Friday got away from me this week, and I didn't quite get this email sent. We took some time to play in the snow in the middle of the day, and I wasn't done when I headed home. So here's your Monday news.

Did it snow at your house this week? Tuesday around here was a "snow day," meaning that school was canceled. As per usual, it was a lot more hype than actual snow, but we embraced the day off. I didn't go to work until late afternoon, and the kids and I spent the morning playing in the snow with Archie and Lucy. We had snowball fights, sledded, and built small snowmen. We might have kept at it all day, except I had to take Caroline to ballet.

This weekend it snowed even more, at least at the higher elevations. If you are not local, you might not know that if you love snow (or don't), all you have to do is drive five minutes to find more/less. It's a unique feature of living in the foothills. There was only a skiff at our house, but within a five minute drive you could find a foot. It snowed most of Saturday at the higher elevations, but we had no trouble here in town, and we were open every day this week.

We've got a new coffee for you from Papua New Guinea. This island to the north of Australia has a varied topography, with mountains all through the center of the country. With such rugged terrain, infrastructure is difficult to build and maintain, and transportation can be an issue. Despite the challenges, this is a delicious coffee, farmed with care at the Korgua Estate in the Nebilyer Valley. This farm was established in the 1930's by the Leahy family, and Brian Leahy and his family still run it today. It is situated on land between the Ulga and Kolga tribes, and allows both groups to come together to process coffee in this neutral space.

I have a direct connection to Papua New Guinea, since my mother is currently living there and teaching school. Her birthday was February 8th, just last week, so Happy Birthday Mom! I'm grateful for and impressed by all 70 of your years!

In the cup this has a delicious fruity taste, as you would expect from a honey process. If you haven't had the opportunity to learn about this process, a "honey" coffee has nothing to do with bees--it is a name for the sweetness that occurs when the beans are dried with come of the mucilage intact. It is not the entire fruit, like in a natural or dry process, but it is not entirely cleaned like with a washed bean--so this is sort of an in between style of coffee processing. We've roasted this light, and you will taste notes of fig and melon, in a medium bodied and smooth cup.

Whatever the winter weather is doing in your area, enjoy your week. We're forecast to get more rain, so I'll be drinking this Papua New Guinea bean in honor of my mother. Cheers!

--Holly Fike