Monarch | 64.3 Expressive Dark

By ONYX COFFEE LAB

Dark Chocolate | Molasses | Red Wine | Dried Berries | Thick & Syrupy

$19
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3 in stock
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MONARCH

DARK CHOCOLATE | MOLASSES | RED WINE | DRIED BERRIES | THICK & SYRUPY
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Monarch is Onyx's most developed roast and conveys a flavor profile intentionally designed to work well with milk. Cream and plant based beverages mix with ease, creating a rich, decadent flavor. It involves a natural, sugar-dense coffee that binds to the fats and creates multiple complex caramelized notes during the roasting process. Look for dark chocolate and undertones of thick winey berries. Awesome as drip or espresso.

From the Lab

Monarch is one of two blends that Onyx re-creates year-round, and the one they choose to serve at all of their physical cafes as their "house espresso". It's one of our all-time favorites as both an espresso and a more developed drip coffee. 

Monarch is bold and defiant. When tasted as pure espresso or with high amounts of milk, it displays sugar caramelization to the fullest and is a perfect expression of "human-made" flavors developed through roasting. It’s a beautiful image of traditional espresso with modern sourcing. 

To achieve the blend, Onyx sources seasonal natural processed coffee from Ethiopia and a washed coffee from Latin America to showcase sugar and complexity. When tasting, look for bittersweet dark chocolate, a mulled wine acidic sweetness, molasses, and a hint of dried berries on the finish. The coffee is extremely heavy and dense with a velvety-like mouthfeel.

Blend Approach

Let's just say Onyx's approach to creating coffee blends is a little different (on the obsessive side) than most.

Instead of simply combining coffees from regions that will theoretically "work well together", Onyx starts at the end and works backwards to the source: pre-defining an exacting blend profile consisting of the specific acidity, sugar, fat, and tasting profile they want to invent -- then blind cupping as many independent coffees as it takes to achieve it. (The only hard rule being you'll never find an Onyx blend with more than three varieties at a time.)

The mad genius of this is that it allows Onyx to dial in a "year-round" blend like Monarch without compromising their commitment to 100% seasonal sourcing. E.g., while Monarch's overall profile stays consistent, the unique combo of varieties, farms, and terroir that Onyx draws on to create it changes with the season every 3-4 months 🤯.

Yes, this is a flex. It takes a constant commitment to profiling, cupping, sourcing...and then doing it all over again. But it means the coffee you get from Onyx is always in season, always designed to extract exactly how they intended it, and is one of the (many) things that makes them great. 

The current Monarch blend comes from Colombia N.G.E.B. and Ethiopia Biloya Natural.

Radical Transparency

Speaking of Onyx being awesome, did I mention they set the industry standard for ingredient and Fairtrade sourcing transparency?
We're talking the type of radical -- like, "report your wholesale prices, shipping costs, and solar energy consumption" radical -- transparency that isn't practical or profitable, that most customers will never see, that basically only makes sense to do if you care more about being great than being commercial.
"Money, power, respect / the last one is better." 🔥

Pay Structure

A-

This is the grade Onyx assigns to their level of supply chain transparency and visibility back to the original producer (with an A+ being payment wired from Onyx directly to the original farmer, and points deducted for intermediation beyond that). 

For Monarch, the A- signifies that Onyx purchased beans from a Cooperative or Farmers Association and published the FOB price, made a wire directly from Onyx to the Cooperative, and documented payment from the Cooperative to its members working with Onyx at the origin farms. Mills, Exporter, and Importer are known and quality scores are published. FOB, Milling, and Logistics are proven.

Green Cost

$3.73

This is the price per pound that Onyx paid for the raw, green beans used in the Monarch blend. 

In this case, $3.73 represents a FOB ("free on board") cost, which means Onyx paid for the beans at the point of shipping and the seller was responsible for any overland fees that were incurred before the coffee was on board the ship.

For context, the International Fairtrade minimum price for coffee is currently $1.80/lb (recently increased from $1.40). Onyx currently pays at least twice the Fairtrade minimum on every coffee it sources. 

Cup Score

86.5

As part of their commitment to fair farmer compensation, the Onyx team evaluates every coffee they taste on a numerical scoresheet developed by the Coffee Quality Institute. This helps establish a consistent framework for quality to benchmark Onyx's negotiations with its suppliers, allowing producers to command higher prices for incremental quality-enhancing measures that they undertake. 

Note that this cup score is independent from Onyx's internal taste testing, and is a measure of raw ingredient quality than subjective drinkability (e.g., it's common for a roaster to intentionally source and 86 point coffee over an 88 when it comes to taste). 
onyx coffee lab never settle for good enough

The most awarded coffee in the world, straight outta...Arkansas?

Y'all better believe it.
Onyx is a family-owned, specialty coffee roastery based in Northwest Arkansas and widely respected as the most awarded independent coffee roaster in the world.
Founded by couple Andrea and Jon Allen in 2012 with the mission to bring great coffee to their hometown of Bentonville, an unrelenting focus on quality, craft, innovation, and transparency has earned Onyx an ever-expanding slew of awards on U.S. and international stages...including Andrea personally winning 1st place in the US Barista Championship in 2020. (No we don't know what that entails beyond pouring a mean latte, but it's badass.)
Today, Onyx serves coffee out of its central roastery and "Coffee Lab" in Rogers, AR as well as four satellite cafes in the surrounding area. From what we can see, they remain pedal-down on the promise to "Never Settle for Good Enough", as evidenced by continued new releases, innovation, and re-investment in the art and science of coffee making. Easyday is proud to be one of a select number of authorized retail partners nationwide. ⚡️