A New Blend Development Journal, Part 4: Completion. The new blend's name is...

Hi, I'm Martin, and I love autumn so much I think it would be fine if it were autumn all year round! It's been a while, but this is the fourth installment of the "New Blend Development Log," a record of the blend creation using new Rwandan beans that have arrived at BASE COFFEE. And finally, the blend is complete! If you haven't read the third installment yet, please click here! → New Blend Development Log 3: Ratio Check!

Roast Level...

After checking the ratio, we proceeded with the actual roasting. The roast level was decided to be "medium-dark roast," which remained unchanged from the trial stage, offering a mild, easy-to-drink coffee with a noticeable sweetness. However, to maintain drinkability while bringing out the sweetness, aroma, and refreshing aftertaste of the Rwandan beans, the roast was made just a tiny bit lighter. Compared to our other beans, it falls somewhere between our most popular Base Blend and the aromatic Morning Blend.

The New Blend's Name Is...

With the beans complete, all that was left was to decide on the blend's name... Looking back, deciding on the name might have taken the longest. We wanted a name that would evoke the blend's concept of "coffee as a companion for work" and "coffee that helps you get things done," while also sounding good. With the wisdom of other staff members and the help of an English dictionary, the list of candidates just kept growing. Some were rejected because they were too convoluted and unintelligible without explanation, or while the meaning was good, the name was too long, or it carried a slightly negative connotation. After many twists and turns, we finally settled on a simple name that aligned with the concept... and that name is... WORKS BLEND We decided on this simple name to make the concept of "a companion for work and tasks" immediately clear, and to convey the message that this coffee "works" to help you get things done. *Addendum: The current Works Blend recipe has changed. Therefore, the Works Blend using these Rwandan beans has become a phantom product... The reason is that the Rwandan beans for the blend are not consistently available. This change was unavoidable...

Through Blend Creation...

This was my first time creating a blend personally, and the most challenging aspect was that things didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. The concept was decided early on, and when it came to blending the Rwandan beans with other beans and determining the blend composition, I made predictions based on my impressions and memories of each bean: "When combined, it'll probably taste something like this," or "This part of this bean will probably stand out." However, when actually blended, the flavor turned out differently than expected, or unexpected parts stood out, leading to results that differed from my predictions... Looking back, it was a valuable experience that led to new discoveries, but my impatience from things not going as planned, and my tendency to rush ahead on my own, are major points of reflection. Also, what I reaffirmed through this blend creation was the need to further improve my cupping skills for perceiving coffee flavors. During the blend creation process, different patterns of coffee were produced, and I cupped each of them to check if they tasted good and matched the concept. However, there were times when I wasn't entirely confident if my perception of the taste was accurate. As someone on the path of coffee, cupping skills are indispensable. I reaffirmed my desire to gradually improve my cupping skills by focusing on subtle differences during daily cupping, so that I can perceive everything from the overall balance of coffee to minor flavor variations. Although there were some imperfections and things didn't go smoothly, I was once again confronted with the profundity and infinite possibilities of coffee, and became even more captivated by it. The new Works Blend, joining our lineup, is a coffee I believe many people will want to drink, especially now when more time is spent at desks at home due to remote work and other reasons. I would be very happy if I could provide even a little bit of solace and be of some help to everyone who works hard every day, through coffee.