Roast Story: Essence is your go-to traditional espresso coffee with warm chocolatey notes that pair beautifully with milk or in a standalone shot. To achieve this roast profile, we extended the roast longer than a typical espresso roast profile to break down the organic structure of the bean to ensure a high extraction in any espresso machine. In other words, Essence is meant to be mixed with milk or syrups without masking the natural coffee flavors embedded in the roast. Essence came about because we wanted to have an approachable espresso roast that was in par with the general expectation of what espresso is. The funny thing about this roast is that we prefer it on drip or French press here at Alma over espresso. That’s why—if you may have noticed our coffee lineup has a slight preference towards lighter roast coffees—we feature Soulmate medium roast on espresso at our café over our own Essence espresso roast. We share this not to steer you away from using Essence on your at-home espresso machine, but rather to challenge yourself to brew it in different ways and see what you discover. Origin Story: Currently, the coffee that makes up this roast comes from Finca La Unica, the second coffee farm added to the Alma Family Farms lineup. Leticia, one of the co-owners of Alma and a 5th generation coffee farmer is very proud of Finca La Unica for it’s high altitude, beauty, and strategic harmonious coffee growing amongst nature. When Leticia first took over La Unica, most of the land had been used for cattle grazing. With the help of the amazing farm team, this farm has blossomed to include perfectly aligned rows of coffee trees, strategically placed shade trees, and wild fruit and fauna to be found throughout. Finca La Unica truly is picture perfect!