Wiggle room.

MUG: Uncle Wiggily cup made by the Sebring Pottery Co. Small-sized (six ounces). I'm told that's the size that's in high demand today. This one was made for a child in the 1920s.

COFFEE: Guatemalan Antigua from Central Market. Roasted (city) by Frank.

NOTES: While I noticed several roasts that were dark and shiny, my mainstays (Colombian and Guatemalan) remain roasted short of the burned stage so popular among the passing. There really isn't much wiggle room in coffee roasts destined for drip/pour-over brewing, but a rather narrow sweet spot.

This cup was produced for the Wander Co. in Chicago, an early maker of the Swiss Ovaltine breakfast drink. Uncle Wiggily was an early 20th century cartoon book series, created by Howard R. Garis.

Raven-black coffee

MUG: Texas Sesquicentennial coffee mug (from China), featuring a panel from the Texas History Movies graphic history book series.

COFFEE: Colombian Santa Minas.

NOTES: April 21, 1836: the Anglo-Celtic forging of what became known as 'America'.

"Can you drink from my cup?"

MUG: Waechtersbach Totenkopf mug.

COFFEE: Black.

NOTES: Darkness at noon.

Purchasey's Song

Bad news, bad news, comes to me where I shop.
Burn, burn, burn again.
Saying one of my finds is in dark trouble deep.
Burn, burn to the roast and the bean.

...with apologies to Robert Zimmerman.

Yesterday, I went by Central Market at West Gate to pick up some fresh coffee beans. While bagging my coffee, I overheard two of the roasting team members discuss plans to start roasting the coffees darker because of customer requests. The Austin coffee customer equates 'burned' with 'good' when it comes to coffee (just as they equate burned brisket crust combined with bloody meat as the sign of good barbecue). Coffee, beer, bbq, just about anything; overdone means superior in their minds.

Poseurs all.

These folks below were not poseurs by any means, even though they were trying a bit hard to be American-style folk-rockers. Turn, turn, turn again.



P.S. The tune is based on the old English folk song, The Wind And The Rain.