• Beans: Holiday Roast MMXXV
  • Roaster: Zeke’s Coffee (Baltimore, MD)
  • Origin: Mexico, Honduras
  • Roast level: Says medium (4/8) but beans look dark roasted
  • Roast date: 12/15/2025
  • Purchase date: 12/20/2025 from Green Valley Marketplace in Elkridge, MD
    First cup: 12/30/2025; Last cup:
  • Process: n/a (blend)
  • Tasting notes: Chocolate, almond, lemon
• V60 with Ode grinder:
  • 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
  • Ode: 6
  • Water at 95°C
  • Recipe: Single Cup V60 Pourover with size 1 cone, 60g bloom water and 60g pulses – finishes 02:30-02:40
• AeroPress with JX grinder:
  • 17g coffee / 250g water (1:14.7)
  • JX: 16
  • Water at 95°C
  • Travel AeroPress Recipe with 50g/45s bloom; steep until 02:45

This one is a little confusing. The web site shows two versions of this blend: “Naughty” with roast level 4/8, and “Nice” with roast level 3/8. The bag I bought is labeled “Nice”, but shows roast level 4/8. The beans themselves are dark roasted and oily. I’m almost wondering if the bag is mislabeled (it was the last bag on the shelf at the grocery store, not that that really means anything). It brews like a dark roast (coarse grind, fast draw-down, lots of fine bubbles) and tastes like a dark roast (perfectly fine; could maybe stand a tiny bit more tweaking).

1/5: AeroPress (see above) was the best cup I’ve had so far. It was quite tasty at JX grind 16, which tells me it might be good with a finer pour-over grind as well. It didn’t have that burnt/ashy flavor that turns me off to a lot of dark roasts. I brought enough to the office to make 6 cups, and I’m wondering if I should just make this my “office coffee” for a while (if I do, I’d need to freeze some of it).