Black White Roasters - The Future: Grape Soda
Origins | Colombia | Ethiopia | Mexico
Process | co-ferment | honey | washed
Variety | various
NOTES | Grape Candy, Mango, Red Fruit Punch, Nostalgic Bliss.
The Future has been a beloved staple on our year-round menu for quite awhile now. With it, we have been able to showcase excellence in processing techniques, particularly in regard to anaerobic fermentation. In the past, we have predominantly featured coffees from Colombia in this blend, though lots from Ethiopia, Costa Rica, and Peru have played a part in its conception as well. This year, however, we are shifting our focus away from the individual components of the blend and instead elevating flavor as the guiding principle for each creation.
HOW WE GOT HERE | When it comes to flavor, we're well known for being pretty nostalgic around here. There's a good reason for that: our memories are tightly woven into our senses, with taste and smell being the chief sensory gatekeepers of our past. With this release, we celebrate the nostalgia of our lip-stained childhood in all of its grape-flavored goodness. From hard candies to slushies to cough medicine, our whole youthful world was enthusiastically GRAPE flavored. But, if we had to pick our favorite grape indulgence, it's gotta be the one we begged our parents to buy for us on road trips, any time they dared to stop at a gas station - grape soda. Whether it be Crush, Nehi, Faygo, or Fanta, we loved all things purple and fizzy. Not much has changed, honestly - many of us still reach for a fountain grape soda when given the opportunity, while others enjoy the same sensory experience these days in the form of Lambrusco.
HOW WE DID IT | Finding the perfect grape co-fermented coffee to headline this blend was a bit of a challenge this year, but we found our victor in one of Jairo Arcila's special co-ferment creations. Jairo makes another special appearance here with his lychee co-fermented lot, sharing space with one of Shady & Elias's famed Marlin lots and a very special honey-processed Pacamara coffee from Mexico. Those four coffees make up 60% of the blend and contribute to most of the fun flavors you'll experience, but it's all held together with a lovely, delicate washed Ethiopian lot from smallholders in the Riripa community, in West Arsi.
40% Riripa - Washed
30% Jairo Arcila - Grape
10% Jairo Arcila - Lychee
10% Shady & Elias Bayter - Marlin Lot 556
10% Mexico - Pacamara Honey
TAKE A SIP | We'll say it one more time for the people in the back: this cup tastes like nostalgia. We're calling it Grape Soda, and it's certainly reminiscent of that. But it also reminds us of other grape-flavored goodness from our youth, like grape-flavored Jolly Ranchers and old school Dimetapp. This time around, the blend offers other fruity goodness as well, reminding us of mango candy and red fruit punch. It's a true celebration of so many childhood sense memories, and we are delighted to share it with you this summer.