Coffee company launches new blend to welcome Obama to Canada

Timothy's World Coffee has created a new blend of "presidential" coffee to welcome Barack Obama to Canada when the U.S. president pays a visit to Parliament Hill on Thursday.

The coffee, which is being marketed as "Timothy's Presidential Blend No. 44," includes the "finest" beans from Kenya, Hawaii and Sumatra to reflect Obama's family heritage, the company said. Obama is the 44th U.S. president.

George Michel, chief executive officer of Timothy's World Coffee, said in a news release on Wednesday that the specialty coffee company is celebrating the multiracial president through the new blend.

"President Obama is here for a working visit, so we're pleased to welcome him with a very special cup of coffee as he rolls up his sleeves and gets down to business with Prime Minister [Stephen] Harper," Michel said.

"He brings a wonderful blend to the world's most important office, and we are paying tribute to that with a wonderful new blend of our own roasted to perfection in Canada."

Obama was born in Hawaii and spent some time in Indonesia as a child when his family lived there. His biological father was originally from Kenya.

The new blend of coffee will be available at Timothy's World Coffee restaurants across Canada starting on Thursday. Packages of the new blend have been sent to the Prime Minister's Office in Ottawa and the White House in Washington, D.C.

According to Timothy's marketing director Bob Huitema, the blend contains Hawaiian Kona beans, Sumatra beans that have been picked to eliminate all defects and the highest grade of Kenyan beans.

The beans are blended and then roasted at a roasting facility in Toronto to what the specialty coffee company calls a "medium Viennese Roast."