Southern Weather Blend

Story

Southern Weather embodies everything we love about specialty coffee and has evolved into a foundational blend. We brew this in our own cafes as a “House” filter option and love how it balances the relationship between modern citric acidity flavors with full bodied chocolates. This comfortable, yet surprisingly complex and sophisticated coffee is approachable to all. It performs well on its own for the purist or with fats such as dairy or plant based beverages, making it a true answer for all coffee needs.

Southern Weather was the first blend we ever created, and the plan was simple. We wanted something sweet, comfortable, and approachable in a world of polarizing Specialty Coffee. Something anyone would like and would be easy to control during extraction. We sell more of this coffee than anything else, and I think it’s our commitment to keeping the flavor profile intact. Sweet caramelized sugars, round full body, and a bright, citrusy finish that leaves a clean, refreshing aftertaste. It pairs with any meal and works well with dairy and non-dairy milk. For us, Southern Weather embodies the excellent relationships between a citric acidity, balance, and wonderful, full-bodied chocolates. This is considered our house blend and we think it could be yours as well. :)

Blend Approach

Our approach to creating blends is a bit different at Onyx. Instead of choosing coffees from specific countries or regions that will, in theory, intertwine well to develop complex & cohesive flavors like most, we start from the end and work our way back. This perspective means we choose to create a particular flavor profile first - deciding which acidities, sugars, and fats we want to accentuate for the coffee. Once a flavor profile has been set, in this case, a very approachable citrus zest, milk chocolate, and candied nuts for Southern Weather. We then start cupping blind through a lot of coffees to find these specific attributes. For Southern Weather, the Guatemalan we use comes from Finca La Esperanza, which gives us sweetness and has perfect caramelized sugars, which come across as chocolate and nutty notes. We look to other coffees in season that exude high citric acid content and clean finishes to add citrus notes for acidity and slight bitterness for balance. Currently, that’s our washed Ethiopia Reko.

The purpose is that once a flavor profile is created, we update the coffees that make up Southern Weather every 2-3 months. This allows us to have a year-round blend with a flavor profile of high quality while retaining our commitment to seasonal coffees. This vigorous amount of cupping and blending takes a considerable amount of time. But we really think it makes the difference and is a system we use for all our blends.

Feel excited that the coffee you are tasting is always in season, and therefore, it is cupping and tasting to its full potential. We will never compromise our commitment to high-quality coffees and blends, whether it’s a single origin release or a blend component. You will not find Onyx buying “blender” coffees to save cost or prolong a good coffee. We also always keep blends to three coffees or less and maintain ratios in the build. This way, what you extract is the flavor profile we designed.

Southern Weather has been a staple since our company’s inception, and we tend to think of it as our comfort coffee. Despite age, background, coffee experience, or brew method, this coffee always seems to please.

Southern Weather is made up of three coffees at the moment. Through the season these origins can vary, but we dependably source coffees that work in Southern Weather from Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru. Right now the blend is comprised of the following -

• Colombia Inza Vecinas - This is a regional blend we've purchased from our friends at Coffee Shrub.
• Colombia La Piramide - This is a lot we contract each year via Caravela Coffee. This year we sourced it for Southern Weather.
• Ethiopia Worka - A crowd favorite, Worka usually makes its way into most blends as the washed Ethiopia backbone of Geometry and Southern Weather. We source this coffee from Atlantic Specialty coffee each year.