However, the care for the beans does not stop after they come from the fire.Ĭuppings are held daily at the roastery, where Onyx most skilled taste buds gather to sample each batch roasted to insure quality and remove any coffee that does not reach the standard that is Onyx. The 12 kilo roaster remains dedicated to their single origin coffees that are forever changing with the seasons to insure freshness and variety for their customers. A vintage 40 kilo roaster, Jon found rusting away at a vineyard was purchased and pieced back together then fondly nicknamed “Frankenstein.” This favorite of theirs is specifically used for their blends and higher volume coffees, manly house coffees and espressos that you can find at all three Onyx locations and often at Foolish Things. Equipped with two roasters Mark has the ability to dedicate each machine to different tasks. Padawan (Mark Michaelson) surpassed his Yoda (Jon Allen) in the art of roasting only a year into his apprenticeship, rapidly earning the title of head roaster for Onyx. Making the quality of the crop first priority gives Onyx head roaster, Mark Michaelson the opportunity work with coffees that harbor the sweetest flavors and can be coaxed to reach their full potential. Often Onyx pays three to four times more to the small farms producing these magnificent beans to create loyalty, and help provide for what’s needed to cultivate a consistent crop for the following year. For those new to coffee, clean cup means that the coffee has been harvested properly at the prime ripeness, is defect free, and contains high sugars and acids. Through what Jon learned from Anonymous, a heavy focus on sourcing was set in place for Onyx, visiting the farms himself to confirm that every coffee purchased has a clean cup. Onyx came to fruition in 2012 and has soared in popularity over the past two years (Foolish Thing’s go-to roaster). Through Anonymous, the tools were given to Jon to build up an elite coffee brand that needed no certification because its name was all the reassurance needed, Onyx. Opening Anonymous Coffee in 2009, Jon used his private label coffee company to learn the trade and perfect the craft before putting his own label out for coffee snob scrutiny. Embarking into a field he never anticipated to find himself in and with nothing but a distant dream fueling his expedition, Jon began his quest to get to know personally the coffee bean. This is the sort of coffee that might take you a few tries to dial in to unlock its potential, and I don’t think I quite achieved that on this go-around.After four years of touring with the rock band Spoken, Jonathan Allen shaved off his dreads, hung up his guitar, and traded his rock star lifestyle for a career in coffee. This particular Kenyan was hard for me to wrap my brain around but I did like it brewed in a French press, as the result felt the most approachable in flavor. Summary: I’ve consistently found Onyx to be a source for complex and occasionally confounding coffees. Normally I’d go back and try again, but I didn’t have the time or patience to do it this time around.įrench press: Completely different than the first two methods – this coffee tasted toasty and sugary with a pleasant tang on the finish.ĪeroPress: Sour and unbalanced, even with additional water added to the concentrate.Įspresso: I tried pulling a shot and adding a small amount of milk (about 4 ounces) to see what it would be like, and the resulting drink had a nice hint of candied fruit. This came out fruity but a bit sour in flavor. I wrote “pad thai” in my notes but really, it was just the tamarind aspect of pad thai that I was tasting!Ĭhemex: I overcorrected when adjusting my grind for this method so the brew was underextracted at only 2:55. These are pretty dense beans so you may want to grind them a bit coarser than usual. V60: Brewed this a little longer than average, 3:55. But the beans were evenly and lightly roasted. Whole bean: Confusing enough that I didn’t write anything down! This usually happens when I can’t pinpoint what exactly I’m smelling. My fault for not specifying, and I didn’t mind that much in the end. I had a cup of coffee while there and I had meant to order the coffee “for here,” but they served it to me in this attractive “to-go” cup instead. However, this bag of beans is a bit special to me because I actually picked it up from Onyx’s Springdale location while I was in Arkansas for a gig. I’ve had beans from Onyx Coffee Lab before my local Whole Foods has started carrying their beans, and I’ve spotted this brand occasionally in Dallas-area coffee shops.
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