I feel like I don't have many moments to breathe at times.

Here's what I did, coffee related and "life" related, just since the last rant:

• Finished writing the detailed review for the Mazzer Mini (link here)
  
• Did all the associated photography for the Mazzer Mini
  
• Did photography for three products for upcoming First Looks and Detailed Reviews (Euro 2000 Junior, Cafe Rosto roaster, Gaggia Carezza)
  
• Tested the following machines (I do it in sessions): Carezza, Euro 2000, Expobar Office Pulser, CoffeeTEC, Cafe Rosto
  
• Wrote up the First Looks for all the above (in various stages of completion)
  
• Researched and wrote two articles for CoffeeGeek
  
• Researched and wrote four articles for other publications and websites
  
• Researched and wrote two articles for commercial websites
  
• Completed the launch of www.espressopeople.com (company)
  
• Negotiated two minor contracts for new work
  
• Working on several new aspects of functionality for EP website
  
• Shot about four hours of video of several products, for a future project
  
• Arranged and shot about 2 hours of interviews for another future project
  
  

And of course, answered a myriad of emails, had dozens of hours of phone conversations (most business, some pleasure), and managed to squeeze in maybe 3 hours of TV watching a week.

Not that I'm complaining :)

Actually I still enjoy immensely working on evaluating machines. It's a fun part of my day, and still is sort of an escape from things - weird huh? I like escaping from my computer, I guess. Funny thing is, the computer brings in almost 100% of my income either directly or indirectly.

Coffees in the House

More coffee rolled in recently from the likes of Supreme Bean (www.joetogo.com) and from Barry at Riley's Coffee (www.rileys-coffee.com). Barry, as long time readers of this site know, is one of my coffee and espresso sensei.

Supreme Bean sent me four lbs of espresso blends, including their signature Espresso Abruzzi blend. To be honest, I wasn't keen on two of them - the Espresso Norte and Organic Espresso were far too bright and acidy for my liking. The Abruzzi is nice and a middle of the road blend that cuts through milk nicely but is also good straight up. My fave was an experimental blend, White Tiger. It's similar to the very excellent Black Cat from Intelligentsia out of Chicago, but still unique. If they start selling White Tiger, definitely try some!

Barry sent me the blend from his recent forray to the Roasters' Guild annual meeting. They had a roasting competition with teams, and Barry sent me his team's final blend, the Jeno Blend.

It was amazing. Full, deep body, lots of chocolate (both Barry and I value chocolate in our espresso blends), and what seemed like a perfect balance for straight up shots. I don't know if Barry is selling Jeno's Blend, but you owe it to yourself to try this!