January 2012 Coffee News

-New Years in Honduras
-Adventure Travel
-Holiday Flavors
-Housecleaning Help

New Years in Honduras
We had the pleasure of celebrating New Year's on the coffee farm in Honduras -- getting back just last night (Friday). Traveling to the coffee farm is always an adventure, involving multiple airports, navigating the busy city of San Pedro Sula, a 3 hour drive through the mountains to the somewhat quieter city of Comayagua and then another hour up a very bumpy, steep gravel road to the farm. We arrived on the coffee farm late the night of the 31st, just in time to join Guillermo's large family in celebrating the New Year and his mother's 84th birthday.

In addition to the festivities, Guillermo's family was also busy harvesting coffee. We watched (and helped just a little) with the enormous task of picking, pealing, washing and drying coffee beans. As is typical this time of year, it has been raining a lot so we also spent a lot of time getting wet and muddy. Rain is both the life force of the lush cloud forest and an enormous challenge for coffee farmers who need to get ripe coffee berries picked before they fall, and then get coffee beans washed and dried and transported down muddy roads to market. Thankfully, the harvest looks very good this year and we look forward to enjoying and sharing their coffee when it arrives in a few months.

Adventure Travel
When we had to cancel the proposed January group eco-trip to the coffee farm, one of the gals who had hoped to go with us chose to travel with our family over New Years instead. She turned out to be the perfect travel companion with years of experience traveling Europe AND leading dog sledding adventure trips in northern Minnesota. (As it happens, she will be switching from tropical forest to snow in one short week, helping her friend who runs Wintermoon Summersun dog sled & kayak adventures for women an hour north of Duluth.) With her encouraging feedback, we are moving forward with plans for a June coffee farm eco-tour -- likely June 15-24 (plus or minus a day or two depending on flights). We will be holding an informational meeting, tentatively scheduled for Saturday, March 31 and asking for firm commitments by April 15th. We will need a minimum of 5 travelers with a maximum of 12 possible. Let us know (if you haven't already) if you are interested in traveling with us.

Holiday Flavors
We have ordered a bit more of our holiday flavors one last time and should be able to fill most orders again this month, but get your order in quickly just in case. Here are the descriptions:

*Cocoa Mocha Twist - A blend of the taste of chocolate, cream, cinnamon, and nutmeg give this coffee its unique flavor.
*Old Fashion Holiday - Holiday cinnamon and cloves blended together reminding you of warm holidays baking goodies in the kitchen.
*Rum Royale Cappuccino - Warm cappuccino - frothy & thick with a healthy splash of rich buttery rum.
*Caramelized Pralines - Yummy rich taste with delicious caramel and fresh roasted pralines.

All of these coffees (and any of our six regular flavors) are available in 8 oz bags for $6.50 in whole bean or ground. Holiday flavors ONLY are also available in decaf in limited quantities. 

Housecleaning Help
Guillermo's sister Consuvida and her daughter Cinthia were pleased to get several new customers in response to our note last month about their house cleaning business and they are eager to add more. Just before Christmas, they surprised us by cleaning our house for us, so we can speak from personal experience that they do a careful, thorough job. If you could benefit from their house cleaning services, give Cinthia a call at 651-487-1231 or 651-285-3067 or email her at rodriguez20007@gmail.com. They will give you a cost estimate based on the size of your house and the frequency of cleaning you need.

Happy New Year!! We hope 2012 is getting off to a great start.