»In which we like the coffee

I picked up a half-pound bag of Yemen Sana'ani beans from Blue Bottle Coffee, the excellent purveyors of beans and macchiato (and why yes, I did spend fifteen minutes standing in line for this cup of coffee, thankyouverymuch). With these beans, I made a presspot full of coffee this morning, and boy howdy! the most delicious, and pleasantly mild, coffee I have tasted in years. Fantastic! Delicious! Instead of placing the remaining bits of the pot into the 'fridge, I am drinking it down.

The macchiato that James makes down at the Blue Bottle push-cart at the Ferry Building make me very, very content with coffee. They also look very appetising!

Look at nice photos of espresso atEspresso Lab.

100 % Yemen Sana'ani This is an intoxicating coffee that produces a huge aroma, and, at this medium-to-dark roast level, it is one of the few single-origin coffees that makes an excellent shot of espresso. Also terrific as a filter or presspot, coffee from Yemen is still farmed much the same way as it was 1200 years ago: harvested by hand from ancient, often wild, non-hybridized cultivars, dried on local patios, and processed locally before being shipped. While not certified organic, Yemens are considered pesticide-free owing to the strong farming traditions which predate pesticide use. One more thing: you might not like it. Lovers of clean, snappy Costa Ricans, or Colombians might consider drinking a cup of Yemen uncomfortably similar to being picked up by the lapels, shaken, then tossed into a grimy Manhattan snow bank. But for some of us, this is the most complex and desirable cup in town.