And now for something completely different. Different from the coffees I have been recommending since we began in January. Different because you have been sampling coffees of the Arabic variety. Our Continental Blend is rather different because it contains a variety of Arabia and Robusta. The Robusta coffee variety crops faster than Arabica, and is so named because the plant is more Robust and resistant to the many diseases that Arabica variety encounters. We blend an Arabica variety from Colombia with a Robusta variety from India.
Why is it called Continental Blend? Well, I think the name and style of this blend dates way back to a period before the first world war and continued in the inter war years. Visitors to parts of Europe from The United Kingdom encountered different foods and flavours especially the flavours of some coffees they found in parts of southern France, Italy and Spain. They came back wanting something like the flavours they had enjoyed, so most Coffee merchants had to reflect this in their selections. But what went on over the English Channel was often referred to, perhaps rather dismissively, as “Continental” a bit mysterious and rather different from home. So a “Continental Blend” had to become one the features in most selections.
As I look today through our former lists there it is in my father’s first price list when he opened his shop in South Molton Street in June 1946, becoming not only wholesale , as it was in the beginning in 1942, but retail as well. Continental Blend Dark roast 2/10 per lb. (For those unfamiliar with pre-decimal, two Shillings and Ten pence per lb equivalent in weight to 454g today).
It has kept its place in our selection and at times become one of our most popular. It is a dark roast and has a powerful flavour. As I ground some to make a pot today the aroma took me back to the aroma of liquorice I encountered as a child.
When I began to serve on the counter in the shop in the middle 1950’s there were customers who confessed to me that our Continental Blend was perfect for dealing with a weekend hangover. Needless to say, we have never sold it on that basis, but if you want a coffee to get you going in the morning, up and ready to face the world, and chasing away those morning blues, there is our Continental Blend. It can be enjoyed black or with hot milk. It’s full and distinctive powerful character will stand its own after a rich lunch or dinner, successfully competing with the other intense flavours on the menu, and it has a feature perhaps above all others in our selection, because of the inclusion of the Robusta variety, a very distinctive and unique kick, I think that is why it has always been popular.
I hope you enjoy trying it.
Very best wishes
Tony Higgins
