mad congrats to aaron and liz

murky coffee head trainer aaron ultimo happily wed his long-time love elizabeth this past saturday. it was a lovely celebration and we wish them years of fruitfulness and happiness.

Ryan recommends a show

This coming Monday, May 15, come check out a special offering at murky coffee arlington: from Missoula, MT, David Boone. David is my friend from college and it is always a pleasure to hear his voice. Starting the evening will be local songstress, Molly Decker, followed by a couple of songs from yours truly. Festivities begin at 7 pm, with David taking the stage around 8 pm. It'll be upstairs with a $3 climbing the stairs fee.

Check out www.davidboone.net for samples, etc. I'll leave you with a fine quote:


As one of Missoula's most prolific and talented musicians, it's David's honesty, his transparency, that makes his work shine. In his latest, Hard Enough to Bend, it is more and more present in his voice as he sings about poverty, love, war and loss. He blends styles in Hard Enough to Bend showcasing his progression while maintaining his acoustic roots. Reminiscent of Ryan Adams on this album, he uses his signature lyrical prowess and adaptability to take a traditional folk-like feel and turn it into something modern and vibrant -- distancing himself from the run-of-the-mill coffee shop singer-songwriter.
David continues to amaze with his ability to stay open and raw while simultaneously challenging new sounds and styles -- song after song, album after album.
- (Courtney Lowery - New West Missoula)

Yuuuhhh!

The infamous Kopi Luwak coffee.

Thanks to Donny Van Zandt (any relation to Silvio Dante?) for the link.

So in a nutshell, Kopi Luwak is coffee ('rare' and expensive) that has passed through a civet, an feline animal indigenous to Indonesia, where this sh*t comes from. That's right, if you didn't know, 'Kopi Luwak' is recovered from the civet's poo.

"Normal" coffee does go through a fermentation process, which lasts a period of hours. What this civet's digestive tract adds is a unique sort of fermentation.

Now as strangely glamorous or intriguing as this all sounds, the fact is that without knowing how this all started, Kopi Luwak 'farms' have popped up in Indonesia, with caged animals (in horrible conditions) being force-fed coffee beans all day. Those opportunists are looking at feeding coffee cherries to other animals as well. Yuh.

So the moral of the story is, "Friends don't let friends drink poop."

*note: got an email from the animalcoffee.com folks, saying that they don't, nor would ever engage in animal 'farm' techniques. They get their luwak coffee the old fashioned way: they pick it up off the ground. Hoping for a sample to taste and report back with soon!

So I think my car is going to die...

because it's a 17 year old car with 220,000 miles. It's a Lexus LS400 that my dad bought back when Lexus first hit the market. The other thing is, it's a freakin' Lexus. My blingy-days are long behind me, and the personalized license plate that reads, "BARISTA" looks really silly on such a hoompty-mobile.

So I'm thinking a small, four-door econobox. Here are the choices (pictures are clickable):



Capitol Hill barista Mandy says, "You can't get the xB; you can't spend 15 thousand dollars on irony."

Your thoughts?

myspace

Don't forget about our myspace page.

Keep in mind, if you chat with one of us, and then come to our house thinking that you're gonna 'get some,' it might just be Dateline NBC.