My Addiction is Cheaper

I'm enjoying my Carmen Estates 1800 for the first time today. It's a lovely coffee, but I have to say, I seem to like the deeper notes I get when I throw a bit of an African or Indonesian bean in with the Central Americans. This is the coffee that scored a 3rd place win in the Panama CoE competition. I roasted it on to  City + on Tuesday, and I have a sneaking suspicion it will be better tomorrow than it is today.

Although they are all out of the Carmen now at Sweet Maria's, so I can not provide the description, Tom has created a couple of pages about his experience at the Panama CoE competition.

The other big news is that RT is picking up his new car this afternoon, after a harrowing few days of negotiation with the dealer. The final act was his walking out of the dealership, only to be called back in as they magically found they were able to take another $800 off the price.

If you are looking at the picture, and wondering what the big deal is about this car, join the club. RT can go on and on about the 6.1 liter  425 hp engine (yup, he got the monster), but to my untrained eyes, it's just a big black car.

 

posted by taming at 04:55 | link | comments (2)|
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Fat? Jolly? Nope.

I was never a jolly fat person. Now there is a study out that seems to indicate that the stereotype is just plain wrong.

From the article "Study says obesity, depression linked"

CHICAGO — Obesity is strongly linked with depression and other mood disorders, according to a new study by Group Health Cooperative.

Whether obesity might cause these problems or is the result of them is not certain, but there are theories to support both arguments.

Depression often causes people to abandon activities, and some medications used to treat mental illness can cause weight gain. On the other hand, obesity is often seen as a stigma, and overweight people often are subject to teasing and other hurtful behavior.

The study of more than 9,000 adults found that mood and anxiety disorders, including depression, were about 25 percent more common in the obese people studied than in the nonobese. Substance abuse was an exception; obese people were about 25 percent less likely to abuse drugs or alcohol than slimmer participants.

I'm no longer obese, but losing weight hasn't made me jolly. I guess I still have the soul (and brain) of a fat person, and I suppose I always will.

 

posted by taming at 03:56 | link | comments (1)|
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Monday Morning Coffee Post Redux

This morning I am drinking a blend of two coffees. It is two parts Sumatran Mandheling roasted to a light Vienna to one part Guat at City+. Eri, if you are reading this, next time you buy beans at Hattie's get some Mandheling and a nice bright Central American and try the combination.

This is the third blend (or mélange) I've really fallen for. The first was two different roast levels of the Horse Harar #19: a Vienna and a city+. The other one, which I roasted more of yesterday, and will drink Thursday or Friday, is three parts Guat and one part Horse, both to city+. I'm finding I am liking coffees that are fairly bright, but with some deeper note complexity as well.

The discussions of roast profiles are never ending in the world of home roasted specialty coffee. I learn something new every day. At the same time, as I gain more experience, I am also learning to trust my own experience, and I am clarifying the factors that, for me, make a really great cup of coffee.

This week I will be roasting the Carmen Estates 1800 for the first time. This is the coffee that won third prize in the Panama Cup of Excellence competition. I'll roast a whole lot of it, in two batches, and make full KMB pots beginning at day three, so I can "get" how the taste changes over time. Most folks seem to feel that this coffee comes into its own at Day 4, so I'll go back a day to see if I can catch the difference. On Day one and two, I will use it for single cup brewing in my small French press, even though I am not expecting to love it on those days.

If you don't try shtuff, you don't learn shtuff, yanno.  

 

posted by taming at 04:16 | link | comments (3)|
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Canada Day Coffee Report

I am drinking coffee this morning that is so damn fine, I wish we could take all of our meagre savings and airmail a pound of it to each of our friends, even if that meant RT would have to drive his 14 year old Nissan for yet another year.

The brew of the day is a blend of three parts Cafe Justicia Guatemalan to one part Ethiopian Horse Harar, both roasted to city+ and rested for four days.

Happy Canada Day!!!

 

posted by taming at 03:47 | link | comments (1)|
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We Need to Win the Lottery

RT is itchin' for a new car. He test drove four cars yesterday, and, naturally, fell in love with the one that would involve a car payment bigger than our monthly mortgage note. We could actually afford a different version of the car he fell for—with a smaller engine and fewer bells and whistles, but apparently that is not something he would consider.

The car manufacturers really have his number. I suspect it is the number of a whole lot of men his age.

When RT was a teenager, the car of his dreams was a real "muscle car." He didn't own one, but one of his friends did. Now, almost 40 years later, they are making cars like that again, but all tricked out with the bells, whistles, and comforts older guys like too. I swear, the salesman said hemi engine, and RT swooned. He said Viper edition (we're talking about a Dodge Charger) and RT was hooked. He said $50,000, and I needed to be scraped off the floor.

I don't get the whole car thing that seems bred in the bone for men like RT. He drives mebbe 100 k a week, unless he has to go into Calgary, and I'd be thinking putt-putt. Instead he's looking at a car that is so big it might not fit into our garage along side of my rapidly ageing, but completely paid for, vehicle.

There is a compromise car amongst the ones we drove yesterday. It's still far too expensive, and more car than we need, but we could swing it. I might never have living room furniture, but that's OK.

RT may be  the hardest working man on the planet. I hate knowing that he would get into that compromise car every day thinking that, even at this stage of the game, he couldn't quite swing the car he really loves. I really want him, for the first time in his life, to have the car of his dreams, even if the dream was hatched in the mind of a 16 year old boy from a small town in Saskatchewan, who lusted for a really hot car whilst driving his dad's Buick.

Mebbe we could trade in both of our existing cars, and I could get one of those granny carts for my grocery shopping and some sturdy walking shoes. If the new car still didn't fit in our garage, we could always park it in the living room.

 

posted by taming at 03:04 | link | comments (2)|
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