Our previous Coffee Corner blog was an absolute hit, so we’re focusing on another specialty coffee feature this month: the smooth and balanced Munro blend.

Your Munro coffee packaging will teach you a lot about the Ethiopian and Nicaraguan blend (like how it’s perfect with milk & has notes of that are reminiscent of Easter morning - hello dark chocolate & hazelnut), but what if we told you that you can dive even deeper into the masterpiece that is Munro? Here is the exact place to learn the ins-and-outs of Munro that you’ll find nowhere else.

1. It’s one of the first coffee blends we ever made.

Formerly La Layenda, Munro was one of the four original blends that started Pod & Parcel as we currently know it.

A firm favourite from the start, Munro prompted us to add more varieties to our coffee repertoire, and holds a special place in our hearts for propelling our then tiny business into an internationally loved brand. When we went ahead with our packaging re-brand, we decided to give the name an upgrade too, which is how the Munro you’ve come to know and love was born.

2. Munro’s name origins

Munro’s origins started back in the late 1800’s with the Scottish born politician and property tycoon James Munro. As a big believer in the temperance movement (which believed in no alcoholic drinking at all), Munro used his fortune to establish and boom some of Melbourne’s first coffee palaces, which were ornate and magnificent hotels which didn’t serve a drop of alcohol, instead serving coffee.

The decline of the temperance movement in the 1890’s led to coffee palaces being granted liquor licenses - and therefore selling alcohol in exchange for coffee - so our very own Munro blend is homage to this coffee-fuelled moment in Melbourne’s history.

3. We use a combination of washed and natural beans to make Munro

As you may already know, coffee starts as a bright red ‘cherry’ that is grown on the coffee plant. These cherries have a bunch of layers protecting the coffee bean inside (silver skin, parchment, pectin, pulp, and outer skin), and in order extract this bean, there are different processes we take.

When we’re making Munro, the beans that come from Nicaragua are washed, which means that we remove all the cherry casing prior to drying the bean. This means that all you’re tasting is the vibrancy and clarity of the bean itself, which often results in quite a fruity flavour. The other half of Munro - our beans from Ethiopia - on the other hand, are roasted with the cherry intact; this allows for sweeter berry notes to shine through thanks to the fermentation of the cherry casing intertwining with the bean.

Both drying methods have their place in the coffee making process, and it’s small differences such as these which allow us to really hone in the flavours of our speciality coffee, and make sure that you’re getting an artisan-crafted batch of coffee for your morning brew.