I have met the beans

[CoffeeWoman]

Fresh-roasted SM Shanga Babor Decaf Blend is tasting good, a tad fruity. I was aiming for something a lot lighter than I achieved -- my fault for listening to the pops instead of hitting the Behmor's cool button when first crack had been going on for a while. This blend had an interesting and very irregular popping pattern in first crack -- which made me distrust the time. I probably could have stopped 20-30 seconds earlier to good effect. At least I didn't send it into an oily French roast!

Mike, maybe I should put a shot on Flickr of the agglomeration of pitcher plant varieties in a couple of other beds -- I think there's probably some purpurea there too -- I know there are some yellowish hybrids that are pretty showy! And a few maroon and mahogany specimens that were quite stunning. I went in to change an error (these plants are from southern Appalachian bogs, not eastern NC -- an old memory, from the first time I saw pitcher plants, got stuck in my head and provided bad geography) and left a reference photo for the oreophilias I drew. I'd forgotten how much purple even they had in places.

I'm enjoying reading all the loveliness the rest of you are drinking! My FC Tegu AB (beans from over a year ago) was quite good this morning at 24 hours. According to Tom's notes it should be even sweeter tomorrow.

How'd your this year's turn out, Sam? Nice to see a new voice in the thread!

Enjoy your cups. -- Connie

[bigbells]

Mike, maybe I should put a shot on Flickr of the agglomeration of pitcher plant varieties in a couple of other beds -- I think there's probably some purpurea there too -- I know there are some yellowish hybrids that are pretty showy!


Enjoy your cups. -- Connie

Stop teasing us about the pictures and/or drawings. Let's have 'em! I'd be more than happy to upload them to my website and provide a link to them if you'd like to do it that way, by emailing them to me.

[CoffeeWoman]

Sorry, Dave! Mike and I have been passing photos and drawings via email, since they aren't coffee related, and only posting them here once in a while. Here's the link to my drawing on flickr.com - a three-fer, since there are two drawings on the spread in my journal and I also dropped the pitcher plant reference photo into the comments section underneath. http://www.flickr.com/photos/62687211@N03/7317952718/in/photostream

From there, if you're interested, you can poke around in my "photostream" (mostly drawings rather than photos, since I joined flickr last year because of a daily drawing challenge that interested me.) And from my photostream you can poke into other people's -- lots of fun links to follow and real visual treats. My stuff ranges from terrible to pretty good, depending on the day, my mood, and your own personal preferences. I've been drawing for almost a year and a half now - mostly having a lot of fun and learning beaucoup.

I'll put an actual image in the thread from time to time, if it's coffee-related or I have some other reason to post picture instead of link. Haven't put any other pitcher plants on flickr yet -- but maybe I will in a minute -- they're as spectacular and different in their way as beans from Kenya or Hawaii or Ethiopia or....

--Connie

[CoffeeWoman]

PS -- I've added two more photos to flickr and also put them in the comments under the drawing linked above. The last one is specially for Mike -- maybe it's a purpurea, maybe not. They're not too careful about labeling every plant, there!

[el grano viejo]

The last one is specially for Mike -- maybe it's a purpurea, maybe not.

I don't think so. Right color but the shape is elongated. Maybe the pitchers are empty? Also I'm still seeing lids on top, projections which on purpurea resemble scoops. Very speculative. Hard enough to ID closely related wildflowers in nature, almost impossible from photos. Here's a purpurea example taken last year in the Adirondacks.

Flowers nodding.

pitcher_plant_flowers.jpg (129.48 KiB) Viewed 928 times

Pitchers plump.

pitcher_plant_pitchers.jpg (145.22 KiB) Viewed 928 times

Connie, excellent photos, thanks for posting. What a mob in the candy store!

This morning it's the flores' turn to provide coffee sensations, and doing so very capably, penetrating into several purlieus of the palate the nyeri tegu left undisturbed.
e-g-v

[CoffeeWoman]

Mike, those are lovely purpurea flowers and pitchers -- and I don't think that's what I saw at the Botanical Garden - though there was another purple kind there too - but not one I could find in my photos. Probably we have different variants this far south. Such interesting plants, these! Further research warranted.

My Nyeri Tegu AB is truly lovely this morning; nouveau old Sumatra Mandheling underroasted and underrested but tomorrow may tell a different story.

I'll probably be making myself scarce here again for awhile -- more family and other deadlines looming!

Enjoy your cups and I'll catch up when I can! -- Connie

[coffeegeek55]

...blisters on my fingers!!!
I have fallen off the grid once again only to return every now and then. Yes, I have been occupied of late with distractions, although pleasant distractions they be.
-The greens from Brazil that Connie sent me have been roasted( not all of the greens), rested , and are now seeing action in a glass full of ice. Awesome iced coffee!! This is a very pleasant bean for SO espresso also. Sadly, this was a green I failed to order way back when it was offered. It has been some time since I last sipped a delightful coffee from Brazil but this one is rather nice. But of the Brazil coffees that have been offered here and I have tried the Fazenda Auera (sp?) is still my all time fav.
-Have roasted the Sharasi and I must say, "AWESOME"!! And now the Ismaili has reappeared so perhaps a 5 pounder should be ordered. One can never have enough Yemeni coffees in there stash.
- I have talked about taking up playing guitar again but have been procrastinatiniprchasing a new 6 string acoustic. Last Friday my son-in-laws father dropped by with a surprise. He had entered a drawing the previous week for a guitar. And... he won!! As he already has 2 acoustical's and 2 electric's , he decided to give me the guitar he won. Awesome!! This is a nice beginners guitar and although I have prior experience playing guitar, this guitar fits the bill nicely while I decide if I will stick with the guitar for the rest of my life. Been practicing major and minor chords at the moment and working on my finger strength and dexterity. It is all coming back quite easily, just building the calluses on the fingers is a pain initially. Saw Mike's post on Doc Watson dying and I had heard that earlier in the week. Indeed, a master has passed. Was just listening to Sittin' Here Pickin' The Blues which he did with his son Merle. Great music!! 'Ol Doc really had some great albums over the years. I am also a huge Mississippi John Hurt fan. Love his stuff!!!
-Connie- Good to hear you like the Costa Rican. It was for me, as mentioned before, a decent enough press but I have a hard time getting past that "wee bit of bite." Of the coffee you have sent me, I have only roasted the Brazil and I am currently enjoying that as aforementioned here. Will roast some of the others soon.
-And thats it for now. Storm clouds moving in and the humidity is getting nasty. Still not as bad as the humidity I experienced growing up in Chicago or when I lived in Germany. BUT... the lower humidity is much more enjoyable.
- To all a great cup and a great evening!!! Jimitri

[martin]

Last evening I had a small tuit left after mowing the back jungle, so I thawed and roasted the last batch of 2010's Lintong Blue Batak. With the Behmor getting slower and slower, this barely eked out a C+ when the timer ran out (2:00 P1 + ½ P3 C, max pluses as always). Luckily the LBB is good that light. Had a bit of it as a quarter-caff unrested (it was getting late by then), and this morning's carafe was an even mix of Aleta Wondo and the LBB; they went together very nicely.

Wonder what Jimitri's been up to lately...

[bigbells]

I've lived in high humidity places all my life. An August week in Las Vegas a few years back finally gave me an understanding of "yeah, it's hot, but it's a dry heat". Outside in 100 degree temps and not sweating. That doesn't happen around here.
Very slowly getting back into playing my trombone, which I had given up for the past 5 years because of the difficulties of playing with full dentures. New dentures that attach to mini-implants got completed a month ago. Much more solid, shift around very little, and no Poligrip, which was as big a part of the problem as anything. Still far from ideal but much better.
I wish I could draw, but not enough to put time into it. No time for everything. Enjoy perusing Connie's online portfolio, though!
Love the cleanliness, sweetness and fruitiness of the Ethiopia Yirg. The thing I like most about it and the thing I like least about it are the same: it's quite un-coffeelike in many ways.

[martin]

Eeek, the Sharasi went away! And me with only one more ½ lb batch in the freezer...

What to do, what to do? Order 5 lb of the Ismaili real quick. Hmmm, and this lost* last batch of an earlier Lintong Batak has been doing really well in blends, and even at only two days this is a great cup. Better get 5 lb of that, too. Since I'll be hitting SM again fairly soon - still waiting for the Centrals (those Guats sound good, but not my ideal sort of Central) and DP Ethiopia lots - just one package of Bonmac's hemp filters. Oh, and one of these new bamboo ones that no one seems to be saying much about. And maybe a little 2 lb bag of that Rwanda with the creamy mouthfeel and other yummy descriptions in case those all vanish suddenly. And... done.

Mmmm... yeah, this Blue Batak is really good tonight. Looking forward to enjoying it as it gets even better over the next few days.

* - yeah, I had marked the Lintong as all used up and the program didn't complain about the frozen packet it still had... and because there's always a few grams left over after the last batch, I taught it to zero out those ghost balances for used-up lots. Gonna have to do better than that.