we got the coffee we wanted!!

the Bolivian COE auction is over. we bought the full lot of the coffee that we all felt was the best of the whole bunch. so cool!!

we also bought part of one of the other lots - a lovely coffee that everyone else ranked higher than our first choice.

i love this job.

cupping and more

a whirlwind day today...

to cut to the chase -- the high point was cupping the Bolivian COE coffees.
to be honest, i'd never had an especially good coffee from Bolivia. so... preconceptions and prejudices in hand, i cupped a whole bunch of coffees and got my world rocked.
in the end, there were four very good coffees - three of which were truly excellent.
what was particularly exciting was that these coffees all had very different styles, characters and flavour profiles. excellent - and yet different. very cool indeed!
tomorrow morning is the auction and with any luck we'll score at least one of them.

stumptown is going to do so much cool stuff in the next year.
it's hard to be relaxed and not get ahead of myself, but some of the stuff we're planning is insane!
there are things that no-one has ever thought of doing, and things that people have thought of but dismissed as unrealistic.
and we're going to do them.
people are not ready.

in other news... Portland is great, i ate at a very good Korean place today, life is good and we bought a bunch of super nice Eames dining room chairs.

on a personal note - i have a new computer so these posts should increase in frequency.
be well.

coming back up for air...

wow.
it's been a bit epic.
work, moving, visits from dear friends, a major holiday and the death of my laptop have conspired to put a crimp in my posting habits. i am sorry.

in any event...

things here are great.
still.

i cupped the Panama La Esmerelda the other day. it's a truly incredible coffee. without a doubt worth the (not inconsiderable) amount of money one has to pay. sadly, i think that there is less than 4lbs left in captivity at the current moment. the best descriptor i can come up with for the coffee is "complicated." not complex, but rather incredibly layered and knotted - with a huge number of flavour components which emerge and recede over the lifetime of the cup. flavours of bergamot and dried citrus peel, a gorgeous sweet caramel/chocolate in the body and through the finish, hints of berry and a jasmine-spice note in the aroma and a wonderful tropical fruit and wine brightness that evolves through stonefruit and overripe pink grapefruit.
i honestly think i could cup this coffee every single morning and never come to a complete understanding of it.
a lifetime experience for me.

the Stumptown Family Thanksgiving was great.
a true family event in every way.
i think i suffered a 36 hour food hangover.

and a visit from Matt and Tricia capped it all off. with luck i'll get photos from Matt.

a great week.
life is good.