Mocha Java, the World’s First Blend (and ours, too!)

Greetings friends,

We’re almost two weeks into building out a production-scale coffee roasting facility in what was formerly our bookstore and record shop! The roaster itself was installed two weeks ago this Thursday, and since then we’ve been awaiting our coffee shipment (not to mention figuring out where we were going to put 1,000 lbs of coffee once we received it!); putting together half a dozen stainless steel work tables; creating our production workflow; and learning how to roast on this new machine! 

The time has come for us to release the first of what will be many, many batches of fresh roasted coffee, roasted right here in the Portage Park neighborhood of Chicago! We couldn’t think of a more classic way to commemorate this moment than by releasing our version of the world’s oldest and most well-known blend, Mocha Java. Our inaugural blend is in LIMITED SUPPLY, starting today, and while it is likely something we plan on bringing back each year to commemorate this milestone, supplies are limited so you will not want to sleep on this!

Mocha Java has a story almost as old as coffee itself, and for those of you who are aficionados, you’ve undoubtedly heard it told, one way or another. One of my favorite versions is quite the fish tale, wherein a Dutch trading vessel encountered some rough seas on the final leg of its journey. The ship was carrying coffees from spice colonies on the island of Java, in Indonesia. Prior to returning home, they loaded more coffee in the Yemeni port city of Al-Makha, or Mokka/Mocha. The storm tossed the ship violently, causing the cargo to break open and “blend” together in the hull.  After returning to port and roasting the beans, the traders were delighted with their accidental new blend, the whole of which was far greater than the sum of its parts!

We’ve taken coffee from both of the original growing regions (Ethiopian as a cousin of Yemen, Sumatra standing in for the Java) and roasted them individually to bring out the best characteristics of each: bold earthy and rich cocoa notes of the Indonesian coffee blended with the sweet, juicy berry-like flavors of the Ethiopian, create what we believe to be a delicious version of this classic medium-dark roast, our Mocha Java Inaugural Blend!

Join us as we embark on our own roasting journey around the world, one port at a time. We’re so excited to have you along for the adventure!

With coffee,

Joe