What is Sunnyside Breakfast Blend?
Equator's easy first cup of the day: medium roast, chocolate and cherry, nothing sharp.
Sunnyside Breakfast is the gentlest coffee in Equator Coffees' range. Equator roasts it medium and lists bittersweet chocolate, black cherry and roasted almond as its tasting notes. Its Director of Coffee Culture describes it as a coffee that "doesn't ask anything of you": mellow, simple and satisfying. That is the brief for a breakfast blend, a coffee that works in a drip machine at 7am without needing a scale and a timer.
It is sold whole bean, or ground for French press, drip and pour over, or espresso, in 12 oz, 2 lb and 5 lb bags.
What is in the blend
Three coffees from three countries, and Equator names all of them.
Most breakfast blends say nothing about what goes in them. Equator publishes each component:
- Guatemala, Atitlan. The base. Bourbon, Catuai and Caturra from multiple producers on the slopes around Lake Atitlan, grown at 3,900 to 5,900 feet and washed. Equator calls it naturally bright, structured and rich.
- Colombia, Boyaca and Cundinamarca. Castillo and Colombia varieties from multiple producers at 3,900 to 6,500 feet, washed, added for a bright, complex acidity with notes of citrus, grapefruit, roasted nuts and cocoa.
- Brazil, Norte Pioneiro, Parana. A natural-process coffee from Capricornio Coffees, with Bourbon, Mundo Novo, Catuai and Tupi grown at 3,000 to 3,600 feet.
The washed coffees give it clarity and the natural Brazilian gives it body and sweetness. That is a classic structure for an approachable blend, and it explains the notes: chocolate and almond from the Brazil and Guatemala, cherry from the natural.
How fresh it arrives
Roasted after you order, with the date on the bag.
Equator roasts to order in small batches at its roastery on Jordan Street in San Rafael, California, Monday to Friday, and says orders ship from the roastery in one to two business days. The bag carries a ROASTED ON date on the bottom, so you can see exactly how old the coffee is rather than trusting a best-before date set a year out. That is the single most useful thing a coffee bag can print, and most supermarket bags do not. Equator ships within the US only, free on orders of $50 or more.
What it costs
The bigger the bag, the less you pay per cup.
| Bag | Price | Per kilo | Per cup (15 g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 340 g (12 oz) | $18.00 | $52.94 | $0.79 |
| 907 g (2 lb) | $41.00 | $45.20 | $0.68 |
| 2.27 kg (5 lb) | $96.00 | $42.33 | $0.63 |
Per-cup figures assume 15 g of coffee to a cup. At $42.33 a kilo in the 5 lb bag, this is the cheapest way into Equator's coffee, about $0.63 a cup. A 5 lb bag is a lot of coffee for one person, though: at two cups a day it lasts about ten weeks, well past its best. Split it and freeze what you will not use in the first month, or buy the 2 lb bag. Our guide to storing coffee beans covers how.
How to brew it
Made for the drip machine, and forgiving everywhere else.
Equator's own recipe is for a drip brewer: 66 g of coffee to 1,000 g of water, a 1:15 ratio. For a single cup in an AeroPress it suggests 18 g to 200 g of water, and it gives a cold brew recipe for the Hario Mizudashi at 100 g to 1,200 g, steeped 12 to 14 hours in the fridge. A medium roast with this much chocolate in it also holds up well with milk. See our drip coffee maker reviews if you are choosing a machine to brew it in.
Sunnyside Breakfast vs Equator Blend
Equator's two everyday blends, for different mornings.
Equator Blend is the company's best seller, roasted medium-dark from Sumatran, Kenyan, Colombian and Guatemalan coffees, with notes of cedar, apricot and milk chocolate. It costs $18.50 for 12 oz. Sunnyside is lighter, rounder and 50 cents cheaper. Choose Sunnyside for black coffee from a drip machine; choose Equator Blend if you like a heavier, more roasty cup or take milk.
Why the roast date matters
Coffee is at its best for weeks, not the year a best-before date implies.
Roasted coffee gives off carbon dioxide for days after roasting, which is why espresso tastes harsh and filter coffee bubbles hard in the first few days. After that it is at its sweetest for a few weeks, then slowly goes flat as the aromatic oils oxidise. A best-before date, usually set a year or more after packing, tells you nothing about where a bag sits on that curve. A printed roast date does. We list every coffee on the site that prints one in coffee with roast dates, and our scores give real weight to it.
Buy only what you will drink in about a month, keep it in the bag it came in or an airtight container, away from light and heat, and grind just before brewing. Do not keep beans in the fridge: they pick up moisture and smells.
Is Sunnyside Breakfast Blend worth it?
For a fresh, well-documented everyday coffee, yes.
The case for it is freshness you can check and a blend with nothing hidden. At $18 for 12 oz it costs more than a supermarket breakfast blend, but those rarely say when they were roasted. The case against is that it is a blend of many producers, so if you want to taste one farm, Equator's Peru Chirinos is the single origin to buy. For more options, see our list of the coffee beans we have scored.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
Buy it if
- You want a smooth medium roast for drip coffee every morning.
- You want a roast date on the bag.
- You drink enough to make the 2 lb or 5 lb bag worthwhile.
Skip it if
- You want a single farm or a certified organic coffee.
- You live outside the US.
- You like bright, light roasts with high acidity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Sunnyside Breakfast Blend taste like?
Equator lists bittersweet chocolate, black cherry and roasted almond, from a medium roast.
Is Sunnyside Breakfast Blend a light roast?
No. Equator roasts it medium.
Where do the beans come from?
Atitlan in Guatemala, Boyaca and Cundinamarca in Colombia, and Parana in Brazil, where the Brazilian component comes from Capricornio Coffees.
Does Equator print a roast date?
Yes. Equator says to look for the ROASTED ON date on the bottom of the bag.
How much is Sunnyside Breakfast Blend?
$18 for 12 oz, $41 for 2 lb and $96 for 5 lb.
