The romance of a good brew

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. Between quitting my old job, getting engaged(!), trying to tell everyone that we're engaged, visiting my parents a couple of times, packing up everything from the beloved midtown apartment, and starting my new job...there has been little time for reflection.

I am now in Seattle, staying at a fabulously comfortable Marriott (who knew? I'd always been a Starwood loyalist), and finally able to think a bit. And if I have time to think, I surely must have time to blog. I have a feeling that I'll have a lot of time for blogging here. People are so laid back! My colleagues don't work at night or on weekends and leave by about 6pm every night!!! Plus they are super nice, genuine, smart... all round great.

Ah, but what I wanted to share with you most is my experiences with coffee. A core part of our day and half of training for new hires was learning about coffee. Origins, selection, roasting. Everyone gets a pound of coffee a week, so that we can stay connected with our core product. We all have 'passports' with detailed descriptions of our different coffees and space to take notes during tastings. We treat coffee like wine! There are good food pairings for different coffees. We use words like "yummy", "blackberries", "earthy" and "exotic" to describe the smell and taste. We use shot glass size cups for tastings and are expected to loudly slurp up a mouthful of coffee so that it splashes all over our mouth, and then we taste for where it hits (bitterness, sweetness, sourness) and its weight. Amazing stuff! And I've discovered that Latin American coffees taste very different than those from Asia Pacific or Africa. It really helps to compare 2 coffees side by side, to figure out the difference.

I have fallen in love with the Arabian Mocha Sanani - mmm, so delicious and here is the description:

"Here’s our most exotic and unpredictable coffee, laden with flavors of deep port wine, berry fruit, warm earthen spices and cocoa. Yemen rests on the Indian Ocean. Sanani refers to the coffee-growing region around Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.

Key term: Exotic

Geography is a flavor - You can tell a lot about a coffee if you know where it’s from. Coffees from Arabia are legendary for their berrylike flavors and wine like qualities. Those from Africa are remarkable for their floral aromas and citrusy tastes."

You must try this the next time you go to your favorite Starbucks. Most coffee beans are stripped of the surrounding fruit (called cherries) and then dried and roasted, but this one is dried with the cherries intact, which contributes to its fruity taste.