After you've loaded your trunk with a variety of varietals from the many great wine producers in the Willamette Valley AVA, stop in to Nick's Italian Cafe (521 NE 3rd St in historic downtown) to conclude your journey with a memorable meal.  Starting this week you can conclude your  five star, five course prix fixe feast with a special signature espresso I'm now making for the restaurant.  I promise you will be very happy! 

N.B. March 17....I went there last week for with my Oregon Symphony buds Joe Berger and Greg Ewer for LUNCH...place looks great after they remodeled and expanded the dining room...now they're open 6 days a week for lunch as well as dinner.  Amazing food.  Chefs Eric and Carmen are utilizing the wood-burning oven for all manner of things, and the pizza are just spectacular.  We shared a speck and arugula pie, an opener of their house-made salume (sopressata, salami, cotto, prosciutto), hand-made and cut tagliatelle with an awesome gorgonzola sauce, and a panini of mouth-watering tri-tip.  Insanely good stuff, makes me stoopiddrool thinking back on it. Eric promised to let me pull some shots of my extra-special espresso next time.

Excited at the two new sweet picks (more next week when Bolivia Cup of Excellence National Winner arrives) coming tomorrow (yeah, when I tote 'em back from the Green Room in Seattle!!)...Ethiopia Sidamo Shanta Golba from the Oromia Cooperative Union, a fruit bomb with great body and finish, and a Mountain Water Process Decaf Sumatra from Aceh region which is a delightful surprise for those who like tasty, full-bodied non-fuel java.

For those of you who missed the riveting, informative and utterly real and depressingly optimistic documentary "Black Gold"...GO SEE IT!  It presents the reality of Ethiopian coffee today through the matrix of the Oromia Cooperative Union and it's charismatic and stalwart leader, Tadesse Meskela.  I'm thrilled to be supporting these hardworking farmers and their continuing battle to survive the vagaries of their new emerging coffee market (bourse).  In case you didn't know it, I LOOOOVE ETHIOPIAN COFFEE!!  Now feel fair and balanced with inventory of superb offerings from Sidamo, Harar and Yrgacheffe! 

It has been a long road to hoe finding that traditional big-cup o' chocolate Guatemalan coffee from ANY of her many growing regions,but I think we have it, and readily available!  Hats off to the FEDECOCAGUA assemblage for this offering of Genuine Antigua Pastoral, which jolts me back to the old paradigm of such rich taste associations with that country.  BIG body, BIG chocolate and spicy notes, at last....exciting & thick cup texture, moderate acidity and complex, creamy espresso shots. 

FEDECOCAGUA is a second-level co-operative founded in 1969 to improve the position of small-scale coffee growers. It is the umbrella organisation for 19,354 coffee farmers belonging to 37 affiliated farmers’ organisations. FEDECOCAGUA provides a range of services including access to a credit scheme, technical support, transport, warehousing, and the purchase, processing and export of members’ coffee beans.  This is an exceptional coffee not to be missed.

I will be using it in This is My House! blend FOR SURE, and in fact will dig into a cup tomorrow from today's roast.....

The hedonist in me pointedly differs with the assessment appearing in the December online Coffee Review (www.coffeereview.com) of exotic offerings.  The aroma of this blend of Mexico Terruño Nayarita natural and India Anokhi liberica is defiantly unique, IMHO, and an exceedingly rich and balanced cup of coffee with great mouthfeel.  I have prepared straight espresso shots of this blend and it has serious legs!  Arguably the best way to experience the Anokhi (in a blended format), although I absolutely love it straight up, as do several of my customers who find it to be one of the world's great java experiences.  The Anokhi aromatics appear as well in the Deep Cello espresso.  Try it yourself!

"Another tricky Day, For You"

Come hear Beta Collide at the White Stag building atrium in Portland this Friday, Oct. 17.  Trumpeter etc/general genius Brian McWhorter and flutist Molly Barth's (of Grammy-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird) pet project, this night presenting the landmark Folio by Earle Brown, me on cello, and a dybbuk's-ful of intense musickians, troublemakers and artists partaking.

Willie Week announcement and article

http://wweek.com/editorial/3449/11640/

Noting the untimely passing of visionary David Lett, without whom Oregon would have no serious wine industry.  Eyrie is certainly in fantastic hands with son Jason and family but clearly we lost one of the giants in American wine.  Buy some of their Pinots for starters and raise a glass to David Lett tonight!

NY Times obit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/dining/14lett1.html

A near drive-by on Friday for the CoffeeFest kickoff day.  Had an awesome ride up with LavaJavans Phuong and Cam and what a treat getting to know them a lot better.  We need seriosity like theirs in this business!

All the usual suspects at the  convention center, and nice to see Mercanta-ites Grant Rattray, Christian Schaps and Leah Warren anhd be included in the Mercanta fam, having roasted coffees for the show.  Overall response to the new El Salvadors (Finca Alaska, Finca Montañita and Finca Suiza, roasted by Badbeard's for the show) was special and there will be orders aplenty.  After a lengthy hang at Seattle Coffee Works catching up with Sebastian got to see the handiwork off Polina Notic of SCW, who had placed 3rd after the prlims of the latte art competition at the show.  Talented playuh! 

Nice meal at  Icon on 5th, with its amazing assemblage of Dale Chiluly "balloons" all over the friggin' place. Nice to be back in PDX.

Phuong Tran, master barista (2005 US Champion) and her cupping staff couldn't have been nicer and more thorough in assaying some recent Badbeard's offerings.  Full disclosure; I sent these off to her after a recent visit to Lava Java (just off the I-5 at exit 14, Ridegefield, WA), where I enjoy the ambiance, good laughs, and total coffee geekiness!

From her phone report yesterday:

Brazil yellow bourbon decaf Marzocco shots); smooth, nice body and color.

Kenya Thangathi microlot: smooth, full-bodied, nice gentle acidity, tomato skin, grapefruit

Friday shots of Deep Cello espresso with Kenya Thangathi: Sweet from 1st sip, classic, dry finish, fruity, toasted bread

Sunday shots: Nice creamy body, clean finish, sweet, dark chocolate, aromatics of grapefruit, pomegranate,alder smoke.

Sunday capuccino (prepared by Cam) ["should've been hotter, dude!"] Dark chocolate pops through the milk!