Blanchards is always producing some outstanding competitors. Whether it’s their Director of Coffee John Kruegler, or Matt Brosinski and Elise Tanyag (both placing in the top 6 last year!) or even Korachai Silapavitankul from Amberson Coffee (a competitor using coffee roasted by Blanchards), this company has continued to light up the competition stage. The coffee we’re featuring this month is actually from the same farm that produced Elise Tanyag’s Finals placing coffee last year- we know you’re going to love it!

If you love this coffee and want to try other coffees from Blanchards, use code ROASTFUL for a 10% discount on their website!

This is only the second geisha we’ve ever sent out in our box, and if you’re not familiar with the variety, you’re in for something special! This variety is uniquely floral and delicate, brew it in a way that highlights the complexities and floral qualities of this coffee.

We’ve gotten to know Jesus Iniquez (one of Archetype’s long standing employees) over the past couple of competition seasons. These guys are also rockstars on the competition stage, with Jesus always presenting in such a poised posture, and Isaiah Sheese (owner of Archetype) placing in the top places in the Barista Championship for several years now. That’s not even mentioning Head Roaster Jason Burkum, a seasoned competitor in the Roasters Championship as well. By now, you may have figured out that Pink Bourbon is one of our favorite varieties here at Roastful, and this one from Archetype won’t let you down!

We’d recommend brewing this coffee in a similar way as the Geisha from Blanchards. Brews with this coffee do tend to have a deeper sweetness and higher solubility, so leaning into that sweetness a bit more may be a good route to take- try using a slightly lower ratio than the Geisha from Blanchard's.

Competition runs in the water Black and White uses to brew their coffee. Owners Lem Butler and Kyle Ramage are back to back Barista Champions from 2016 and 2017, and ever since they hung up their portafilter (in the competition sense) they’ve been training other competitors to follow in their footsteps. They’re involved in competition year in and year out, whether one of their own employees is competing, they’re training someone from the broader coffee community, or even just supplying coffee to competitors, these guys are always involved.

This coffee is the most developed and “traditional” cup experience from the box. This coffee will drain quickly, but don’t grind so fine to make the draw down slower- at that point you may lose some acidity. We’d recommend brewing the coffee in a way that highlights some of the softer acidity that is present in the cup, while also keeping the ratio shorter in comparison to the other coffees in the box.