This and that

In the spirit of Nick’s “Odds and Ends” post the other day, I thought I’d just share some thoughts about what’s going on with me without fussing excessively about whether or not they hang well together. Here goes.

1. Today I’ve had both the honey-processed and washed versions (roasted by Barefoot and Brown, respectively) of a *very* good Guatemalan coffee, Finca Vista Hermosa’s Edlina micro-lot. I planned for them to overlap, but as it happens they were both roasted on the same day, too. Bonus! It had been a while since I was able to make this type of comparison focusing mainly on processing method; the last time was in October with Counter Culture’s Finca Mauritania. Incidentally, in digging up the link for my post describing that particular cupping session I was reminded that Aida Batlle, herself, had commented under it. Love, love, love this sort of interaction! But back to processing, it does make a big difference in the cup. I’ll save my detailed impressions on the Edlinas for a future write-up. Need to gather my thoughts first.

2. My free green coffee arrived today from the Coffee Project! They sent two varieties: Zimbabwe Salimba Estate AA Plus and Yemen Mocha. Thanks again to Mr. Intrepid for the original heads up about these folks. Now how and where to roast up the beans? Re: “how,” the instructions are for stovetop roasting, but I keep hearing good things about the heat gun approach. Re: “where,” wouldn’t smoke be excessive if I tried roasting indoors even with such small batches? That’s one vote in favor of outdoor roasting in my book, but I hope those of you with more experience will correct me if I’m wrong.

3. A nice little video by Heart (out of Portland) was making the rounds today. Here it is, in case you missed out. Is that GrainPro inside the burlap?