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The Nordic Barista Cup

Shortly after his return from Rwanda, Tom hopped back into our private jet (ha!) and headed off to Norway for the Nordic Barista Cup. OK...we don't have a private jet...but Tom racks up the frequent flyer miles.

El Salvador Manzano Process Experiment

Today we are listing the El Salvador Manzano Process Experiment,  which offers a fabulous chance to taste what processing contributes to a coffee.

New arrival: El Salvador Aida's Grand Reserve (& Producers Visit)

[caption id="attachment_1148" align="alignnone" width="295" caption="Mario Mendoza-Corleto (far left) and Aida Batlle (right, in white) share a few laughs with Sweet Maria's staff"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="131" caption="Aida Bat

Roasting with a Popcorn Popper. So Simple.

We realized that amongst all the videos we have posted, there has never (gasp!) been one covering the basics of roasting with a popcorn popper - which is one of our favorite ways to home roast and an especially good, inexpensive way to get started. So we decided to post 3 new YouTube vids  about roasting with a popper.

Roast Coffee Pairing #45: Varietal Influence Reprise -- Bourbon and Pacamara

[We maintained a separate "Roastmaster's Blog" for the past year, but from now on we are combining the two and will post comments on our most recent Roasted Coffee Pairings in this space]  For our most recent roasted coffee pairing,  we are comparing two El Salvador coffees: the San Gabriel Bourbon and the Siberia Estate Pacamara. Both are from the same area of El Salvador - the Santa Ana department (or state) - though not the same farm. The Bourbon is a classic cup, balanced and rounded, with good body and sweetness.

El Salvador Cascara vs Yemen Qishr

Once in a while, the staff at Sweet Maria's takes a few minutes to come together and taste a coffee as a group and compare notes. Recently, we got together to compare Sweet Maria's unusual offerings of tea.

Three new coffees and one tea (tea!?!)

Today we see the return of a number of favorite coffees:

A French Press Moment

Uganda - Mathias, President of the coffee coop, and Soloman, the crazy driver. Who would have imagined five years ago that a coffee wonk who announced proudly "I make coffee in a French

Travelogues from Sulawesi and Java

Tom returned from his trip to Sulawesi and Java, a couple of very special coffee origins.  Coffee picking, processing, cupping,

Drinking vs. Tasting

I come back to this thought very often, the difference between tasting or cupping coffee and drinking it.  I spend most of my time cupping, really thinking about what I am tasting, holding the coffee in my mouth and thinking about what makes it unique.  Sometimes, rarely, I just drink it. That is probably the opposite of what most folks do!  I thought I would post a link to this You Tube video again - Drinking Coffee vs.

Change to Fresh Roast Recommendation

When we first started selling the Fresh Roast SR 300 and SR 500, we recommended a certain technique for an even roast; namely, to remove  the chaff collector  and stir the coffee during the initial stages of the roast when the beans are heaviest.  It turns out that

New Library Layout

It is probably no surprise  that we have an internal debate here :  the Website Minimalists vs the Website Maximalists.

Coffee Roasting Basics - Color Changes

Tom has been talking about this for a while ... that we don't have enough basic information about color changes in roasting.

Costa Rica Cafetalera Herbazu

[caption id="attachment_817" align="alignnone" width="462" caption="Cafelatera Herbazu, Villa Sarchi Cultivar"]Herbazu, Villa Sarchi Cultivar[/caption] We were looking over which new-arriving coffees were most popular, and which were selling slower, and I was shocked to see that Herbazu wet-process was a laggard.  Shocked!

Mezzzanninne

Big changes at the Sweet Maria's warehouse! Well, not changes that customers will be able to see, but a huge change for us.
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