Happy spring to you! We've had so much sunshine this winter that it's not hard to believe spring has arrived. Last weekend we attempted to go ice skating at Northstar, per the birthday girl's request, only to discover that it's so warm that they've switched to roller skating. After a moment of disappointment, we all enjoyed skating, and Aunt Becky even joined in on the fun.
Yesterday we finally got our green coffee delivery. With the new floors last week we intentionally ran low so that there wouldn't be so much to move. By this week however, we were getting desperate for our shipment to arrive. It's good to see green coffee filling the front of the store again. And with the rearranging we've been doing it still looks open even with 64 bags of green coffee in stock.
This week's coffee is a Natural Ethiopian Sidamo. When we opened the bag yesterday, it was like being hit in the face with the aroma of blackberries. In a natural, or dry-processed coffee, the beans are dried with the fruit still intact, and it gives an amazing fruit flavor to the final product. This is a grade 1 Ethiopian, handpicked, from the southern part of the country.
Ethiopia is generally considered to be the birthplace of coffee. You can read about the legend of coffee being discovered in
this blog post. This Sidamo is a blend of indigenous heirloom cultivars, maybe even the same variety that Kaldi and his goats tried. It's certain that the original coffees were sun dried in the same manner.
If you like a dry processed coffee, you will love this Ethiopian. It is fruity with sweet citrus tones, and finishes with berry flavors. The contrast to last week's Fair Trade Organic Peruvian is striking. You're welcome to sample both this week to see the difference. The code for this week's free cup is
coffee's birthplace.
Enjoy the official beginning of spring today. At our house the apple trees are blossoming and new tulips open daily. Spring is a great time to be alive and outdoors. And of course, a great time to drink coffee. Cheers!
--Holly F
ike
