... meaning, share with others: we want this lot to get to as many folks as possible, so there is a 1 lb. limit per person. anyway, we lucked upon a bit more of the hacienda la esmeralda especial, that is, the 100% gesha lot that we offered earlier. to get it here in good shape (being late crop, and with the seasonal change in boquete region) we flew the coffee here on continental airlines. however, high price air travel could not save our precious, expensive lot from being slashed by customs ... oops, now it is customs and border security. this esmeralda special gesha (no, not geisha) is in and the cup is consistent with the previous lot, meaning, excellent! -tom

New coffee arrivals yet again. We have a new lot of Ethiopia Yirgacheffe - Moledina 3993, traditional wet-processed floral and citrus, but not sour. This lot is remarkably sweet (think ripe tangerine). The name? It is from the exporter who brought this coffee to our attention, and 3993 is the final digits of the "chop" (ICO lot number). On a different note, new crop Indonesia continues to trickle in. No, not the Sulawesi (which we expect in December, a very short crop this season). No, not another Sumatra. This time a heavy-bodied Timor FTO Maubesse . This lot has more "Java-like" character, more rustic, foresty Indonesia funk than last year's peaberry lot, and a ton of think, viscous body. It also makes a great S.O. espresso at FC+ roast. And for you classic espresso hounds, there's a new lot of India Organic Washed Robusta. Organic from India is good since they have the habit of puffing methyl bromide into the containers before they seal them up. It's not as nasty as it sounds, and a strange choice to make since good clean Specialty coffee is not going to have little bugs crawling around in it (low grade coffees harvested from the ground are a better target for fumigation). Anyway, I have been researching methyl bromide and will write more about the fumigation issue a bit later.