This article was written after-the-fact.
PANTONE's color of the year this time around is Mocha Mousse (PANTONE 17-1230) #a47764. PANTONE's announcement the year prior was such a disappointment that the Mathu siblings traveled to Home Depot to decide on our own color of the year for 2024. We initially sought some sort of brown or green to reconnect our color to the Earth.
I was attached to Havana Coffee (Behr N210-7) #554941, even once we had settled on our Forbidden red. It was muted and understated, which I always appreciate in a color.
When PANTONE's announcement rolled around, I was not disappointed. I felt some pride in knowing that a brown was on the horizon.
As such, my choice of color of the year for 2025 is also a brown: the muted, dark, straight-forward #554436. The name "That me espresso" refers to the color of coffee, because coffee is brown.