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1/5: Welcome back! We have big email problems! What a great way to start the new year.... grrr. It seems that we were not getting emails sent through the website contact form. If you have sent us a message in the last week through the website form - please resend it. It will take us a couple of days to catch up with all messages - but if you have not heard from us - please resend the email just to be sure that we got it and can respond. Maria
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12/30: Now we are off again for the New Year's holiday! I hope we took care of some of the more urgent matters - but if there is something wrong - a lost or damaged shipment, or a defective machine- we will take care of it once we are back in the office January 2009. -Maria
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12/29: We are back in the office for a couple of days -shipping orders and take care of things before we close again for New Year's. We are switching our hosting company - mostly for better performance, control and support. Our old hosting company was cheap and it sort of showed in slow load times and lame support. But we switched the domain name server today and sxeemed to come off without a hitch really. Let us know if you encounter any weirdness, like missing pages, or weird shopping cart items. I am sure there will be some bugs, we just have not found them yet. And Happy New Year! Let's hope for a nice 2009 - nothin' fancy, nice will be fine. Maria
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12/22: We are officially closed for the holiday. Time to head to the mall! We have turned the cart off so we can catch our breath, and take a few days off (and do some back end changes to the website in the meantime). The cart will be back on December 26th. We are back in the office Monday Dec 29th and will start catching up and shipping orders in the order received. We will close again for the New Year's holiday - though the cart will remain on that weekend. We are back to a normal schedule on January 5th. Happy Holidays everyone! - Maria
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12/19: The door is closing on holiday ordering, but I must extend a proverbial foot into the jam and add these new coffees:
- El Salvador Finca Kilimanjaro; I was trying to stash this vacuum packed gem for late season, but there has been too much demand. If you know this special coffee from years past, all I can say is it's fantastic once again, many say better than last year.
- Colombia "Los Pijaos de Tolima" (3 Star); a blend that we build one tiny lot at a time through ourdirect trade program. Tolimas have been consistently my favorite Colombias in recent harvests
- Colombia Organic "Union de Nariño" (3 Star); our first certified organic Farm Gate coffee from Colombia, built from micro-lots in the town of La Union. Both these lots were shipped vacuum packed, and are vibrantly fresh.
- Kenya AB Auction Lot #768 -Rukira; Our very last main crop auction lot Kenya until new crop, vivid fruits, and mercifully moderate acidity.
- Sumatra Onan Ganjang Cultivar; A specific type of coffee shrub from the Lintong area, this was something I found on my recent trip there. It has a classic cup, intense, brutish, potent ... and is quite different from other Lintong coffees.
- Espresso Workshop #1 - The Ophiolite Blend; I am really excited about this blend, and our new espresso approach. We are dividing our blends into "Standards", blends we maintain consistently, and these Espresso Workshop "editions", things I have hammered out in the cupping lab above the offices here at Sweet Maria's. These are lot-specific offerings, meaning that when the particular coffees in the mix are out, the blend "edition" is retired. What's an ophiolite? Ask Wikipedia ... or just read the review to see why I chose a geologic term... Tom
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12/16: Holiday orders are rolling along here - we are shipping orders as fast as possible. Let us know about any problems with your order as soon as possible so we have time to address the issue.-Maria
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12/11: I added two new lots today. Costa Rica Tarrazu -Montes de Oro is from a small Micro Mill and farm run by Emilio Gamboa and his family. In a cupping with Costa Rica farmers here at Sweet Maria's a month ago, this coffee impressed everyone, and it still does today! It is also one of the early lots in which we are transitioning to our new scoring system! Check it out. We have used the new numbers on our second lot too, another stellar dry-processed Ethiopia in a season of gems; Ethiopia Organic DP Bonko "Black Sun." (It's our new favorite name too). -Tom
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12/10: The USPS continues to have service disruptions that cause their rates to not display. Here is their note: "The Postal Service continues to experience intermittent system interruptions in our Webtools API’s.. We apologize for the inconvenience this is causing, especially at what is one of the busiest times of the year. We are hopeful that full service, across the country, will be restored as soon as possible. We thank you again for your patience." So if you are trying to place an order and no postal rates display - just try again in a few minutes if possible. The disruptions seem to be very intermittent. -Maria
- 12/9: The new coffees keep comin'! We have listed just now Brazil Ipanema "Tree Dry Process", a coffee from an estate that is familiar to our customers, but this time as a dried on the tree coffee that makes an excellent coffee for espresso use, mildly fruited, strong chocolate roast taste, and heavy liquor-like body. Also two exceptional cofffees, El Salvador Peaberry "Aida's Grand Reserve", a great coffee of careful propagation, harvesting, picking, processing, and blending, and the Guatemala Cup of Excellence #1 -El Injerto, a 100% pacamara cultivar that is clean, sweetly fruited, and spicy in the cup.
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I made a tribute to Paul Stauder Jr., an important person who helped us get some of our greatest Guatemala coffees. -Tom
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12/8: Well, the Grinch has been at it this past weekend. We had LOTS of problems with folks trying to place orders, and the order being rejected. If you did not get an order confirmation from us, please let me know so I can be sure that we got the order. AND, it seems that the U S Post shipping calculator is not working, or working only intermittently. So the credit card/shoppping cart problem seems to be resolved, but the USPS shipping calculator still seems to be off line. I will post an update when this is resolved - hopefully soon! - Maria
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12/4: And 3 more new coffees today! Sulawesi Toraja Sapan-Minanga, Kenya Auction Lot 738- Maura Peaberry, and Ethiopia Organic Wet-Process Kebado!
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12/3: New arrivals today include Costa Rica La Candelilla Tarrazu "Miel", a really sweet and chocolatey high grown micro lot from a great farm. We have a crazy, non-traditional flavor profile in the Nicaragua Limoncillo Pacamara Dry-Process, over-the-top fruited flavors, and great body with moderate acidity. It's my choice for darker roast levels. And in a different vein of fruity coffee, Indonesia Flores Organic Manggarai ... this lot is by far the best I have ever cupped from this origin!
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12/2:
We have modified our roasted coffe offerings into a form that fits us much better, and I am pretty excited about:
Sweet Maria's Roasted Coffee Pairings. See our Roasted page for more information. -Tom
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11/22: We have another coffee to release from our vault of mid-crop Costa Ricas (i.e. lots we have vacuum packed to roll out later in the season). Costa Rica Guillio Francesca -Finca Guadelupe is a classic, crowd-pleaser cup profile from a coffee farmer who is quite a character! We have our first premium Lintong-area coffees, coincidently arriving just as I returned from Sumatra. The king of all Sumatras is the large bean selection Sumatra Lake Toba 19+ Extra Bold (formerly Lake Tawar - see the review) is a potent, brutish cup, and the specially-prepared Sumatra Lintong Blue Batak is really no less potent, with chocolate, caramel, herbal hints, tobacco, and that bittersweet finish.
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11/21: The holidays are upon us! We will be closed December 24th through 28th and December 31st through January 5th. As the time draws closer, I will post more information about dates to get orders in for holiday delivery - Maria
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11/21: Tom just returned from Sumatra and Sulawesi; it was a looonnng trip that seemed all too short. I divided the pictures into
- The Aceh District of Sumatra (actually north of North Sumatra!) which includes Takengon and the areas around Lake Tawar
- .... and then Sulawesi and Tana Toraja, an amazing, mystical place, where I handily whacked my head crawling through a tunnel in a Toraja traditional burial cave. It still hurts. -Tom
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10/29: We have quite a list of new arrivals this week, and since I am headed to Sumatra, I am pushing to get them all listed. From top of the list to the bottom, here they are!
- Costa Rica Don Mayo "La Ponderosa" Bourbon: Granola aromatics, hazelnut roast tones and boysenberry syrup sweetness!
- Panama Volcancito Don Pepe Bourbon: Anopther classic, well-structured Bourbon varietal coffee with malty sweetness and buttery body.
- Ethiopia Organic Idido Misty Valley DP: The ever-popular IMV returns, a carefully-prepared dry-process coffee from the Gedeo part of Yirga Cheffe, with striking strawberry, peach-apricot and mango fruit notes.
- Kenya Auction Lot #829 Weithaga Peaberry: Another stunning Kenya, so caramelly and effervescent, with a touch of cinnamon, sweet orange, and cherry drops.
- Bali Kintamani Arabica: A different flavor profile from last year's Bali, more intensely fruited, heavy body, very low acidity.
- Papua New Guinea AA Maloolaba: Strikingly bright as wet-processed PNG coffees can be, but with a wide stripe of "Indonesia" wildness running through it; herbal-foresty flavors emerge as it cools.
- Rwanda Butare Bourbon WP Decaf: Like it's non-decaf counterparts, this decaf is well-structured, balanced and makes a great espresso (or as part of a low-caffeine blend). syrupy.
- Tanazania Ruvuma Peaberry WP Decaf: Quite a bright, lively decaf cup (even more than our Kenya decaf) , with molasses and gingerbread flavors.
- 10/22: We added our new arrival of Ethiopia Kembata Grade 4 Dry-Process, a coffee from Southern Ethiopia with peach, tamarind, lemon, spices and chocolate... complex and intense, another great natural Ethiopia lot. We also have our first new crop Indonesia at the warehouse, Java Kajumas Curah Tatal. It's your typical low-acidity, oily body Java except this coffee has sweetness and nuance I haven't seen in Java coffees in recent years. We suspect it is partially from older Typica cultivars. Coincidentally, these two lots make an awesome Mocha-Java blend, 50% of each!
- 10/17: We have 2 new lots from Central and South America and 2 new decafs today:
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10/7: Tom returned from a Cupping Competition in Peru with a handful of pictures, and some thoughts on why Peru coffee isn't as respected as it could be ...
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10/1: After careful consideration, we decided to get rid of 1/2 pound samplers. So this changes the samplers sold a la carte. The roasters - the FreshRoast, i-Roast2, Nesco and Whirley Pop are still available with 4 pounds of coffee for an extra $10 - but it is four full pounds of coffee, not eight half pounds. I think there is an upside and a downside to this change. The upside is we ship the same great coffee and you have more of a coffee to experiment with roasting to different levels while learning to use the roaster. The downside is less variety. We will still make sure there is a good taste and geographic distribution represented - disparate regions, variety of processing methods, roast recommendations, etc. I suppose another downside could be if you discover you really do not like a coffee and still have 1/2 or more of it left. But in that situation I would point out that a different degree of roast or a longer resting time might change the flavor. What has really prompted this move is the labor cost involved in packing half-pound bags. We thought we would automate this task eventually, but we never did. And as we head into another holiday season, I just know we would struggle again to keep up on the half pound samplers. So effective today, the 4 Pack Coffee Sack is gone (Long live the 4 Pack Coffee Sack!). The 4 Pack is now 4 x 1 pound bags of coffee from our stocks, still priced at $17. The Double 8 pack remains unchanged. - Maria
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9/27: Before leaving for Peru on Monday, I have some new arrivals to upload. We have quite a few Central American arrivals (5) so let's start with the one outlying coffee: Australia Mountain Top Farm -Bin 478 has more character this year, fruited with rose hips and spice. Back to those Centrals, the Costa Rica Brumas Dry-Process is phenomenal coffee, but expect something more like an Ethiopia Harar than a Costa Rica. It's fruity and chocolaty, not to any ridiculous extreme ... but ... if you want one that is, boy do we have it. Guatemala Oriente Dry-Process is completely over-the-top with a complete fruit salad and super intense chocolate at FC+ roast. Read the review! We have two beautiful El Salvador arrivals, the El Salvador Cup of Excellence -Finca Malacara which was #5 in the competition, and El Salvador Organic -Finca Mauritania a classic cup with sweet delicate fruited flavors and balanced body. Lastly, we have the humble, simple (yet delicious) Mexico Organic Chiapas Proish Coop ... another nice Mexican coffee with another unglamorous name. Thankfully, names don't make coffee taste any worse (or better). Also see the shennanigans of the Costa Rica Micro-Millers visit to Sweet Maria's on Friday. How many cupping have free soccer balls at the end? -Tom
- 9/25: I have added a few new products. New Japanese Beehouse ceramic filtercones - pretty swanky. And we made these Frankenstein Sweet Maria's shirts some time ago - and have decided to list them for sale. Tom also added some pictures of a few recipients of our Sweet Maria's Soccer/Football in Rwanda and Ethiopia - Maria
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9/19: I added some things to the sale page that have piled up - Some really good deals in the bunch I think. - Maria
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9/16: New Kenya lots (3) have arrived (Gatomboya, Giakanja, Tegu). Each of these is quite different (Gatomboya is a real sleeper ... very sweet Tangerine; Giakanja has a wild streak in it and winey fruit; Tegu is brighter, a classic Nyeri-type cup). In addition we have our first CoE lot (finally), Costa
Rica Cup of Excellence -Santa Lucia, a nice late season Sumatra Lintong, and a new lot of Yemen coffee-skin tea, Yemen Qishr.
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9/12: I am back from a long Africa trip (including the first-ever Rwanda Cup of Excellence competition). I have some photos from my trip to Harar and Dire Dawa here. We have a couple "matching pairs of coffees to list: El Salvador - Orange Bourbon Cultivar is from the Santa Rita farm, and has great balanced flavors and brightness (it makes a mean SO espresso!) whereas it's cousin, El Salvador -Yellow Bourbon Cultivar, is brighter and has a more dynamic brewed cup. Our second pair is Yemen Mohka Mattari (think chocolate bittersweets with winey hints), and Yemen Mohka Sharasi, potent, fruit-laced, and intense! And we have more coffees coming in Tuesday including 3 new Kenya lots. -Tom
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9/4: Not a huge change - but I have passed on a discount on USPS shipping - since we generate our postage electronically - the post office gives a small discount. So I have finally passed that through to our customers - so you will notice a small change in the postal rates. I suppose that falls in the "every little bit helps" file! - Maria
- 8/31: Tom was able to upload a blog post on the Rwanda Cup of Excellence that ended Friday.
- 8/27: I have finished a little page on the cupping class that we had back in July. The pdf files posted there might be helpful. And - the excitement continues while Tom is out of town... I figured out how to update the USPS software module and so now the USPS Priority Mail International LARGE Flat Rate box is available! Woo Hoo! -Maria
- 8/27: We are continuing the shipping special through September 30th (it is becoming something of a regular thing) - we have made some changes though - so be sure to check out the description of the Shipping Special. We increased the price slightly ($1 to all three categories) and now all Shipping Special orders go UPS Ground. Transit times will be longer to the east coast, but the packages are trackable, insured, and (in general) delivered more reliably. And good news for our bulk coffee customers! The volume discount on 20#ers (when you order at least 3 x 20#ers) is back - at 10%. Here are the new prices:
0 - 20 Lbs. = $8.99
21 - 40 Lbs. = $14.99
41 - 60 Lbs. = $21.99
- Maria
- 8/25: I have added a few new merchandise items; at long last we have Ibriks to sell again; we added a Double Wall glass Bodum French press (which works great to keep the brew hot); and what our customers have all been waiting for.... a Sweet Maria's Soccer/Football! Okay - so no one was waiting for this, no one asked for them, but Tom thought they would be cool anyhow. - Maria
- 8/20: I am racing against the clock to add all these new arrivals before leaving for the first-ever Rwanda Cup of Excellence competition on Thursday night. I am going to split this into 3 parts: New Centrals; South America + a new DP Ethiopia; 5 new decafs arrive at once.
- Part 1: A smattering of new crop Centrals from mid-harvest. Costa
Rica Helsar "Typica Villalobos" is our second pure cultivar lot from this fine Micro-Mill, a balanced cup with soft chocolate tones. On the other extreme, a Central American that cups like a DP Sidamo; heavily fruited El Salvador Santa Rita Full Natural. (Note... I messed up; this lot arrives Thursday August 28). Then there is the famous one, #1 in Cup of Excellence for Bourbon last year, and for this cultivar in '08: Guatemala El Injerto Estate Pacamara (we will have the very spendy auction lot version later). We have a very high-grown Huehuetenango with a classic, bright cup: Guatemala Huehuetenango "Quetzal Azul". Like the Santa Rita Full Natural, we also have the Mexico Organic Nayarit Dry-Process, as we did last year. Dry-Process = Natural. Natural = Dry-Process. In Central America it means lower acidity, heavy body, fruit, and great intensity.
- Part 2: Brazil -Colombia-Colombia-Ethiopia. It's an odd time to be getting a Brazil, with new crop 4 months out. But this lot was too distinct, with complex character: Brazil Pocos de Caldas -Fazenda Barreiro. The Colombia Organic Cauca Tierradentro (2-Star) is a really nice regional lot we found, whereas the Colombia "Perros Bravos de Huila" (3-Star) is a whole different beast, a lot we built through cupping around a hundred tiny farm-distinct Huila lots. And on a different note, a super wildly-fruited Ethiopia along the lines of the dry-process Koratie: Ethiopia Organic DP -Dale Yirga Alem.
- Part 3: A mixed container of small lot decafs all arrived at once. Colombia WP Decaf -Huila Pitalito, Ethiopia
Organic Natural Djimma WP Decaf, Guatemala Huehuetenango WP Decaf, Mexico Organic Oaxaca WP Decaf, Panama Boquete WP Decaf "Panamaria", Papua New Guinea Peaberry WP Decaf . There's a huge range in cup flavors here, from the "fruit bomb" Ethiopia Djimma to the restrained Mexico Organic. Check out the reviews... -Tom
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8/20: If you are wondering about that mysteriously absent Roasted Postcard from your order this past week, here's the scoop. I had shot the images, laid it out, and sent it to the printer ... then left town with Maria and Ben for a few days in Indiana, then the SCAA Roaster's Guild Retreat (here's my jokey pictorial) in Minnesota. The card came from the printer and Josh called to say there was a problem. The 4 coffee roast levels look about the same ... well, under a 60w bulb they did. He said they look better under good light, but still not quite what we were aiming for. So we held the cards until I could see them in person. We revised our comments in the newsletter and decided to send them with orders anyway. Here's what the card looks like, and why we are sending them. If you missed one, I suggest waiting until your next order because we ARE going to reprint them lighter, and with a round of print proofs so we know we get it right. -Tom
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8/8: Today I am listing a great assortment of new lots.
- Perhaps the most unusual is Costa Rica RIP Red Honey Coffee. RIP? Roasted In Parchment. This coffee has not been dry-milled, the green bean is still in the outer shell. In perhaps the wackiest moment in Sweet Maria's history, we discovered you can roast coffee in the parchment shell, and it has a very unusual flavor. This is for experts only, since you can't really see the green coffee as it turns brown. See the review and the pictures of the RIP process.
- Not quite as "out there" is our new lot of Kenya Thika Chania -
French Mission Cultivar. This is a coffee lot from the original French Bourbon varietal as it was brought to Kenya by French priests in 1893, and it as a unique cup character.
- Some will think I have gone to "the dark side" by offering a Hawaii coffee that is not a small-farm Kona. But we found the Ka'u coffees from south of Kona on the Big Island have greatly improved in recent years, none more than Hawaii Ka'u Wet-Process -Will & Grace Farm. We also got some miniscule lots from them of hand-processed Ka'u Dry-Process and Pulp Natural NanoLot coffees. Yes, NanoLots. Sub-MicroLots. Read the commentary for these...
- For those who must have monsooned coffee in their espresso blend, we have a fine new lot of India Monsooned Malabar AA
- Our Classic Mandheling is gone but we have a really good, traditional Grade One Lot to back it up: Sumatra Gr. 1 Mandheling. The preparation isn't pretty, but the cup has true Mandheling origin character.
- And we have a nice lot of Sumatra Mandheling WP Decaf that scores quite well alongside it's non-decaf counterpart.
8/1: It's time for GeshaFest
2008. The fabled Panama
Esmeralda Estate Gesha (AKA Geisha) auction lots are
here, with prices ranging from $10.50 to a trifling $125 per Lb.!
Ouch. Is the top lot that good? Yep, highest rating we have ever
given a Gesha coffee. It's not for everyone, but we hope offering
these 4 distinct lots, at 4 price ranges, everyone can check out
the way this special cultivar influences aroma and cup flavors of
this unique offering. Rounding out our Gesha offerings for 2008 is
the arrival of our Guatemala
Acatenango Buena Vista Gesha. We have a very small amount,
and the coffee scores slightly lower this year, both the result of
wind damage to the trees in storms of late '07.
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7/31: By popular demand, we
are continuing the flat rate shipping experiment through August 31st. I
am going to change the name slightly. And we might have to tweak things as we go
- removing some merchandise items from the flat rate shipping special
- or increasing the price to reflect the discounted shipping. It has
been very popular - and has given us good leverage to negotiate with
UPS for better rates too. So we will see what happens at the end of
August/beginning of September. - Maria
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7/24: Really nice organic Costa
Rica lots from small estates are rare. This Costa
Rica Organic La Yunta Estate is a crisp, clean, bright cup
with floral aroma. Now, if you want to talk flowery coffee, this is the
one. Ethiopia
Organic Wet-Process Koratie is the sister lot to our Koratie
Dry-Process lot. The difference is night-and-day, but both are
incredibly aromatic coffees. Candy-like sweetness, peach nectar, watermelon,
lemon drops; the descriptors for Koratie Wet-Process are extensive and
impressive! We have a new lot of Costa
Rica Tarrazu KVW Decaf, surprisingly bright and fruited
for a decaf, and a balanced Fair Trade decaf, Nicaragua
FTO Dipilto WP Decaf.
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7/8: We have a new crop lot
of the very elegant Costa
Rica Vino de Arabia in stock, another of our Micro-Mill
coffees from Brumas del Zurqui. We'll have some very unusual lots from
Brumas later. If you know our coffees from year's past, red this name
carefully: Panama
Boquete Lerida Estate "Miel". It's not the
wet-process Peaberry (which will come in August). It's unique and
makes amazing S.O. espresso too! I have been hinting at another great
DP Ethiopia, and here it is: Ethiopia
Organic Dry-Process Koratie. The numbers tell the story
on this one. And along those lines we have the highest rated Tanzania
we have ever offered Tanzania
Blackburn Estate AA.
- July Shipping Special! Maria
and I have decided to try out an experiment for the remainder of July:
Sweet Maria's
Flat Rate Shipping. We
want to simplify our shipping and also give some incentive to people
who are getting hit with higher shipping costs. So starting July 7 at
9 AM and running until July 31, we are going to try out this idea:
S.M. Flat Rate
Shipping (5-7 Days) to anywhere in
the contiguous 48 states, shipping will be:
0-20 Lbs. = $7.99
21-40 Lbs. = $13.99
41-60 Lbs. = $20.99
The address must be a street address, no
PO boxes, and it's our choice on the shipping method (either UPS or USPS).
If you need to have a specific delivery method and/or delivery by a specific
date - do not choose this method! Here's
the details.
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6/30: The cupping classes
are now full - I am keeping a wait list
in case someone has to cancel. The space is limited - just 12 spots
per class.
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6/27: I guess we can call
it a Sweet Maria's classic ... we have offered this Guatemala coffee
for 4 years now and it only get's better: The excellent, award-winning Guatemala
Finca San Jose Ocaña is back. Yes, another
great Kenya lot from the Auctions has arrived (we have been trying,
if possible, to offer a trio of Kenyas with very different flavor
profiles at any given time). Kenya
AA Auction Lot #758 -Hiriga is a Nyeri district
coffee with passion fruit flavors, sweet orange and black currant.
We have a new lot of Honduras we are switching to, the Honduras
Organic Maracala -Cocosam Coop was a real winner from
last year, and the fact the cup quality held up for so long is due
to the expert processing received at this great coop.
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6/25: We
have filled the July 11th cupping class- still a few spots left
for July 18th and 25th but they are going fast since space is limited.
I will have a wait list - in case folks have to cancel. Also we will
try to schedule more classes - depending on how these go. -Maria
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6/20: We have received our first three Costa Rica
coffees ... the first of many, many farm-direct small lots we will
offer this season! Costa
Rica Helsar de Zarcero -Villa Sarchi is a distinct
variety of coffee (Villa Sarchi) that the farm separated for us,
with a very balanced cup profile, whereas Costa
Rica El Puente "Caturra Miel" is the first
of several "Honey Coffees" we'll have. (Miel is a hybrid
between wet-process and dry-process which leaves more fruit on
the bean). The Costa
Rica Asoproaaa Coop Tarrazu is a classic wet-processed
coffee, but with vivid brightness, floral aroma, and nut-chocolate
roast tones.
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