Careful what lurks behind your chino.

Lisa, You’re amazing.

Ta Ta.

Bad packaging.

Never again will I have crockery posted from the UK.

Java Jive!

Positive spread.

My head is spinning, its all the coffee that I have consumed today.
Good news is that we have found a coffee. Its not done yet, we still need to taste and play, but the components are decided.

This means that tomorrow, I am going to a day spa. No coffee for twenty four hours.
I am switching my brain off right…. Now.

Getting used to working Sundays.

6am Sunday is not a beautiful time to be alive.
There are three types of people awake at that time:
- People such as myself, still sleepy, still a little confused about being torn from warm beds and heading into the freezing Melbourne morning to work.
- Those who are still drunk and most likely emptying the contents of their stomachs from last nights binge drinking session, or causing trouble with local signage.
- Cyclists. But not the kind that you like. The ones that wear that soul-destroying lycra, its like green glad wrap for the middle aged man, its like the new midlife-crisis sports car. The ones that take joy in overtaking this little lady rudely in the bike lane.

So you can understand why getting used to working Sundays is a little hard then.
Although I do take joy in making peoples last glimpse of freedom before delving into another weeks toil seem everlasting. I have spent far too many Sundays in search of a nice place to devour some eggs and come up empty handed. So now its my chance to give people a little weekend respite.

All of that said, today was lovely. The Panama Santa Teresa Honey was incredible. I also gave my darker roasted blend a spin in the afternoon. Its still not quite there but its close. Mark drew me a picture to cheer me up.

It worked.

The light at the end of the tunnel was going to my dear friend Stephs and devouring home made, wood fired pizzas in her housemates very own keg-come-pizza oven that he made himself. The best bit was the nutella and banana calzone for desert.
Who knew the sabbath could be so productive.

Cold nights with good friends.

These past few weeks have been tough, the kind of tough that makes you feel productive and fulfilled.
So what better way to make yourself feel better on a cold Melbourne night than to ride directly to a much hyped, good friends favorite rahman haunt and dine with only the best people.

This is Momotaro Rahmen and our lovely dinners resembled something more like a baby pool filled with delicious soups, rather than a bowl. I was defeated! Anyone that has eaten with me will know that its almost impossible.

The gyoza were particularly delicious.
Anyway, so that’s how I have spent my Friday. Couldn’t ask for anything better.

News on the coffee front, been doing a little sample roasting, a bit of cupping and a whole bunch of espresso tasting. My cups are costing me a mint to get them back from the UK. I have everyone person that has ever known me doing errands and giving me a helping hand and am organising an espresso and milk tasting evening for people with handy tastebuds.

Its all very busy. But it sure ain’t as busy as Bridge and MD with their seven day weeks. Animals!

Toby also left on Thursday. We had our last drinks at The Corkman on Wednesday evening. Couldn’t think of anything more appropriate.
I received a rather blurry voice mail from a terribly hungover Toby this afternoon. Oh dear, look out Europe, here he is.

Capturing my bad side.

Thanks MD for making me look like a dork on the internet.

You can do it get your back into it. Uh.

My cups are stuck in a DHL warehouse in Cork. Other than that, everything is coming along swimmingly.

Yesterday I spent a cold afternoon by the roasters with Michael (Kaos!) and had my first spin on the sample roaster. The idea was to see if there was anything delicious I could hunt out for a competition coffee. Not only did I find some wonderful morsels, I also discovered a little thing called a “coffee thief”. Oh, what a find.

Too bad that I got to the shop fifteen minutes late this morning and missed the cupping with the dudes. Bummer. Tomorrow morning at 6:30am it is!