Flagship – Stoble Coffee Roasters

With so many coffee roasters available to consumers, it’s important to differentiate yourself as a new roaster nowadays. Stoble Coffee Roasters, a new roaster based out of Chico, California, has found two creative ways to do just that:

1. Transparency: Stoble tries to be especially transparent with their coffee sourcing. All of their coffees are either single or double origins. Single origins are nothing new, but I was impressed at the level of detail they shared with their blends, which all consist of only two coffees.
2. Community: Each of their coffees come with a question card that acts as a conversation starter and helps encourage people to come together for conversation over the coffee.

In addition to trying new coffee, I love seeing how different roasters experiment with this differentiation and think Stoble has found some creative ways to do this.

I recently had the opportunity to try Stoble’s Flagship roast, which is meant for both batch brew and espresso in their (upcoming) café. It consists of a coffee from Brazil and Ethiopia which are a honey natural process and a full natural process, respectively.

The coffee begins with a balanced yet sharp fragrance that evolved into a flavor of chocolate, black currant and pecan. It has a mild acidity, medium body and balanced, well-rounded sweetness. It has a sweet aftertaste that lingers just a bit. I was especially impressed with Flagship when I tried it as an espresso. It was creamy, smooth without any sharp acidity.

The Bottom Line

While Flagship lacks some of the complexity found in its single origin counterparts, it is the perfect “flagship” blend for a roaster that works equally well in pour over and espresso. I appreciate the transparency Stoble offers on a blend like Flagship and knowing the specific coffees that went into the blend makes me appreciate the coffee and care that went into crafting it a lot more.