What's on Our Packing Table This Week (the Roastery Dispatch, Sept 16, 2026)

Every Wednesday afternoon, after the roaster cools and the cupping is done, the packing table takes over. This is the dispatch from this week's table — what's roasted, what's shipping, what landed on the cupping table for next week's decision, and a couple of things we noticed while we were at it.

We're going to try posting one of these each week. Not a polished newsletter — just a plainspoken look at what's actually happening in the roastery this week. If it's useful, we'll keep doing it. If it feels like noise, we'll stop.

If you want the bigger picture of how the roastery runs, our behind the scenes at the roastery post has the tour. For why we ship on Thursdays specifically, our why we ship on Thursdays post explains the rhythm. This one stays in the present tense.

What we roasted this week

Colombia Antioquia — washed. This is our workhorse Colombian. We roast it to a medium, just past first crack, and let it rest 5 days before shipping. It's the bag most people default to if they order one thing from us and aren't sure what to try. Notes of milk chocolate, brown sugar, and a clean citrus finish.

Costa Rica Tarrazú — washed. Slightly brighter than the Colombian. Same medium roast profile but the bean density is higher and the acidity comes through cleaner. Notes of orange peel, almond, and honey. This is the bag we recommend to people who say they want something "brighter but not sour."

Brazil Santos — natural. The chocolate-and-nuts coffee of the lineup. We roast this one slightly darker than the Colombian or Costa Rican because the bean's natural density and the natural processing give it enough body to take the extra development time without losing complexity. Notes of dark chocolate, hazelnut, and a slight red berry finish. The bag most people drink as a pour-over but also works really well as espresso.

Ethiopia Yirgacheffe — natural. The fruit bomb. This is the bag we recommend when someone says they want to try something they've never had before. We roast it lighter than the others — just into first crack, with a short development phase — to preserve the delicate florals and fruit. Notes of blueberry, jasmine, and a clean bergamot finish. It's the most polarizing bag in the catalog because the flavor profile is genuinely different from anything else we carry.

That's the four-bag lineup this week. Total roast volume was 18 kg, which worked out to about 220 bags. We split it 50/50 between the Colombian and Brazilian (the two workhorses), 25% to the Costa Rican, and 25% to the Ethiopian. The Costa Rican and Ethiopian are the bags that move slower, so we keep the percentages lower to avoid overstocking.

What shipped Thursday

The Thursday shipment went out at 11:42 AM, picked up by our usual USPS driver. Total orders: 47. Total bags: 89.

The split:

• Colombian: 34 bags
• Costa Rican: 14 bags
• Brazilian: 22 bags
• Ethiopian: 13 bags
• Matcha (ceremonial): 6 bags

A few notes from the order log:

• One customer in Portland ordered the same bag they've ordered every other week since April — Colombian, whole bean, 12 oz. We've started recognizing the name on the picking sheet. That's the part of this job that makes the Thursday rhythm worth keeping.
• One new customer ordered a four-bag sampler (one of each) as a gift. We don't currently offer a four-bag sampler on the site — they must have called or emailed to ask. We'll add a "build your own sampler" option to the cart in the next couple of weeks.
• Two orders shipped to the same address in Brooklyn with different names. We assume it's a household sharing the coffee subscription by mutual agreement. The notes field on both orders said "leave on porch if not home," which is a small reminder that most of our customers are home during the day and want low-contact delivery.

We packed everything in the new kraft bags we rolled out last month. They look the same as the old ones but they're 100% recyclable without the inner plastic liner. The bags are slightly louder (they crinkle more when you handle them) but the environmental trade-off felt worth it.

What landed on the cupping table

Tuesday morning we cupped four new samples to decide whether any of them makes it into next week's roast sheet. Here's the rundown:

Rwanda Bumbogo — washed. Cup notes: black tea, dried apricot, brown sugar. Body is medium, acidity is medium-high, finish is clean. Strong candidate. We have a soft yes on this one — needs one more cup at a different roast level before we commit.

Mexico Chiapas — washed. Cup notes: milk chocolate, almond, slight orange peel. Body is medium, acidity is medium. Decent but not exciting. The cup profile is similar to our Costa Rican but slightly less complex. Probably no. We're going to cup it again next Tuesday at a lighter roast and see if the acidity opens up.

Kenya Nyeri AA — washed. Cup notes: blackcurrant, tomato leaf, grapefruit. Body is medium-full, acidity is high, finish is long. This is the most interesting sample of the four, but it's also the most polarizing — the tomato-leaf note is going to divide people. We're holding this one for an extra cup with a wider panel before deciding.

Sumatra Mandheling — wet-hulled. Cup notes: dark chocolate, cedar, slight earthiness, low acidity. Body is full, finish is heavy. This is the bag for people who want something completely different from the rest of the lineup. We're soft-yes on this one too, but the wet-hulled processing means the cup profile will read as "earthy" to anyone who doesn't already like that style. Worth doing one more cup to be sure.

Decision deadline is next Tuesday. If we green-light two of these, the four-bag lineup becomes a six-bag lineup, which means we have to recalibrate the percentage split on the Thursday roast sheet. That's not a problem — it's a good problem.

A couple of things we noticed

The Ethiopian is selling through faster than we'd planned. We've been running 25% of weekly roast volume on the Yirgacheffe for the last three weeks, and it has consistently sold out by Wednesday afternoon (which means people ordering Wednesday afternoon through Sunday get a "this is on next week's roast" note when they check out). We're going to bump it to 30% next week to see if that closes the gap. If it still sells out, we'll move to 35% and reassess.

The kraft bags need a better closure. The new bags are more sustainable but the pinch-tin closure is slightly weaker than the old plastic-bag zipper. We've had two orders arrive with the bag half-open and the roast date stamp slightly smudged. We're talking to the bag supplier about a better closure option. In the meantime, if your bag arrives with the closure not fully sealed, just fold the top over and tuck it under. The bag is still airtight enough to preserve the roast for the normal drinking window.

We're testing a new shipping label format. The current labels print on a 4x6 thermal printer and have the order number, recipient, and tracking number on them. The new labels would also include the roast date in human-readable form, so anyone handling the package can see when it was roasted. We're not sure this is necessary but we thought it would be a small trust signal. We'll see if it survives the test.

What's coming next week

Assuming the Rwanda Bumbogo and Kenya Nyeri AA both get green-lit at Tuesday's cupping, next Wednesday's roast sheet looks like:

• Colombia (40%)
• Brazil (25%)
• Costa Rica (15%)
• Ethiopia (15%)
• Rwanda (5%) — test batch, small volume
• Kenya (5%) — test batch, small volume

If both test batches go well and the cup profiles hold at production scale, they'll move from "test" to "permanent" by mid-October. If either one falls apart at production scale (which is a real risk — sample roasts often taste different than production roasts), we'll drop them and the lineup stays at four bags.

That's the dispatch for this week. Roast day Wednesday, ship day Thursday, cupping Tuesday. Same rhythm, slightly different lineup. Back at it next week.

— Seraphina

Brew slow. Sip slow. Ship Thursday.