Alan's Corner

It is a beautiful day today, temperature in the high 70's, but overnight the temperature will plummet and we have cold days forecast for Friday and Saturday. What better way to keep warm than to drink a nice cup(or two) of Koralee/Merdeka coffee. This week we are brewing a Breakfast Blend and a dark roast from the Mandehling region of Sumatra.

Breakfast Blend--This coffee is a blend of 3 different Indonesian origins. Hugely popular in the Hotel Industry whose buyers claim that consumer demand for this coffee is increasing all the time. The coffee has a lighter body, yet quite distinctive cupping characteristics. It would be no secret to most to know that Java is the backbone of this blend, however the other two coffees must remain a well guarded secret.

Mandehling Village--Common wisdom in specialty roasting is to avoid the beans grown by the small holder--too much risk and unpredictable quality. Merdeka disagree--some of the most interesting and flavorsome beans they roast are smallholder or "Village" grown. Merdeka can also buy directly from the villagers making sure that they and not some middleman gain the profit. The Sumatra village comes from a small town about 5 hours from Padang. The bean is roasted to a darker roast allowing the flavors of wet earth, soft bark and a slight current after taste to emerge. The bean is organic and cups well.

The cold weather will enable me to stay indoors after the market to enjoy the English soccer matches. All sorts of crazy stuff has happened in the past week and we are only 2 1/2 months in to a 9 month season. Some of the more notable events are:

1. The Chelsea and England Captain has been accused of racially abusing an opponent during last Saturdays match. An accusation he strenuously denies but nevertheless the governing body of Soccer has launched an investigation.

2. The Chelsea manager has accused the referee of last weeks match of incompetence and bias following their loss to Queens Park Rangers.

3. Manchester United were beaten at home by Manchester City, 6--1.The biggest defeat for over 70 years. Watching the match were United's owners, the Glazer
Family(Tampa Bay ) who after the match flew to London to watch Tampa Bay lose to the Bears in Wembley Stadium. Perhaps they should have stayed at home.

4. Rumors are circulating in the press that some foreign owners of the Premier League teams are trying to abolish relegation from the top division. Mr Henry (Liverpool and Boston Red Sox) as well as Mt Loerner (Aston Villa ) have quickly denied that they are in favor of any such move. The financial cost of relegation is huge and is to be avoided at all cost. We will watch developments with interest.

5. Finally Manchester City have suspended last seasons top goal scorer (Tevez) for 4 weeks and fined him the equivalent of 1 million dollars for refusing to play against their opponents in a European Champions League match. Another accusation strenuously denied by the Player but the likely hood of a successful appeal is remote.

All in all an interesting week.I wonder what will happen this week.

We look forward to seeing you on Friday and Saturday.