The guy is Robin Saunders of Wallace Farms, Blantyre, Malawi.  The sack is 20 kilos of Malawi Peaberry.  And this is about as a direct buy as you can get.   Robin dropped the coffee off at Casa Mia (highly recommend) the day before I fly home. Of course, I tried to make it all safe and sound for the journey home.Check out the loafers... And after two days journey...

 Just a wandering mind gives pause now that I have the turntable up and spinning.  It is fun to find obscure coffees and obscure music.  A crazy natural Honduras and maybe an early James Taylor go well together. Both are solid but sometimes a little tweak here and there can really create some interesting elements.  Kopi Luwak is worth at least one cup to try and so is any Mountain...

I really am amazed how therapeutic coffee roasting is. Long nights and grey days drive me to my man cave. The warm red roaster, the aromas, Randy Newman all give me great pleasure. But nothing like roasting. The beans swelling to their almighty right size, the color dancing along the spectrum, the wonderful bread smell, the honeyed warmth all give such incredible pleasure. And knowing that in a few moments...

Ethiopia Trip Report Q training and testing. Addis Ababa August 23, September 2, 2009 Jeremy Raths Daniel Mulu K.C. O’Keefe Sponsored by Ethiopia Commodity Exchange, Fintrac, Compete, Coffee Quality Institute, USAID. What a pleasure. The extended schedule added an amazing amount of success for adding such a small amount of time. The schedule gave us the time to teach the very basic foundations which lead to incredible success in the...

Amazing stuff. Tom has really created a huge spirit for all of us Boomers. Many of us coffee folks have had conversations over the years regarding the loss of physical ability as we grow wise. Smell and taste are the core of our industry. Cupping and evaluating coffees are central to our growth. But the small losses are more than made up by the ongoing experiences. Just like Tom we...