Sweet Maria's Weblog

colombia cup of excellence lots are in

Our Colombia Cup of Excellence lots have arrived! Colombia Cup of Excellence #3 - El Placer is a bright and delicate cup, while Colombia Cup of Excellence #12 - El Descanso has more heft, a rounded flavor profile with a winey hint. We had this lot vacuum packaged and boxed in 5 kgs, then we rebagged them upon arrival here. The reason, instead of shipping them in regular burlap, is that Colombia is experiencing port problems, which can result in a lot being "stuck" for a couple weeks in a humid climate: not good for the cup quality! Anyway, the lot arrived in beautiful condition. This was not the case with our Honduras CoE lots this year, which are unusable, and still sitting on the rack at the warehouse awaiting some resolution.

not just another "new arrival"

it's a boy! oh wait, we already new that. maria had our first, ben otto owen, on saturday jan 25 at 5:25 am. he was 7 lbs 10 ounces and almost 22 inches long. the birth was relatively easy: now comes the hard part. we came home monday mid-day and are overwhelmed and tired, but of course happy. amazingly, we have found he likes just a tad of robusta blended into his milk (better foam) and takes formula off a cupping spoon! (uh, not) - tom and maria

it's brazil time: 2 new lots arrive today

We have 2 new lots coming in from Brazil, and both are pure Bourbon varietal coffees: Brazil Fazenda Boa Sorte Natural Bourbon and Brazil Cachoeira da Grama Yellow Bourbon . That means overall we have a great selection of full-on natural (dry-processed) Brazils, and pulped naturals. It's probably a good time to experiment with these coffees as brewed and espresso. I prefer naturals for the Southern Italian (darker) roast style, and pulped naturals or semi-washed for the lighter N. Italian style. We also have a nice pulped natural, full body decaf lot arriving today: El Salvador PN Las Ranas WP Decaf.

a misty valley from the typica norte: nkoanekoli!

Finally, the second lot of Ethiopia Organic Idido Misty Valley DP has arrived. This is a very special preparation, Grade 1 dry-process Yirgacheffe ... quite different than both traditional wet-process Yirgacheffe, and typical Sidamo and Harar dry-process. We Have a really nice Peru Norte Especial that came in too, a case where a particular conventional lot comes in way better than expected. We have had a lot of questions about Kona, but now we are getting to that window in the crop cycle when the higher altitude farms are ready: our first small-farm arrival, Hawaii Kona - Kowali Farm Typica is excellent again this year. And we have a interesting East African arrival with rustic butterscotch sweetness: Tanzania Mount Meru Nkoanekoli (one of our toughest coffee names to pronounce too!) -Tom

2 funky ones: mokha mattari, sumatra lake tawar

For those who love the rustic, funky flavors of natural dry processed coffees, this is an arrival you might pay attention to. It's unusual to offer a coffee with certain qualifications, but I felt this Yemen Mokha Mattari FC+ is so good with the right roast that I put it in the title: FC+, Full City + roast. We received the cryptically named Sumatra 19+ TP - Lake Tawar (translation: 19/64ths or greater bean size, triple pick hand sorting to remove defects). It is a sister coffee to the Iskandar Triple pick, but more rustic, herbal, foresty ... basically, more Sumatra-like. In addition, the wildly popular Ethiopia Organic Idido Misty Valley DP is due next Wednesday (had to revise the date, it isn't ready for pickup as of now). Bear in mind this week we are working through the orders that accumulated from the holidays, and are running about a 48-72 hour shipping lag, just so you know. My advice, wait for the Idido if you haven't enjoyed it yet. -Tom