[Mule]

Stuart, NO has great coffee. It is not an expresso town, but the coffee is great. Having spent several years working for a top notch coffe company I will say this about expresso. The alkaloids that cause coffee to be bitter tend to be relased in high volumes when the brewing temperature exceeds 180 degrees. This is why Bunn (the standard) and all other quality brewers operate at slightly less than 180 degrees. The brewing temberature of expresso (steam) is 212 dergees. This and the extra fine grind of the beans makes expresso significantly more bitter than coffee. If the little old man (or anybody else) makes un-bitter expresso he is indeed a wizard.

As to the "gourmet" beans, the coffee business works like this. The buyer goes down to Columbia (where most top quality coffee is grown) & negtiates with the farmer for certain fields or maybe his entire crop. The next time the buyer sees the coffee it is at his dock. He goes throughout the ship getting samples. He roasts, & tastes all the samples. He then decides wether to accept the coffee & release payment or not. Next year he goes back to the same farmers he delt with this hear. Now what all these "gourmet" brands want us to believe is this: the farmer who has fed his family dealing with a particular guy for years is selling him the bunk. We go down there & buy 20 sacks of "the good stuff" that he only sells to us. BOOWLSHEEET