About Sweet Maria's Coffee: Our Little Shop

Yes, Sweet Maria's Coffee does actually exist outside the virtual Internet playground. We started in Ohio, and have now returned to California. Emeryville ... sounds like a small town but it is about 40 square blocks wedged between Oakland and Berkeley. It used to be called "the armpit of Northern California" back in the day when Emeryville had the largest scrap heap of crushed cars in the state. Now, in the same spot, is a giant Ikea. Times change. You can't rent a house in Emeryville for under $2000 a month. Welcome to the Bay Area!

So our overhead has gone up a bit, but the fact is, we are located 5 minutes from the port of Oakland which is the Specialty Coffee port in the United States. The majority of top grade coffees come through this port - and you know it, New Jersey! So the advantage of being here, cupping with all the coffee brokers in the area, picking up coffee from the massive warehouses in the area (with no trucking fees) has made up for the rent, the traffic, and the high percentage of annoying Volvo and Range Rover drivers in the region.

Here's what it looks like inside at our new place on 64th Street in Emeryville (basically a 40 block town squeezed between North Oakland and Berkeley). It's a 5000 square foot warehouse with a barrel roof -that's small by coffee business standards but to us it is huge!

mmm... smells like coffee

Here's how I prefer to spend my work day ... with the coffee. I cup nearly every day, whether it is to check roasts or (most often) to evaluate incoming samples. Above are some 2 photos from the coffee competitions I attend in the role of a juror. These are from El Salvador Cup of Excellence 2004 (taken by Glen from Hunter Bay Coffee -thanks!) Above left is myself in the green with other jurors and head judge Carlos Rittscher from Brazil (seated). We are checking roasted/ground coffee samples for consistency. Above is myself, judging the wet aromatics by smelling the "crust" of the cups.