Coffee: I am not incapable of change. This week's bean is a Guatemala Antigua coffee. It's a nice change from the Colombian Supremo I usually drink. It has a slightly "spicier" flavor to it, and it has long been among my favorites.
Grown in the Antigua district at high altitudes in rich volcanic soil, this coffee is distinguishable by its heavy body, and a lively cup with subtle smoky spicy overtones. According to Sweet Maria's website, "Guatemalan coffee is revered as one of the most flavorful and nuanced cups in the world. Due to our proximity to Guatemala, some of the finest coffees from this origin come to the United States. Guatemalan growing regions vary in their potential cup quality: many have sufficient altitude, soil and climate conditions. Antiguas are well-known and highly rated."
Mug: This is a gift from my daughter Anna. It's one of the Starbucks "City Series" mugs. It's a latte/bistro sized mug with a pleasant, if oddly conservative, drawing of downtown Austin on the banks of Lake Lady Bird Johnson (renamed just this week... it has been known as Town Lake for the last eighty years or so).
Note: I also have the San Antonio mug, which features the Alamo (a stroll through the Mug Shots March 2007 archives will reveal it). The Big D mug has a similar drawing of downtown Dallas, looming above the banks of the Trinity River. Seems as though I recall the Fort Worth is similar, showing downtown atop the bluffs of the West Fork of the Trinity. Houston's mug, perhaps, shows downtown H-Town sinking into the Buffalo Bayou.
