Tuesday, December 18, 2007


in which oren and i have a slight perceptual difference

so the awesome oren sent me said colombia tolima corazon and i immediately tore up the bag the way greedy children descend on ruffles.

and boom! the aroma of super-fresh roasted beans struck me with a near physical blow. i swear.

in a daze i rushed to contact o. himself. "o o o," i said, "this tolima certainly is nothing like any ordinary colombian. it smells like roast chicken!"

this caused o to hesitate slightly. "well," he replied, "if you think it's chicken, i hope at least it's fresh chicken."

his answer had the gentle air of "what kind of lsd have you put your nose on, girl?" but that's the way it goes in coffee sometimes. i happen to love chicken, so i meant it as a compliment.

ah the memories of roast chicken in the farmhouse in kansas. . .but while o has an impeccable cupping nose from which we all can learn, i cannot give him my scent memories, so in this case alas we are forever separated by time.

this too is part of specialty coffee's loveliness. it is intensely personal in a way that can be hard, so hard, to convey, despite all the training we get on the scaa flavor wheel!

posted by fortune | 7:00 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 2 comments