Sweet Maria's Weblog

A nice fruited Hawaiian and the re-stocking of the Behmor 1600

We just added Hawaii Kainaliu Kona Maragogype to our offerings page. We have limited it to 1 pound bags so more people can have a chance to try it. It's a very fruited cup with apricot/peach in lighter roasts and cocoa/vanilla in darker roasts. Also...Behmor 1600 roasters are back in stock and ready to ship. Behmor has been busy keeping up with orders and working on the release of their new brewer so we are happy to get our shipment in.

Four more new crop lots

Guatemala Finca La Florencia a well balanced cup that can take a bit more roast with lemon zest brightness and caramelized sugar. Brazil Carmo do Minas - Fazenda Kaquend a past COE winner with wonderful nuance and brightness, you must keep this light to enjoy it fully. Ethiopia Sidama Deri Kochoha one of the best Sidama lots we've found, amazing body, confectionary sweetness and phenomenal as SO espresso. Yemen Mokha Ismaili a sweet, spicy and herbal cup not as bright and fruited as other Yemens, another winner as SO espresso.

Maker Faire 2012

If you got a chance to see our demo at the Bay Area Maker Faire this past weekend, we would like to thank you for coming out and hope we were able to give you some good coffee roasting info. This was our first attempt at doing a multiple roaster demo. Having a Behmor, Quest, Air Crazy and Whirley Pop all run at the same time is pretty much asking for trouble...and trouble did find us. Common sense would tell us that four appliances producing tons of heat would be too much for an electrical circuit to handle, so we were prepared to show the crowd that coffee roasting does come with it's obstacles, like the Quest quitting on us halfway through it's roast. Down one roaster, were able to show everyone some decent results from the popcorn poppers and Behmor. Hopefully we will be able to do more events like this. It's lots of fun being able to meet everyone and share the love of home roasting.

New Coffee: 2 Guats and 2 Hawaiians

Guatemala Antigua Hacienda Carmona Pulcal a silky cup with effervescent quality, and grape-like sweetness. Guatemala Antigua Retana Red Bourbon with fig, prune, muscovado sugar and molasses. These are both rather small lots so we have to limit the offerings to allow everyone a chance to try them. Hawaii Ka'anapali Dry Process Maui Mokha a unique small, round-form 14 screen size bean with an interesting profile: honey and melted butter (NOT ideal for Behmor roasters). And finally, Hawaii Kona - Kowali Farm Typica is light and silky with a brightness not often found in mild island coffees, vanilla-laced honey lasts through the crystal clear flavors. Enjoy these four great new arrivals.

The Maker Faire

It's that time of year again. If you plan on attending this year's Bay Area Maker Faire on May 19th, come check out our live coffee roasting presentation at the Maker Square stage. We won't have a booth this year so this will be the only chance for you to see us live at the Maker Faire. If this will be your first time coming to the Maker Faire, prepare for exhibits (aside from our roasting demo) that will keep you entertained all day. Expect craziness like man-made lightning, fire breathing robots, prototype musical instruments, steam punks, geeks, DIY'ers, techies, etc...and it's all family-friendly