Finland has the highest coffee consumption per capita in the world.

Starbucks seems to be under fire from some religious groups who think this new logo design is slutty and against God.

I have a big problem with this.

1) God designed the human body, therefor it is Holy, not slutty.

2) This is freaking mermaid, not a woman, and it’s based on ancient artwork.

3) She’s not engaged in anything pornographic.

4) If God had a problem with boobs, He wouldn’t have put them on people.

5) If Starbucks backs down and changes their logo to accommodate the whining of prudish, off-base, idiotic religious groups, they will lose what little respect I have for them.

Seriously, I could see an uproar if it featured something like the close up of a penis or a woman’s vagina, but this?

Come on, people. Get a life.

I think I may have saved the best for last.  If not the best, then tied with the best.  It doesn’t surprise me, because there’s something about Costa Rican beans that always sends a low and groovy pulse directly into the pleasure center of my brain.

I roasted this up to a deep, beautiful dark dark brown, what they call a City + roast, and have waited until it’s nearly gone to write about it.  That is because I’m starting to burn out on having to report on the coffee — I just want to enjoy it.

And my coffee loving friends, I have enjoyed this one immensely.  It has a medium bold flavor, well balanced in acidity — just enough to give it a little bite, but not enough to burn a hole in your colon — and features a sweet, wood-smoke flavor with berry and walnut highlights.

And with that, I’m out of green beans to roast, and also my roaster — that air popcorn popper I bought off of eBay — it’s starting to sound like it’s going implode and die.  So, I think I’ll be buying myself a proper roaster, and in the meantime I’ll drink and review pre-roasted beans.

Coming up, in fact, are two African coffees that my older daughter brought back with her from Cape Town!

Stay tuned…

It’s a bit of a mess.  But good coffee is worth it.

And this is good coffee, though I’m not as impressed with it as I have been with others I’ve gotten from Sweet Maria’s.

The good:  Nice and fresh (of course!) and featuring a natural rustic sweetness.  Rich and tasty.

The bad:  The winey-berry notes are awfully subtle, to the point where after the first blush of flavor this coffee comes off as bland.  No complexity and no character.  My guess is that this bean would best be used in blending, to tone down another coffee, rather than be used as a single-bean brew.

A good thing to remember if you’re into blending.  Which I’m not.  I just want to grind, brew, and drink it. 

Oh, and roast it occasionally.

I dare you to say that three times, fast.

Yet another home roast, I cooked these up to what they call a "full city" or very dark brown, but not black.  Once again, my $7 eBay air popper turned coffee-roaster did a great job, producing yet another brew that is so good it’s blowing the bell curve for the rest of my non-home-roasted reviews.

Home roasting is the way to go, people.  Seriously.  Buying green beans is much cheaper, they keep for a long long time without you having to worry about them going stale.  It takes less than 15 minutes to roast enough to last you a week.  It tastes better than you can possibly imagine — assuming you’ve never had uber-fresh roasted coffee before.

If you just can’t be bothered with the zen task of home roasting, then I highly recommend you buy from a micro-roaster such as some of the ones I’ve featured here.

Sermon over.  I’m climbing down from the fresh-coffee-smelling podium.

I kind of blew the ending, didn’t I?  I already stated this coffee is awesome.  Well, let me also say that it has a strong, full body without being overwhelming, a very rich taste, with overtones of walnut and dark chocolate.  There’s a good, active zing without being overly acidic.  The aftertaste fades to a warm, comfy wood-smoke glow, leaving you with a sense of peace and well-being.

Or at least it does me, because I’ve got enough to last me a while and I’m so happy I do!  This, my friends, is a bona fide groovy brew.

At first sip, I got why they call it "choco."  The taste carries a very strong chocolate current — sweeping, really.  It couldn’t taste more chocolate without actually adding chocolate to it.

And, no, this is not a "flavored" coffee.  It’s pure coffee beans, bought green, roasted by me on my apartment patio in a air popcorn popper yesterday afternoon.

This coffee is so freaking delicious it’s blowing my socks off.

There’s a raisin touch to it, too, a winey fruity note singing sweetly in tune with the chocolate-coffee combo.  This is serious Sunday afternoon jazz coffee.  This is happy wedding reception on the beach coffee.

Forget Jamaican Blue Mountain.  Forget all those Costa Rican coffees that I love.  This one has them beat.

This coffee is seriously rocking my world.

I roasted the beans to a very dark, shiny brown, but not black.  I’m not an experienced coffee roaster — this is maybe my fourth batch in my life — but I’m doing something really right, and the beans that I’m getting from Sweet Maria’s are unbelievably wonderful.

Conclusion:  This coffee is totally groovy.  To the extreme.