-
5/6: We have received our 2
exotic Nicaragua lots featured in seasons past: Nicaragua
Pacamara Peaberry is the ovoid version of the huge bean
cropss between Pacas and Maragogype cultivars. We also have the unusual Nicaragua
Limoncillo Java Longberry Cultivar back, with a unique distinction
that (under a different name) it placed #2 in the Cup of Excellence this
year! We already have lots of super fancy Brazils, but this one is ina
league of it's own: Brazil
Carmo de Minas -Fazenda Esperança has been a top
10 lot in Brazil Cup of Excellence several times, including #1 top spot
in the last one! The review explains my feelings about this incredible
lot. And Sumatra
Lake Tawar 19+ Extra Bold is back, bolder than ever, super-premium
coffee with incredible size and preparation, and a real powerhouse cup
this season.
- 5/5: Tom,
Josh and Derek are back from the SCAA show. This whole cupper vs.
barista thing was really on everyone's minds. Also, our Rwanda
roast did quite well in the Roaster's
Choice competition despite some very, very beautiful
coffees we were up against. We were just hoping to make the top
10! Oddly, I had misread it as "Taster's Choice competition",
and was at Costco looking for 30 Lbs of Taster's Choice to enter
... which wouldn't have done quite as well as the Rwanda.
-
4/30: We just received the new
crop lot of Rwanda
Duhingekawa Women's Cooperative coffee from this Fair
Trade group, and it has the same balanced, slightly citric profile
as last year's great delivery. Read more about their unique group
here. We also have the classic Sulawesi
Grade One Toraja, a traditional semi-washed Indonesia
with great bean preparation (few defects, and oddly, almost no chaff
when roasting). And I am off to the SCAA conference in Minneapolis.
Actually, Josh and Derek are coming too, so watch out Minnesota!
Maria and the crew are holding down the fort and keeping the orders
rolling. -Tom
-
4/29: We have added a cute
little tin with a one way degassing valve. It is a pretty nifty item,
and a way to store your roasted coffee that will last longer than the
valve bags . Maria
-
4/28: I just uploaded more things to the sale
page - in case you are looking for something. A lot of
slightly used T-Vorm brewers. - Maria
-
4/24: New crop Central American
lots are starting to come in. The first new crop Guatemala is from
Fraijanes: Guatemala
Finca La Florencia 100% Bourbon, a classic, balanced
old-cultivar cup with surprisingly dense body. We also have a very
limited amount of Jamaica Blue Mountain. Okay, not really. The JBM
from Jamaica has cupped out flat as a board this year, but we have Hawaii
Kowali Blue Mountain (JBM Cultivar) grown by this excellent
small family farm in Kona.
-
4/12: We have received a new
shipment of the excellent Hawaii
Kona Kowali Farm Extra Fancy.
-
4/4: I have updated the descriptions
of our shipping methods on the orders page to include current information
the USPS Flat Rate boxes and what fits in them. These boxes are really
popular and a very economical method of shipping for green coffee and
bags.- Maria
-
4/2: Yemen Coffee Bonanza! It's
a first; we currently have 4 distinct Yemeni coffee selections at Sweet
Maria's, and one tea. Yes, tea ... coffee tea ... made from the dried
skins of the coffee fruit! It's called Yemen
Qishr Tea and is a very unique experience. These Yemeni
coffee lots are clean and balanced compared to selections from the
past, and at least 2 (Ismaili and Sharasi) result in some of the
best Single Origin Espresso I have had this year! Yemen
Mokha Ismaili is spicy, lush, velvety, and a bit more
earthy than the others. It's the best Ismaili in 2 years. Yemen
Mokha Mattari has winey fruit and chocolate, my favorite
brewed cup. Yemen
Mokha Sharasi is a lot I found in Yemen last November,
delicate, fruited, refined, and an incredible SO espresso. We have
other arrivals too: Indonesia
Flores "Jade" is unlike the previous
offers from this tiny island, rustic, intense, more Sumatra-like.
Speaking of Sumatra, we have a great Sumatra
Organic Mandheling that cups better than the
numbers indicate. Read the review. And here's robusta you can drink
as a French Press brew! (Although we still recommend it chiefly for
espresso blend use: India
Robusta- Jeelan Estate Sitara.
-
3/21: We have some arrivals
that should interest folks greatly. First off, great Harar is back!
Fruited, spicy, rustic, complex. I think it's a general "up" year
for Harar but this particular lot bows the rest away: Ethiopia
Harar Horse DP - Lot 17406. Perhaps one of the most spendy
coffees of the year is this Bolivia
Cup of Excellence - San Ignacio. It's only fair to call
it a "Nano-Lot", truly sub-Micro, and we have to limit it
to 1 Lb. per person. (At this price it might be wise, but it is certainly
worth it! ) And oddly enough, we have only a small amount of Costa
Rica Dota Conquistador to offer, hence the 2 Lb. limit.
But it's a nice cup this year. Colombia
Antioquia - Jardin Cerulean Warbler has one of the oddest
names, but read the review and you'll see that it is both a great, delicate
cup, and part of an interesting conservation project. And probably least
exciting to the majority of you all, Colombia
MC Decaf - Huila Tolima. But it has a very bright
fruited cup, an exemplary decaf.
-
3/16: Here's a wide range of
new arrivals; South America, Kenya, Yemen, Hawaii. Wow, you can't get
more different (in terms of cup character) than these 4 lots, but each
is a standout in their own right. I will leave you with the links to
the reviews and you can sort it out. (You probably already know the
ones that interest you, based on your preference for mild coffees or
wild coffees). Colombia
Huila - Las Piedras de San Augustin, Kenya
Thika -Gethumbwini Peaberry, Yemen
Mokha Sana'ani, Hawaii
Kona Purple Mountain
-
New
Book! The
Professional Barista's Handbook by
Scott Rao : This
is
a very efficient training manual for espresso, and features some great
information on brewing too (plus a couple pages on tea ... why?) I
was impressed with how concise it is, and how useful it will be for
the home enthusiast. Best of all, it's cuts to the chase and shows
the core methods for achieving great extraction without making you
read too much theory. It also avoids being too specific in showing
just one technique. In other words, read this book and over time you
surely will develop your own variations. That's the way it should be.
It is written by Scott Rao with 14 years practical experience so it
combines essential theory with a lot of behind-the-bar insight. And
it's not full of a bunch of froo-froo beverage recipies. It's a great
training manual for shops too. It's from a small press, essentially
self-published, 100 pages on nice thick stock with some excellent illustrative
photos and graphs, and a bit spendy at $45. But you could buy a 250
page book with half of the essential information that you would have
to trudge through. Here's a book you will truly use!
-
3/7: We have an array of new arrivals. An early new
crop Central, El
Salvador Matalapa Estate is cupping excellent, with that
buttery Bourbon-type body and balance, and floral citrus accent notes.
From Brazil we have a full natural single estate arrival, Brazil
Cachoeira Yellow Bourbon Dry-Process, with heavy body,
low acidity, fruit and brown sugar sweetness. And we have 2 Tanzania
arrivals from the Southern districts. Tanzania
Hassambo Macro-Lot Peaberry is from a single cooperative
and has a winey fruit tone, lower acidity, and good depth. The brighter
lot is the Tanzania
Nyamtimbo Peaberry lot, which is more in the "alto" range,
but has dynamic winey accents too.
-
3/4: I
did a lot of cupping in Guatemala City looking for special lots, and
then some quick trips to farms in the nearby states. Check out my Guatemala
Travelogue. Less commentary than usual but a few nice photos-Tom
-
2/24: We have 2 new Brazils
and a Costa Rica that just thinks it's a Brazil! Of the later,
this is current crop pulp natural coffee (called Honey coffee, or Miel
in CR) just like Brazil style Pulp coffees, but with more brightness.
It's fro a specific farm above the beautiful town of Santa Maria de Dota, Costa
Rica Finca Toño Miel. From Brasil we welcome the
return of 2 favorites. Brazil
Daterra Farms Yellow Bourbon is from one of the most reknown
fazendas in Brazil, innovators in all aspects (and even our special lot
comes to us in vacuum bags to capture freshness). It's as elegant as
they come. On the other end of the spectrum, fruity and wild Brazil
FTO Poço Fundo Coop is a full natural (dry-processed
coffee), rustic and funky.
-
2/20: A whirl-wind
tour of Costa
Rica Micro Mills in mid-February!
-
2/12: We were
squirreling away a Panama lot for that window of time when new crop Centrals
are a month or two away, and out selection starts to thin out. That time
is now! Panama
SHB Las Victorias is a Boquete region coffee, and cups
clear and clean like the day it came in. We also have a superb E. Africa
new crop arrival ... Rwanda
Gkongoro Nyarusiza is a mouthful to pronounce, and a superb
bright coffee in the cup, with Mandarin orange citrus sweetness, cherry
blossom aroma, and great balance. It is pure Bourbon cultivar
too.
-
2/7: Tom is back from India;
his travels and has a travelogue here
on coffee in India. - Maria
-
The New Homeroast List: I want to migrate
the homeroast list to a new server. On this new server we will have
an updated version of the software and greater control to prevent outages.
Right now I am uncomfortable with mass-migrating everyone. I think
it is better have people do it themselves. To add yourself to the list,
go to this page: http://lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/listinfo.cgi/homeroast-sweetmariascoffee.com I
might try to send out an invitation to all on the current list to join
the new list. I have tested the new list and it seems much faster!
The prefix for list posts will be [homeroast] rather than the + sign
we used before- Tom
-
2/6: I added some things to the sale
page - for
the first time I am listing some coffees that got pulled off the list
too soon, some CoE coffees or other rare ones that we have a pound or
two of here. Maria
-
1/24: We have new lots that
just arrived and a few that arrive Friday the 25th. I am excited
about an out-of-season offering... why? Because we had it vacuum packaged
in Ethiopia to preserve freshness, and the cup is outstanding: Ethiopia
FTO Yirga Cheffe Konga cooperative. I am recommending
very light roasts for a floral, sweet, syrupy cup. We have a new
lot of Colombia
Los Naranjos de Huila, bright and multi-fruited. We
have been holding back on a Guat offering because we had so many,
but now is the time to launch Guatemala
Huehuetenango -Finca San Vicente, a remarkaable, dense
100% Bourbon like our other Guats, that cups like the day it got
here. We have another Colombia
Huila Valencia, a pooled coffee of many farmers, but
we just happened to find a really nice lot here, balanced and sweet.
And Sumatra
Classic Mandheling is back with a vengeance, and excellent
cup from a particular locale with old-growth Sumatra Typica cultivar
plantings. 1/29: Tuesday arrivals include
a great Brazil we have had for 3 seasons now, from the matriarch
of Minas! Brazil
Carmo- Nazareth Dias Pereira deserves a light roast
to bring out the sweet citrus and mild malty notes, but makes great
espresso at FC+ too. I am listing these lots a day in advance because
I am off to India, looking for that oddball Liberica coffee. -Tom
-
-
1/21: We have a new Sweet
Maria's Roasted Coffee Weblog where we discuss
the why and how of each week's selection ... and you can make
comments too!
-
1/14: We have a new and unusual
lot, Mexico
Organic Dry-Process Nayart Rustico. This is a full natural
coffee (i.e. sun-dried whole coffee cherry), resulting in a cup more
reminicent of dry-process Sidamo, Harar, or Brazil, rather than any
other Mexican coffee. Speaking of naturals, we have another lot of
new crop from South America, Brazil
Pedra Grande -Bourbon Cultivar. Honey, milk chocolate
and almond would best sum up the Pedra Grande. Ethiopia
Dry-Process Sidamo WP Decaf is a superb coffee that
just happens to be a decaf too... great aromatics here.
-
1/11: We have received the small grid drum for
the Behmor roaster. I knoe some folks have been waiting for this because
it solves the problem of roasting small beans in the Behmor. With the
smaller grid size more chaff is kept with the beans, so you will have
to deal with that (or not, chaff has no flavor so it is fine to grind
up some chaff with the coffee). - Maria
- 1/9: We have some interesting
arrivals, including a really stellar Sumatra
Lintong Special Preparation, one of the best Lintongs
in a few years. We also have the splended small-farm Hawaii
Kona Kowali Farm Fancy and Extra
Fancy. It's been our favorite and has that great floral
aromatic note that sets it apart. We also received Costa
Rica Tarrazu - La Minita back in stock (from the same lot
as before), as well as a new lot of India
Monsooned Malabar AA.
1/4: Okay, you know Californians think every little
drop of rain is a flood, and a mild storm immediately requires all
local news to hyperventilate with names like "StormTracker '08" - Well,
we actually did get hit pretty hard here in the Bay Area today, enough
wind to jackknife trucks and shut down some bridges. Luckily, we didn't
lose power here at the warehouse, but a couple folks couldn't get to
work due to transportation problems. So we are still working furiously
on the orders, despite a genuine curveball from Mother Nature! -Tom
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