Wet- Process versus Dry-Process, Light Roast versus Dark Roast.
This weeks roasted coffee is a dramatic comparison of wet process (Ethiopia) verus dry process coffee, but also of roast level. The Ethiopia is a light body, clean, bright coffee and is well suited to the light City roast level I did on these batches. And the Brazil is more about body and chocolate roast tone, so the darker Full City roast plays to the strong suit of this coffee. I think you'll find these two offerings quite different, and might help you and your household clarify your preferences.
Start off your weekend right with these new offerings: Costa Rica Helsar de Zarcero - Macho Arce has citric acidity and balance, with mahogany-toned sweetness at darker roasts,
This week’s pairing features two Central American coffees. El Salvador Finca Siberia Bourbon is from one of our favorite farms and is an amazingly clean and sweet cup. I kept the roast on the lighter side even though this coffee is great at a wide range of roast levels. This City+ roast highlights the citrus notes, final temperature of 425 degrees, roast time 14:30. Panama Las Flores de Boquete is a bit wilder with more bittersweet chocolate to compliment apricot hints. Roasted to Full City with final temperature of 431 degrees, roast time 15:00. This is a great pairing to explore the su
We have a new Kenya with refined acidity and wonderful sweetness, Kenya Kirinyaga AA Kiunyu. Also, we are adding Guatemala Antigua Hacienda Carmona Pulcal a buttery sweet, fruit-floral elegant cup.
We just made these very handsome products available...two hand mills from Porlex and a knock box that won't harm the aesthetics of your kitchen.
Porlex hand mills perform very well and are great for traveling especially since they fit into the barrel of an Aeropress brewer.
We’re staying in the Western Hemisphere for this week’s pairing. Both of these coffees are very balanced with mild chocolate. El Salvador Molino de Santa Rita has nice brightness with sweet orange, malt and almond notes, roasted to city+. Mexico Chiapas Proish Coop is not quite as bright with more caramel hints and cane sugar, also roasted to city+. We culled most of the Quakers out of this lot to help sweeten the cup. Overall, the El Salvador is a brighter, sweeter cup while the Mexico has a balanced chocolate aspect. Both of these are real crowd pleasing cups and compliment each othe
Thank you to all who came down to visit our booth at this year's Maker Faire in San Mateo, CA. We had a great time meeting fellow coffee lovers and new friends, and having time to chat with our current customers.
This week's roasted coffee pairing features two heavy-hitters from Central America, and raises the specter of the never-ending (but not that serious) grudge match between the Ticos and the Guates. It's Guatemala La Providencia Dos and Costa Rica Cafetalera Herbazu. Finca Providencia in the area of San Pedro Necta of Huehuetenango; Guatemala is winning out on balance, a well-integrated sweetness and fairly mild acidity, especially for a Huehue. Pay attention as it cools, and mild sweet orange and vanilla-caramel emerge.
This weekend is The Maker Faire in San Mateo, CA and we are excited about having our own booth to demonstrate coffee roasting basics. Please drop by! We will be located in the Home Grown Village (mostly food-related booths). We have also been invited to demonstrate coffee roasting in their Demo Tent on Sunday at 2pm so that would be a great time to hang out with us. Although we won't be selling any coffee, we will have time to chat about about it.
I had sent this tweet last night: "Stolen: Container of coffee. Where: Guatemala. Contents: Sweet Maria's and Stumptown coffees. Description: Big metal box. Call me if found." It was not a joke... We lost 98 bags of coffee (Pulcal - Hacienda Carmona) that was en route from Antigua to the port, just over an hour away. I don't know the details yet, if the truck was stopped by thieves, or if anyone was hurt. It might have been the driver was paid off, and simply drove away with it. It is no wonder.
Our first "Box" of coffee from Kenya is being offloaded tomorrow, which means we'll have some great (albeit a bit pricey) new lots to add by the end of next week. We thought it would be good to let you know that as soon as we can pick these up and cup them they'll be on the list. Also, we're expecting some great Centrals (El Salvador, Guatemala), more Africans (Tanzania, Ethiopia), as well as Indonesians (Sumatra) in the very near future. The lean times are almost passed...soon our shelves will be full of coffee!
This week we have roasted two coffees that are grown across the Pacific Ocean from each other. Brazil Dry Process Fazenda Aurea is a favorite here at Sweet Maria’s for its versatility and balance. We often use this in espresso blends but it is great as drip brew too with soft chocolate and hints of banana, this is a Full City roast with final temp of 435 degrees, 14:15 roast time. Java Kopi Sunda is a rare washed Java lot that has remarkable fig and raisin hints lurking behind a soft, mild chocolate flavor. This was roasted to Full City as well, final temp of 432 degrees, 14:10 roast time.
I was just asked about our current selection of Central America being slim. We are actually adding a Guatemala and a Mexico coffee late this week, but it is too early for many new crop Centrals still. We had a fantastic delivery of Costa Rica coffees, but we are still a month away from the bulk of the microlot arrivals.
A few general comments on SM and our coffees. We sell through many of our lots rapidly and it's really important to us that the green coffee is new crop. All our Centrals now are new crop. Arrival dates are posted on every review!
For this week’s pairing we chose two coffees more or less at random. The concept of pairing certain coffees to showcase this and that seemed limiting. So, for the foreseeable future we will be selecting two outstanding lots and roasting them just to be enjoyed. You don’t have to think about the way they compare or contrast. Ethiopia Wollega is a remarkable cup, with intense sweetness laden with fruit notes. Roasted to a light City+ level with final temperature of 425 degrees and roast time of 15:00. Papua New Guinea Baroida has more rustic sweetness with a nice piney note and chocolate.
We are super psyched to add TWO amazing Yemeni coffees today and a new Hawaii Dry Process lot, 
