45 to finish, which may be a little fast, but it’s hard to say when this Aergrind is a lot more consistent and blah blah blah. The coffees I’ve run with at this setting seem to taste great, so I’m sticking with it for the time being!
When it comes to blends, the things I look for the most are flavors that work well together, whether they contrast or complement one another, as well as balance. That really is the whole purpose of blending, which allows the blender to use proportions of different coffees to create a particular profile. Blends, for me, tend to be easy-drinking, easy to like coffees that appeal to the masses and there’s nothing wrong with that! In my first few sips the orange comes through loud and clear. Wow! This coffee has a really clear orange note that may be the orangest “orange” I’ve ever gotten from a coffee. There’s almost a savory component to it, too, giving this a fruity brightness along with a density that gives it depth at the same time. I’d call this a medium to medium-heavy bodied coffee and that orange acidity just really lays on my palate and creates a sense of weight and heftiness that I really enjoy. This orange acidity is like orange juice was added right to the cup (but in a non-gross way!) and it’s really quite amazing. There’s specifically a blood orange character to me and it’s just fantastic. Trying to peel myself (haha) away from the orange, there is some cocoa/chocolate notes as undertones in this cup but in every way, that orange juiciness is the star of this show, without a doubt. This coffee has a nice finish and a relatively short aftertatse that has some orange, a hint of roast and some toasted nuts flavors in it, for me.
Man, what a coffee! This is a bit of a one trick pony for me, but that pony does that trick so well that it’s impossible not to love it. This is a sweet, balanced coffee like I want from a blend. It has a nice finish, great mouthfeel and it’s interesting and unique with that crazy orange flavor note! Absolutely great!