Wednesday, December 08, 2004


how to be assaulted in the state of new york

take 1 full bag of oren's holiday candies to an all-girl yoga class. when it's all over, you will be requesting restraining orders againt ladies you believed to be the soul of etiquette and discretion.

or as one yogini said to her neighbor while standing on her head with her legs wrapped like a pretzel, "i know she won't mind if we have some more of those chocolate-covered espresso beans. . ."

what was i supposed to do? fall out of my own pose into chatarunga, and then spring up into warrior two to defend the goodies? i have to say i didn't mind about the espresso beans so much as i had by that time become deeply enamored of the coffee-flavored white-chocolate-covered roasted almonds.

i comforted myself this morning with a pot of oren's celebes kalossi (a.k.a. sulawesi toraja). this is a coffee that cries out to be made in the cafetiére (a.k.a. french press).

this full, heavy-bodied (i mean, heavy, like near espresso!) coffee was roasted to what i would call low-medium-vienna, showing pinpricks of oil.

got your scaa flavor wheel ready?

the fragrance of the dry grounds seemed floral to me, and as i stirred the steeping pot, whiffs of an herby scent reminiscent of fresh basil came wafting up. it had a warm, lightly chocolately finish, leaving the mouth a little dry.

those coffee lovers familiar with sumatra coffees are often surprised by sulawesi. they sometimes expect a similarly mellow, low-toned coffee, but sulawesis can be bright.

and oren's is a bright one! not razory, not snappy, but definitely nippy.

in fact, i think it was the brightest sulawesi i've had all year. oren says this may be his own personal favorite coffee.

as you'd expect with any coffee possessing such a thick body, it's a natural. and by the time i had it, possibly as much as 6 days old -- but still, it bloomed very strongly in the press!

highly recommended.

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