Thursday, February 2, 2012

50 beans | because flowers are overrated


Right around this time of the year is when my inbox gets innundated with dozens of ad emails, predictably all with the same sort of subject: Make her Valentine's day! or Lots to Love! or even Inspire your Valentine! Needless to say, they're all touting the same kind of product, all gussied up in pink or red, with labels packed with little hearts and arrows. I'm not sure what you're planning on getting your valentine. It could be flowers. It could be jewelry. It could be a box of chocolates. Heck, it could be all three!



Meh. Overrated.


Might I suggest something different? Blue Bottle Coffee in the East Bay is currently offering its Yirgacheffe Peaberry single origin coffee, grown in the mountains of Ethiopia by the Yirgacheffe Coffee Union, a cooperative featured in the documentary Black Gold. The coffee itself is a rarity: a roast that features beans subject to a natural mutation of roughly 4-6% of all coffee berries. The peaberry bean is process and sorted out from the rest of the crop, and sent to Blue Bottle where it is roasted to golden perfection.


Although this isn't some bean that is pooped out by a mountain cat somewhere in Indonesia, it is still special, and a rare treat to have. Get a 12oz. bag of this stuff, tie a red balloon to it, and watch his/her/it's eyes well up with emotions over this caffeinated valentine. (cue sappy violin music here...)

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