Various

So physical therapy has been extended for another three weeks. Sigh... But at least there is positive progress. It's just taking a long time.

In the meantime... I had some incredible shots of the El Salvador Las Nubitas. Joel gave me a pound of it the other day and I've been loving it. The more I taste espresso made from this coffee the more impressed I become. It's not just the caramel sweetness. It's not just that lovely lush roasted red apple fruit. There is some really nice sweetened cocoa in there, and a little grapefruit rind acidity. There are amazing aromatics (I get apple skin and more grapefruit rind and some vanilla-like tropical spice). It's rich and complex and wonderful -- everything that a Cup of Excellent coffee should be.

I'm also gearing up to do a bunch more writing. I've got an article coming out in Barista Magazine that I'm quite excited about. Some folks have been blown away by it in draft form (of course, others thought I was insane). I'm also going to be doing some cool stuff for Home-Barista.com. Dan's asked me to participate and we've figured out a way that is going to be really fun and I hope will have some real positive results.

I've become more and more obsessed with the gap that exists between the serious home espresso folks and the serious pros. These two groups are the most natural of allies - and yet there is this huge chasm. This has resulted in the two groups not only losing touch with eachother - but also pursuing solutions to the same problems independently. There has been little to no communication until relatively recently. Instead of helping eachother out and sharing information and progress, there has been suspicion, distrust and a lack of respect.

This seem to (finally) be changing. As with many things in coffee - the changes are due to some thoughful and good individuals working hard on their owns rather than through any effort by the SCAA or the like (go figure). Thanks to folks like Jim Shulman and Barry Jarrett and the people at Counter Culture and the various so-called '3rd wave' baristas we know have some established and growing personal relationships that cross these borders and which are resulting in an explosion of information sharing and respect. It's really good - and it's going to pay huge dividends.

My hope is that I can in my own small way facilitate this.

Stay tuned.