Sweet Maria's Coffee (coffee)
Our audio recordings about coffee from West Oakland, CA and beyond, mostly from Thompson Owen.

Categories

general
coffee

Syndication


Archives


Keyword Search



March 2024
S M T W T F S
     
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31

July
May
March
January

June

October
July

November
October
August

July
January

September
July
April

September
August

July
February

November
August

November
July
May
March
February

This recording is a 28 minute unedited recording of a morning in Moshi, Tanzania May 25 2023. It’s the kind of “waking up” recordings I often do when traveling, both as personal note taking, but sometimes the material I turn into podcasts. This time, I thought I would also upload it to youtube, with images and video clips. So on youtube there’s some added visual information, but it’s not synced to the recording. Images and vocal do not match. But of course they are all from the same trip to Tanzania. Here is the You tube link to hear / view this with images.

Direct download: Tanzania__Moshi_Morning.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 12:09pm PDT

This is the second part of of a podcast recording, focusing on tourism coffee and coffee marketing. I read from the article Tourism: Globalization and the Commodification of Culture about Disneyfication, and McDonaldization, read a text from a Starbucks bag about coffee travel adventures through an Indiana Jones / colonial adventurer lens, listen to Dangerous Grounds tv show promo reel that infuses coffee travel with xenophobia, and connect it to the current way roasters talk about coffee buying more as a social mission than something they do so they have a product to sell. The latest approach includes incredible claims like “Kevin [coffee buyer] discovered that small scale poor farmers produced some of the most complex and incredible coffees in the world, yet they had no experience of what was happening to their work thousands of miles away or its tremendous value and appreciation by specialty coffee drinkers.” Poor coffee farmers! Here comes Kevin to save you!

So what’s the answer? I don’t have one but it would hurt to kick it down a notch, and just try to learn when you travel. Would it?

Direct download: Tourism-Travel-Coffee_Part_2.m4a
Category:coffee -- posted at: 7:20pm PDT

I've been a little obsessed lately with reading about tourism and travel narritives, and seeing how these line up with my work as a coffee buyer. What I find is that ideas that interest me in coffee are not really discussed in the coffee trade, and I am not sure who is interested in these things. Trigger warning: if the term "culture studies" or "the other" set you off, don't listen to this podcast. (joke, but not really I guess). This first episode doesnt really get into things much. Hopefully you can listen to part 2 as well.  -T

Direct download: Tourism-Travel-Coffee_Part_1.m4a
Category:coffee -- posted at: 6:43pm PDT

It’s been nearly 4 years since visiting Kenya, and I am excited to be back. When I travel for coffee I tend to make audio recordings over morning coffee, and sometimes I edit these into podcasts later. Kenya trips that focus on cupping can be intense. It’s a marathon of tasting, and very intense coffee at that. I talk a bit about the approach I think Kenya requires in terms of coffee sourcing, and later about the grades of Kenya coffee outside of specialty types. Traveling often leads me to thoughts about the history of coffee production and trade, and with Kenya the specific history of colonialism here. And I end with a song! A 45 single I found in a stack near Nairobi by Fadhili William & The Black Shadows, Hakuna Mwingine. And that’s a summary of this 30 minute podcast recorded mostly in Kenya, in February 2023.

Direct download: Kenya_Coffee_Cupping_Trip-Sweet-Marias-Podcast.m4a
Category:coffee -- posted at: 4:31pm PDT

It’s Sunday morning in Shakiso town but it’s not peaceful and quiet by any definition. I am talking about coffee in the area, but I’m competing against the decibels of the Orthodox church and their loudspeaker. I am not sure if this is very “listenable”.

It sounds ok to me, but I am used to these morning prayers and just tune them out. It might not be so easy in a recording. Anyway, it’s here for you to listen to … or not! 

Direct download: Ethiopia_5_-_Shakiso_-_Sunday_Morning_Coffee_and_Prayers.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 11:00am PDT

I am in the larger town of Jimma, I think the euphoria of returning to the dirt roads of Ethiopia wore off a bit. It was probably all the dust. Feeling a bit drained, but still happy to be back in Ethiopia, I reflect a bit on coffee travel. I have always had a problematic relationship with using coffee travel to sell coffee, to create marketing material. But in the end I feel coffee can be a pretty straightforward product, and that’s not bad at all. I was going to skip including this one honestly, but decided to keep it in the end.

Direct download: Ethiopia-2-Jimma-Coffee-Marketing.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 7:28pm PDT

I am in Agaro town in the Western coffee region near Jimma and Limmu. It feels like I am 70% in Ethiopia and 30% still back in Oakland. Despite jet lag, I talk about what I have learned so far about the competition for coffee cherry, and how the cooperatives are at a disadvantage when well-funded exporters open up coffee stations in the area. It’s not all bad. Coffee farmers are selling cherry at high prices, which helps offset local inflation. I also added on some thoughts about Covid in Ethiopia and some interesting comments I heard from my Ethiopian. 

This is part 1 of a series of recordings I made over morning coffee nearly every day on my December trip. They aren't perfect. They are monologues. They are a little embarrassing. But there are some good raw ideas in here, perhaps. I have 8-9 episodes if I can bear to post them all! It's a bit much.

Direct download: Ethiopia-1-Agaro-Coops-Vs-Private-Exporters.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 5:38pm PDT

Tom posted a set of photos and an article in our coffee library. This is the audio version of that article, read by Tom. It's an insight into the narrative created by coffee photography and how things are or aren't always as they seem.

www.sweetmarias.com

Direct download: Rwanda_Article_June_1_2022.m4a
Category:coffee -- posted at: 4:57pm PDT

Part 2 of 2. Dan and Tom sat down with Pedro and Leo from Medellin, Colombia. They are the folks we work with when we source our coffee from there. They tasted four Colombian coffees that are en route to Sweet Maria's.

 
Direct download: Colombia_Cupping_and_Convo2.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 5:38pm PDT

Dan and Tom sat down with Pedro and Leo from Medellin, Colombia. They are the folks we work with when we source our coffee from there. They tasted four Colombian coffees that are en route to Sweet Maria's. This is part 1. Check out part 2 for more great conversation and interesting details. 

Direct download: Colombia_Cupping_and_Convo1.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 5:33pm PDT

Dan and Tom sat down with Pedro and Leo from Medellin, Colombia. They are the folks we work with when we source our coffee from there. They tasted four Colombian coffees that are en route to Sweet Maria's. This is part 1. Check out part 2 for more great conversation and interesting details. 

Direct download: Colombia_Cupping_and_Convo1.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 5:33pm PDT

Dan and Tom sit down with Mike Strumpf from Swiss Water Decaf. Swiss Water's non-chemical process is one of the main reasons our decafs taste so great. Ever wonder how caffeine is removed? Listen in and find out.

Direct download: FINAL_conversation_with_Mike_Strumpf_Swiss_Water_Decaf.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 12:23pm PDT

 

Tom takes on a few questions submitted by Sweet Maria's customers.

 

Direct download: 5_Minute_Answers_to_Your_Coffee_Questions_Ep_2.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 10:17am PDT

Tom takes on a few questions submitted by Sweet Maria's customers.

Direct download: 5_Minute_Answers_to_Your_Coffee_Questions_-Ep1.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 3:54pm PDT

Tom, Dan and Ryan use a new exquisite corpse type format to share their opinions on the state of coffee culture and their personal coffee drinking habits.

Direct download: Brewing_Podcast_mp3.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 6:24pm PDT

This is a recording from a presentation we hosted at our warehouse in June 2019. Tom had recently returned from a trip to Africa and wanted to share his thoughts on the global coffee market and small holder farmers in Burundi.

Watch the video to see the slide presentation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWWkAVSxLvg

Direct download: BurundiDiscussionPodcast.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 12:03pm PDT

Okay, this is a "podcast" with zero edits, just a voice recording basically. It's a December early morning in the origin of coffee origins, which is Kafa, Ethiopia, near the town of Bonga. I talk slow as molasses about various experiences and thoughts from the last couple weeks in Ethiopia. Maybe this is super boring. It's not like I am really into these monologues, but when I am jetlagged and inspired (odd combination), my resistance to rambling on is particularly low.

Direct download: 20181212_064146.m4a
Category:coffee -- posted at: 4:48pm PDT

The inventor or the Bullet R1 coffee roaster, Jonas Lillie visited Sweet Maria's for our Bullet meet up event. He was also in town to show Tom and Julio some details about the internals of these awesome machines. One day, we hit the record button during a conversation/repair session in hopes of it turning into an informative podcast episode and Youtube video.

Direct download: Aillio_Bullet_Podcast.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 1:00pm PDT

Thompson and Alistair Sequeira talk about coffee and lotsa other stuff in this 2017 conversation in rural Mwakiro, Burundi.

The conversation starts off with Alistair explaining how he transitioned his career from mechanical engineering to the coffee industry.

Just so you know, there are more than a few F-bombs dropped during this conversation! 

Alistair lives with his family in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi and has helped us find good Burundi coffees for several years. He was director of a large coffee export office there before heading off to do his own thing in the coffee sector. 

 

Direct download: Burundi_Conversation_with_Alistair_Sequeira_Part_2.m4a
Category:coffee -- posted at: 11:43am PDT

Thompson and Alistair Sequeira talk about coffee and lotsa other stuff in this 2017 conversation in rural Mwakiro, Burundi. Alistair lives with his family in Bujumbura, the capital, and has helped us find good Burundi coffees for several years. He was director of a large coffee export office there before heading off to do his own thing in the coffee sector. 

The conversation starts off with Alistair talking about growing up in Kenya and the bias he found in UK boarding schools. Just so you know, there are more than a few F-bombs dropped during this conversation! 

Direct download: Burundi_Conversation_with_Alistair_Sequeira_Pt_1.m4a
Category:coffee -- posted at: 3:19pm PDT

 

Part 2 of 2

A while back we had Mary Maina Manyeki visit us in Oakland, and had a great conversation about her experiences as a Kenya coffee farmer. This transitioned into a more general conversation with Wycliffe, a trader and agronomist from Kenyacof, and Kat, a trader from Sucafina USA, about the coffee market in Kenya. I split that generally into Part 1 and Part 2 as the conversation was quite long! This is (again) just a lo-fi recording of a conversation about coffee, but there are many good details in here about how coffee is grown, traded and marketed from the tree to the retailer overseas. Please give it a listen, despite the lack of great production! -Tom

 

Direct download: 01_Kenya_Coffee_with_Wycliffe_Mary_and_Kat2.m4a
Category:coffee -- posted at: 11:00am PDT

Part 1 of 2

A while back we had Mary Maina Manyeki visit us in Oakland, and had a great conversation about her experiences as a Kenya coffee farmer. This transitioned into a more general conversation with Wycliffe, a trader and agronomist from Kenyacof, and Kat, a trader from Sucafina USA, about the coffee market in Kenya. I split that generally into Part 1 and Part 2 as the conversation was quite long! This is (again) just a lo-fi recording of a conversation about coffee, but there are many good details in here about how coffee is grown, traded and marketed from the tree to the retailer overseas. Please give it a listen, despite the lack of great production! -Tom

Direct download: 01_Kenya_Coffee_with_Mary_Manyeki_Wycliffe_and_Kat1.m4a
Category:coffee -- posted at: 11:00am PDT

This starts with music buy the Indo pop group The Steps, and ends with a long informative conversation with Daniel Shewmaker of MTC coffee traders, who sources coffee in Indonesia. He also grew up in Sulawesi and speaks Bahasa! While in Timor and Flores we were having good conversations about Indonesia coffee processing and quality, and the way it relates (or doesn't) to current coffee trade trends. So I wanted to capture some of that in a recording. Sadly, its probably the worst recording I have made, with wind noise, vehicles, dogs, pigs and airplane noise. But still I wanted to share it, because I feel there's some good information here. Plus, everyone keeps telling me to post more recordings. So here it is, for better or worse.  -Tom

Direct download: Indonesia_Coffee_with_Daniel_Shewmaker.m4a
Category:coffee -- posted at: 2:09pm PDT

A conversation  with John Karuru - Kenyan Agronomist

John Karuru is a Kenyan agronomist who works in Rwanda, and a person of wide-ranging knowledge. If you want to know how to escape a charging hippo, John's your man. In fact our conversation veers away from coffee quickly, but John's stories about growing up in East Africa are so entertaining. Where do they smoke coffee leaves? John knows. Hope you enjoy this one ... -Thompson

Direct download: John_Karuru_-_Agronomist.m4a
Category:coffee -- posted at: 3:25pm PDT

Thompson talks with Leonardo Henao about breaking the rules on coffee fermentation, and how a focus on microorganisms might alter the conceptual framework of what processing and fermentation are to coffee flavors.

Direct download: Ferment_in_Colombia_with_Leo.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 10:05am PDT

Tom describes the subjects of this podcast as "obscure details" but it's actually pretty interesting. We hope you enjoy his reflections on Burundi's coffee industry, production systems, colonial history, co-ops and other organizations.

Direct download: The_Burundi_Coffee_System.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 3:55pm PDT

During a trip to Rwanda, Tom documented his visit to the Gitesi processing station. This is where we get a lot of our Rwandan coffee from. The son of the mill's owner answers a lot of questions about the drying and processing of the coffee that is produced there.  He also talks a bit about their future plans to expand and produce a greater quantity of coffee.

Direct download: Processing_Coffee_at_Gitesi_Rwanda.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 1:57pm PDT

Tom and Chris Schooley cup coffee in Chris's kitchen and talk about the information that Tom brought back from his trip to Kansas State University where he met with a group of sensory analysis professionals. Please excuse the slurping/spitting noises that all coffee cuppers make.. The kids playing in the next room got a little loud at times too.

Direct download: schooley_lexicon.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 2:19pm PDT

We describe coffee as tasting like so many other things, fruits, sugars, caramels, candies, spices ... but the core coffee flavors are much more challenging to elucidate. I have come up with a term "coffee identity" akin to the basic taste identifying markers from other food and beverage flavor lexicons, and this podcast touches on the way we seek to focus and describe base coffee notes. There are so many tangets I could go off on here, and doubtless future podcasts on specific aspects of this material. -Tom

Direct download: Tasting_and_Coffee_Lexicons.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 3:44pm PDT

  I made this recording in January this year, and thought I would share it as a new podcast because it addresses the effect of Roya (Coffee Leaf Rust) and the current crop. It's not a new problem, but is proportionally more important because it is so widespread now in Central America. It affects the smaller farmer more, as they have less resources to fight it, and less agronomical knowledge. And it has a huge affect on organic coffee techniques, since they don't allow the use of the fungicides needed to reduce the presence of the fungal spores. I realized after editing this that I left some parts in Spanish, and largely my rather iffy Spanish to boot. But I think many will understand those parts of the conversation anyway. Thanks for listening! 

-Tom
Direct download: Coffee_Rust_Fungus_and_Organic_Production_in_Honduras_MP3.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 3:48pm PDT

Hot Air Popcorn Popper Roasting

On New Year's Day 2014, Tom was out of roasted coffee and decided to solve the problem with his hot air popcorn popper.

Direct download: popper_podcast_from_gb.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 4:56pm PDT

When in Kenya, and while getting used to the idea of podcasting, Tom recorded some fun conversations.

Direct download: Pity_Needs_a_New_Pair_of_Shoes.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 6:15pm PDT

The Amharic language in Ethiopia is difficult for any Westerner to grasp. In this podcast, Tom gets some informal lessons from some folks during one of his trips.

Direct download: Ethiopian_Amharic_Pronunciation_NEW.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 6:03pm PDT

Our first podcast takes place as Tom grinds and brews a cup of coffee in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He clears up a few misconceptions that people have about what happens after he steps off airplanes in origin countries. Learn about what goes into purchasing the coffee that ends up in your home roaster.

-recorded on Jan. 28th 2014

Direct download: Coffee_Traveling_and_Buying.mp3
Category:coffee -- posted at: 2:16pm PDT

1