Onyx Coffee, a 3rd-wave roaster HQ’d in Arkansas, has always had the best packaging and presentation in the game. I was never too impressed by their coffee offerings, however. But I think that may have changed.

This blog post is first just me praising how pretty and cool Onyx’s presentation is, but the meat and potatoes is going to be my ratings of all the coffee :3

I took off-the-cuff notes every day that I tried one of the coffees, and in honor of their honesty and out of respect of current-me’s time, I’m just going to reproduce them here verbatim.

What is Coffee Advent?

Other roasters and providers have done this before, but it seems as though Onyx is the most recognized (or perhaps the best at marketing it).
In brief, Coffee Advent is 24 different coffees for each of the 24 days of December preceding Christmas. Each bag is 2oz of coffee, and the idea is that every day you brew a completely unique coffee from the day before.

It’s a neat, simple idea. I think what really won me over was the combination of presentation and supporting media.

Finally, cool snake motifs with my coffee…bless

Obviously the packaging is fantastic, but what really sold me was the playing cards and videos that came with it. Two decks of playing cards, one a full normal playing deck with custom coffee motifs. The other a 25-card deck hosting 1 card per coffee offering with the coffee info, a description, and a QR code to the website and accompanying videos.

They’re high-quality too! Genuine Bicycle playing cards!

They had a special website for this event and I have some opinions on how it’s coded. Thematically very cool. And neat that the cards match the physical cards I actually got with the package. Neat! The coffee nerd in me just wishes that throughout the event I’d had easier access to the *information* itself

But I digress.

Figures that it took til I recorded this in January 2026 for the site to actually work w/o a hitch

I don’t digress actually what the fuck. I couldn’t reliably open this on firefox, or safari. I had to open it on a chromium browser just to get it to work.

It’s a wobbly reactive app with a spread of cards for each day and I hate it. Trying to swipe between cards on mobile just made safari freak out and change tabs and stuff.

This has very cool design elements to it, but if it doesn’t work then what’s the point. Bad UX kills cool UI.

The Coffee Review

Reminder!! My original notes were very rough and taken off-the-cuff while brewing and drinking coffee each day…These are my casual, un-edited, first-impressions translated one-to-one from paper to my blog.

I’ve refined their presentation below, but the contents are still rough (aka please be nice).

My actual, paper notes. I’m actually proud of how I arranged this, but the contents are still pretty rough lol

1. Colombia Aponte Village Honey

Nariño, Colombia

Mixed

Red Honey

Lance Hedrick: was funny & very sincere & genuine

Deep apple, Cherry

Warm, cozy, very good red honey just not my fave. 8/10

2. Ethiopia Shakiso Female-Produced Natural

Guji, Ethiopia

Landrace

Natural

Loud & Casual just about the producer

X

Coffee great. [The gf] liked it. FLoral but chill about it. Fruity, light, but very approachable.

3. Kenya Gakuyu-ini AA

Kirinyaga, Kenya

SL28, SL34, Ruiru 12

Kenya-Washed

X

X

Kind of boring, but tasty...Very washed, paltable...6/10

4. Uganda Long Miles Lunar Station

Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda

Mixed

Natural

Earnest. "Sometimes you get a natural that's like "Bwoop!""

Smells incredible. So sweet.

Super soft mouthfeel. Sweet, kind of delicate. 8/10

5. Framily

Guji, Ethiopia

Landrace

Washed

Video had US Cycling team. Very cute

Fantastic berry

Extremely good as it cools. Perfect washed Ethiopia 10/10

6. Costa Rica Las Lajas Natural

Sabanilla de Alajuela, Costa Rica

Catuai, Caturra, Bourbon

Natural

Morgan Eckroth

Deeply sweet chocolate + rich fruity like a fudge with cranberries

Med-light body juicy fruity but w/ solid chocolate/grounded floor. Sides of tongue...

7. Uganda Kamogo Station

Mt. Elgon, Uganda

SL14, SL34, Nyasaland

Yeast-Innoculated Washed

World Barista 2025 Champion Jack Simpson

Floral & Spicy, but not overwhelming. Very Pleasant

Comfy. Stonefruit bottom & rounded + tasty. Chocolate finish...maybe nut.

8. Ethiopia Hambela Alaka Natural

Guji, Ethiopia

Landrace

Natural

Jon Lampley tiktok style video. Good editing and very fast.

Deep chocolate that resolves to fruit.

Perfect comfy Ethiopia natural. Fruit forward & deep w/o being crazy. 10/10

9. El Salvador Santa Rosa

Chalatenango, El Salvador

Pacamara

Washed

Jorge Raul Rivera -> owner of coffee

Nothing crazy. General Pacamara "roasty" smell

Very OK. Maybe a bad brew. Def good, just nothing special. A classy Med. roast 5/10

10. Guatemala El Socorro Purpuracca

Palencia, Guatemala

Purpuracea

Washed

Jerry Truong USA 2025 Barista Champion

Citrus, berry fruit. Apple.

It's the standard good "wahsed." That kind of default apple flavor. 4/10

11. Colombia Edward Sandoval Chiroso

Tolima, Colombia

Chiroso

Washed

Zedd. Very "here are my espresso accessories"

Light & spiced

Light,j floral, very fruity but rounded out by the wash. 9/10

12. Mexico Mazateca Mujeres

Sierra Mazateca, Oaxaca, Mexico

Typica, Bourbon, Mundo Novo

Washed

Sam spillman - Cafe Mire(?). Great coffee prep video explanation of varietals

Lightly fermented notes beneath coffee.

It's a really good central American washed coffee but w/ a kind of fermented, sweet sting changing it for the better. Juicy grapefruit. 8/10

13. Krampus

Kirinyaga, Kenya

SL28, SL34, Ruiru 12

Washed

Goofy "Krampus" spooky forest horror movie

syrupy tobacco. Not pungent...just good.

Tobacco first, but not offensive. A little smoky. Not a daily driver but interesting. 7/10

14. El Salvador Santa Rosa Honey

Chalatenago, El Salvador

Pacamara

Red Honey

Jose Raul Rivera (producer). Honest & simple

Very light smell. Delicate "coffee" scent. Pleasant.

Rose, syrupy fruit but not heavy at all.

15. Ethiopia Lalesa Ephtah Site Slow Dry Natural

Gedeb, Ethiopia

Landrace

Natural

Dakota Graff. Chill explanation about the coffee & women-owned collective.

Very very deep sweetness. Almost buttery sweet (not saccharine)

Deep sweetness. Almost peanut butter aftertaste. Super comfy & tasty. 10/10

16. Panama Hacienda Barbara Catuai Natural

Boquete, Panama

Catuai

Natural

Cole Torode in Panama. Sourcer.

Not strong, but very deeply natural & fruity.

Developed fruit roast. No spice, but "chocolate & compote" for sure.

17. Kenya Kamunyaka AA

Kirinyaga, Kenya

SL28, SL34, Ruiru 12

Kenya-Washed

Peter Mbature. Cool earnest video about the coffee.

Very rich fruit + chocolate.

Top-notch comfy fruit. Mango for sure. 9/10

18. Ethiopia Bombe Natural

Bensa, Ethiopia

Landrace

Natural

Kay Cheon - terrible audio (cutting off) but understandable. He's on a mountain pouring this

Crazy red fruit

explosive sweetness, rounded in that deep natural way 9/10

19. Colombia John Diaz Pink Bourbon

Huila, Colombia

Pink Bourbon

Washed

Pedro Eschavarria -> works w/ producers. Good simple video about coffee & prep.

Fruity citrus, some stone fruit

Classic washed natural but w/ citrus finish. Not super floral, but more than berry 9/10

20. Honduras Sagastume Family Natural

Santa Barbara, Honduras

Parainema

natural

Benjamin Paz (Honduras producer). Demonstration + info about the coffee

X

Not great cuz I tried it in the new OXO rapid brewer for the first time

21. Colombia Jairo Arcila Lychee

Quindío, Colombia

Castillo

Fruit-Innoculated Washed

Juan Camilio Zuluaga. Cool vibes from this guy. I see his company goat logo in the Demo + explanation

Said "oh my god" aloud cuz so fruity. Kinda grapey or apple. Apricot.

INSANELY cool. Rich & fruity! Like candy apple but not fermented 10/10

22. Kenya Elshadai Coffee Estate Natural

Kiambu, Kenya

SL28, SL34, Ruiru 12

Natural

Morgan Eckroth again. Fine. She seems to really like this one.

Raisins, a malty sugar. Really cool.

Malty, a little fermented. A chill, not in-your-face candy flavor 9/10

23. Guatemala El Socorro Maracaturra

Palencia, Guatemala

Maracaturra

Washed

Akie Bermiss. Passionate about light roasts. Brewred & talked about the roasts "playfulness"

Perfect light roast smell. Nothing crazy

Full body, juicy fruit. Rounded chocolate

24. Panama Hacienda Esmeralda Gesha

Boquete Highlands, Panama

Gesha

Washed

Rachel Peterson. Talking about creating coffee w/ simplicity. Using hoop.

Sharp sweetness. Fresh & fragrant

Lemon, light stone fruit finish

At this point even I’m wondering why I’m making the effort to share this. 24 different coffees, and even if I put maximal effort into describing them…what’s the point of doing so with just text like this?

I think I just want to share a bit of the process for its own sake, because it’s *my* process. I love coffee, but I have some imposter syndrome about the hobby, and certainly about really *knowing* the industry. I’m trying very hard to be more intentional about my continuing education, especially if I’m really ever going to open my own cafe someday.

Onyx Advent Final Thoughts

The “review” thoughts I’ve shared are all over the place, but I assure you I had tons of fun with every coffee. The highlight, of course, was using 6 of them for the home coffee cupping with a bunch of friends :3

But no, aside from the website issues, I really loved this. I’m still working my way through the remaining coffee and I’m 100% keeping this beautiful box and these cards.

I think the real standout though is a combination of the videos and the well-deserved attention going to the producers and procurers of the coffee.

Great coffee is good on its own, but truly ethical coffee tastes all the sweeter.

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Hi, I'm Regal!

I'm a communist cobra obsessed with coffee, weightlifting, and Chicago! This is my personal site where I blog about coffee shops and other things.
Thanks for stopping by! Hit me up on the socials if you have any comments or want to say hi, or if you've got any cool coffee shop suggestions here in Chicago