The Joy of the New Coffee Harvest
by Keith Tomlinson, Head Peace Coffee Roaster

In a way, for me, waiting for the new year's coffee harvest shipment is like waiting for Minnesota-grown apples to show up at the Coop. I may have broken down once or twice during the year and bought an apple from Chile or Argentina. I may have stayed with buying them for a little too long after they were no longer fresh. But there is nothing like getting the season's first, perfectly ripe, Minnesota apple. It's like this for me when we get a new year's harvest of coffee in at Peace Coffee. Sure, I know what it is going to taste like, but I don't know exactly what it's going to taste like. I don't know how this year's soil, weather, or process affected this bean. This month, the new coffee is from Colombia. It's actually one of the last coffees to arrive from the 2007 harvest. Next month we will be getting the last of it from Peru. I've been patiently waiting for the chocolate covered cherry joy of the dark roast, and the deep berry and dry wine acidity of the light roast. The Colombian Heavy Pedal leads me nicely into the Colombian Dark as I move from my light roast leanings in the spring, summer and fall into the darker, "I hope the ice melts off my beard soon," roasts of the winter. And that's when the winter squash comes, too.

Coming soon, a limited supply of an award winning Fair Trade Organic Bolivian coffee.

Cheers,

Keith

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