Happy Earth Day.  I know Emerson said "the earth laughs in flowers," but maybe she laughs in fat spring raindrops too.  There's not much better than sitting inside with a mug of steaming coffee, watching a warm rain pour down.  It's good to see some April showers in what has otherwise been a pretty dry month.  I'm sure that all the allergy sufferers out there will appreciate the relief--the puddles this morning were painted yellow with pollen.

	April: when ranuculus bloom in all their outrageous magenta glory.

It's hard to believe that last Sunday we were sitting at a River Cats game boiling in the sun.  It was little league day at the park, and the kids got to hear a chalk talk and parade the field before the game.  We all had fun, despite the heat.  Although my wallet did not appreciate the amount of water I had to buy to keep us all hydrated. 

This week we have a micro-lot Sumatran coffee for you.  This is a new coffee to us, from an entirely different area of Sumatra.  We usually bring in coffees from the Gayo Highlands in the far north of the country (we do still have our Organic Gayo Mountain).  This Sumatra, however, comes from six or seven hundred miles to the southwest.  It is grown on the Mangkujara Estate, in Bengkulu Province. 

The Mangkuraja Estate is a family owned farm of 370 acres, where the coffee is planted under native trees for shade.  The estate is at 3-4000 feet, and there is a mill on the property for processing.  This coffee is wet-hulled, or giling basah, a process solely found in Indonesia where the fruit and parchment are removed before the bean is dry.  This gives the coffee an earthy flavor that Sumatran coffees are often known for.  After this process, the beans are dried on raised beds.