Hey Joe,
We had a great time... We were highly overcaffeinated on our drive down and on the way back up... Thank you for setting up the tour of the warehouse and your suggestions of cafes in the area... If you're ever up in Chicago let me know and hopefully we can meet up... I'll let you know if I'm ever back down that way... Thanks again...

That pretty much hits it on the nose. I'll start adding an extra 1/4 cup to the latins and see what happens. I'm using Sweet Marias for all my sourcing. Guatemala Acatenango- Finca La Soledad is the most challenging. I've never been completely satisfied. I break it open and it's almost always light tan toward the middle. Ethiopia FTO Oromia YirgaCheffe and Rwanda Gkongoro Nyarusiza have both been decent at times, but I'll roast them using the same specs again and it'll be terrible. Brazil Cerrado DP Fazenda Aurea (sorry, long names) has been my favorite- low-quality coffee, but it has roasted very well. Sumatra (Grade 1) Madheling has been solid too- (what I use for my church). I'm just getting a bit tired of the same 'ol few selections. I don't have the money to invest in a sample roaster (1lb) like at your roaster, but I love doing it so much that I need solutions. Thanks for the advice.

So... I've been home roasting for a while now. I've figured out the general ins and outs. It does seem as though I "tip" a lot of the coffee, no to mention it always tastes a bit "green" still- the only ones I've been really pleased with were indonesian coffees. Latins are the worst and africans are hit or miss. Let me know if there is something common that beginners sometimes miss. (I understand the principle of roasting different levels for different coffees, but it's proving to be much more challenging that I had predicted) Thanks.

Hey Joe,
Just doin a follow up on being in St. Louis next Monday... We will be through there 1030ish... you had mentioned maybe being able to meet up for lunch? Hit me up and let me know... Cheers

Hey joe we are going to come back through st louis after bonnaroo... we'll be there on monday the 14th... are you available? id love to take you up on the st louis mini coffee tour... I figure we have a couple hours we can spend there and it will break up our trip nicely... Let me know... Cheers

Life post-Anaheim is coming together. I am gearing up for summer barista work in the Hamptons. Hope you are holding down the fort well!

Hey Joe
just wanted to remind you how excellent a job you did last weekend! If you ever need feedback once you get your score sheets back let me know.

Hey thanks for the tips on the Aurelia drip tray. Making a deeper one makes sense if the secondary pan under that will allow for more depth.. I'm guessing it was put there to catch any runover to keep it off the components underneath.

It is OK most of the time. But when we do events and are less than level it can be a pain because water will run to the edge of the tray and I have to keep a bartowel in those areas to absorb it. Might plan on changing it though. Thanks again!

Hey man! It was good seein' ya at the new location in CoMo the other day. I wanted to let you know my wife got me a popcorn popper for Valentine's. I love roasting! Truly, I's sure I'll be doing this the rest of my life, hopefully more professionally at some point. You've been a big influence thus far and I only want that to grow. I respect what you're doing and what you're about. Let me know if I can ever return the favor.

Soon. Very Soon. Friday to be exact. Will you be roasting? Maybe I can stop by on my way to KS? Or possibly meet for lunch? I generally stick to 270, but I could certainly venture South.

Thanks Joe. I'm pretty stoked myself. It'll be awesome to catch up in Anaheim.

Ya man sounds great. I would love some feedback about roasters from ya.

Couldn't have picked someone more worthy of leaving me my first comment! Micah and I were nerding out on different brewing methods at 6am while opening the cafe and Friday; he looked at me and said, "You should definitely join Barista Exchange." Ha! So, here I am. Happy Holidays to you and the fam if i don't see you before Christmas!

I'm needing to use purified water with the espresso machine for obvious reasons. My idea for now is to use 5 gallon water cooler containers from culligan or something, pouring them into our pressurized canisters. any better solutions for the mobile operation?

I hope that you can! I've been working with a Board of Directors on this project and it is taking a lot longer than expected. The new opening date is something like late February. Until then, I'll be running a cart operation like Gwilym's in front of the building. Pointers are very welcome!

Yeah I kind of knew that it will be pretty tough. I'm not sure if this is ever possible but at least I know I want to be a Batista
eventually. I am already studying a lot about coffee. I was also wanting to go to ABC and take some courses and meet peeps in the industry. There aren't a lot up here in alaska that I know. Thank you for the advice. It definately helped. ;)

thanks...you all were a real pleasure to watch at the regional champs...GOOD SHOW....GOOD FOR THE MIDWEST....GOOD FOR THE COFFEE...we'd love to have you up in Hannibal...we are new...but we try....

Hey great job today, Glad I got to see it on u stream, what was the second coffee that you offered in your sig drink? Hope all is well take care.

Thanks man! A lot of those photos are almost a year old though... gotta check out my new stuff at flickr.com/photos/naturallyabel in the "nicely addicted to coffee" set.