Bean Log: Axil - Seasonal Blend

I picked up my usual order of the Seasonal Blend by Axil Coffee in Melbourne after burning through my last order from my Drop Coffee subscription. I needed to get a buffer set of beans when I go through the random batches too fast. Axil is one of those roasters that take itself seriously and care deeply about coffee, to the point that Jack Simpson from Axil has won the 2025 World Championship again. Their seasonal blend rotates based on what’s available but they always try and keep a specific taste they are aiming for.

The Bean

The bag says “Milk Chocolate, Panela & Stone Fruits” which I think is a broad but reasonable description. I have no idea what Panela tastes of. Apparently it’s unrefined cane sugar, so basically “sweet” with some form of funk maybe?

Tasting Notes

Up front I get a lot of chocolate and a bit of plum. There’s a mildly harsh finish that reads as caramel or maybe nutmeg, hard to pin down but noticeable. It’s not high in acidity and quite palatable with no discerning funky notes.

Dialing It In

Getting here took some fiddling with my machine. I started with my usual 18g dose and it tasted noticeably thinner (not bad), but you’d pick it if you compared them side by side or if you’re incredibly anal about texture. Their site recommends 20g in, 44g out at 27-30 seconds, but my machine doesn’t want to cooperate with that. The setting above is close enough and tastes quite nice.

Verdict

This has become my fallback bean of the past year. Not the most exciting coffee I’ve had, but consistently good, which is exactly what I want when I’m not trying new things. Compared to supermarket grade coffee it’s leagues better. Compared to some hidden gems that I forgot to note down over the past year, it’s just… fine. And for a fallback bean, fine is exactly what I want.