Cocoa Nib: the blend we built with Halford Bakehouse
A limited dark-and-sweet espresso blend, finished alongside cocoa nibs from the bakery two doors down. 300 bags only.
It started, as these things do, over the counter. Halford Bakehouse has been two doors down from the roastery for years, and their cocoa-nib cookie is a local institution. One slow afternoon we wondered aloud what a coffee built to drink alongside it would taste like. Cocoa Nib is the answer.
It's a blend of our Colombia Las Brisas and a natural-process Brazil, roasted a notch darker than we usually go — squarely into milk-chocolate, caramelised-sugar territory. Then comes the trick: we rest the roasted beans next to Halford's raw cocoa nibs before bagging, so they pick up a faint, genuinely chocolatey aroma without anything being added to the coffee itself.
Built for espresso and milk
This is the most forgiving espresso we've ever made. It pulls sweet and syrupy with a thick crema, and it absolutely sings in a flat white — the cocoa note lands right where the milk does. If you take your coffee black, brew it as a moka or a strong filter and you'll get dark cherry under all that chocolate.
We didn't add chocolate. We just let the coffee sit next to it and listen for a while. — Priya, who roasted the run
Because the nibs come in small batches, so does the coffee: 300 bags, each numbered by hand. It's pouring at the new Mission café from opening day, and a cookie-and-cortado set will be on the menu while it lasts.
Priya Anand is our head roaster and dreamt up the cocoa-nib resting trick.
