Season's grindings
Decider taste-tests holiday coffee blends
Tiffany Mason
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Not content to let the holiday season pass un-Santa-ized, local coffee brewers have released their annual holiday coffee blends. Composed of “favorite beans”—or perhaps just what’s leftover from a year of brewing—from around the world, the holiday blends often feature warming spices like cinnamon, ginger, citrus, and chocolate. Coffee’s one of the few things consumed this time of year that may actually be good for you—or at least it’s said to decrease the risk of diabetes, unlike the half dozen Christmas cookies you just ate—so Decider tried some roasts to help fuel the holiday shopping, eating, and partying storm.
Ancora Holiday Blend: Billed as “welcoming as an old-fashioned holiday,” Ancora’s seasonal mix is dark, a tad viscous, and earthy, like an old-fashioned holiday spent in a sod house. Citrus and spice make every sip a little bit brighter, reminiscent of the clove-studded oranges Martha Stewart has made holiday de rigueur. $13.35/pound
Just Coffee Peace on Earth Holiday Blend: It’s hard to resist something that suggests it may actually bring peace on earth, especially during the holidays. Blended from light and dark beans from countries with less-than-peaceful pasts (Rwanda and Nicaragua), Peace on Earth finds compromise in a cup of medium-bodied, none-too-bold flavor that isn’t likely to offend anyone. $8.12/12 ounces
Alterra Holiday Blend: Milwaukee’s Alterra Coffee is the house joe at Barriques and Mother Fool’s, and the company’s Holiday Blend comes in both an organic/fair trade version and an unqualified offering—maybe conventional/exploitative? The organic features a fruitier blend of Nicaraguan and Peruvian beans, dark and rich, with an earthy aftertaste. The regular blend, featuring El Castillo beans from Columbia, has a sweeter flavor and a cleaner finish, virtually vanishing from your mouth before you can even set your mug down—a clean break you may wish to emulate during difficult family moments this holiday. Both are $10.45/pound
Starbucks Christmas (or Holiday) Blend: Sold since 1984, Christmas Blend (strangely, it’s called the more P.C. Holiday Blend in take-home bag form) incites over-caffeinated hoarding and annual debate over how the current vintage stacks up to previous incarnations. The aged Indonesian beans mixed with Latin American coffee smell slightly musty in the bag but thankfully improve to a mellow spice on brewing. Released the day after Thanksgiving for that Black Friday rush, it’s available through the end of December. $12.95/pound
Caribou Coffee Reindeer Blend: Self-consciously asserting the seriousness of the coffee despite its playful name on the shelf label and website, Reindeer Blend tastes more like the remains of a playful holiday party than the party itself—slightly burnt and chalky, like coffee that overstayed its welcome and spent the night in the pot. Spicy hints of cinnamon and orange emerge on brewing, though unfortunately, poor taste trumps aroma. $14.99/pound
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