$100 … black matte, 360 degree MultiCut, red crystal affixed, released late Feb. 2025
Zippo Armor Skull Collage Design, No. 46751
$100 … high polish black, 360 degree MultiCut with photo image … released late February 2025
Brewing a Cup of Sítio Santa Luzia CoE #3 from Bean & Bean Coffee
This week’s coffee is a naturally processed Catucaí 2SL from the Sítio Santa Luzia farm in Brazil. Like Proud Mary, Bean & Bean also buys a lot of Cup of Excellence winners. I was thrilled to discover Bean & Bean since they are providing exactly what I’m looking for: the best of the best. I am going to become their top customer. Thank you, Jiyoon!
I paid $51 for 4 ounces, which works out to only $12.75 a cup (beans only).
I forgot to get a picture of the roast date… I think it was February 3, which means that the beans have been resting for several weeks, which is perfect.
The Catucaí 2SL beans are light colored and tiny! I’ve never seen coffee beans like this. No chaff and easy to grind. [Update: aroma of ground beans is like chocolate cake.]
Do you even sift, bro? It’s extremely important that you sift out your fines when making pour over. The fines will muddy everything up and ruin your beautiful cup of coffee. Set them aside!
20 grams of perfectly consistent grind after sifting. The usual recipe, 15:1 … 200-degree Fahrenheit water, 50 ml and 30 seconds to bloom, second pour of 150 ml, final pour to 300 ml total. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”
First pour following the bloom pour. 150 ml.
Two and half minutes to drain completely. Lovely color.
Never had Catucaí 2SL before … it’s not like Gesha and not like Pacamara … the acidity is full mouth at first but rapidly diminishes. It’s interesting, it’s different. Don’t know how to describe it. I need to start drinking these wonderful coffees side by side. Maybe then I can find some descriptive words, but probably not. Ah, dark chocolate in there for sure. [Update: this is not “full mouth acidity,” more like full tongue acidity. It lingers quite a while, with full coffee flavor. It lingers longer than I like.]
I’ll have another cup tomorrow and then give away the rest of the bag since I’m not really into coffee.
There’s some more coffee on the way, so I’ll have a different cup next week to write about. But I’m not really looking forward to it since I don’t enjoy the taste of coffee. :-)
Earlier:
Brewing a Cup of Ponderosa CoE #4 from Proud Mary Coffee
Brewing a Cup of El Injerto La Calaca from George Howell Coffee
Brewing a Cup of Finca La Mula from Blendin Coffee Club
Brewing a Cup of Ponderosa CoE #4 from Proud Mary Coffee
This week’s coffee is a naturally processed Pacamara from the Ponderosa farm in Guatemala. I asked Sagebrush Coffee’s Matt Kellso, who is extremely knowledgeable and a very nice guy, how I can buy only the best of the best coffees, and he suggested I look for roasters who buy Cup of Excellence lots at auction. This is how I found Proud Mary.
They package the coffee in a 100 gram tin instead of the usual nipple bags. I paid $33 for 100 grams, which is less than what I’d like to pay, but I should be able to get four cups out of it, and I do like to slum it from time to time.
It looks like it was roasted on January 31st and packaged on February 12th, so the beans have been resting for about three weeks, which is perfect.
The beans are very easy to grind unlike Gesha, and there’s next to no “chaff,” which I always think is a good sign. 28 grams of beans yields…
(Do you even sift, bro?)
20 grams of perfectly consistent grind after sifting. The usual recipe, 15:1 … 50 ml and 30 seconds to bloom, second pour of 150 ml, final pour to 300 ml total. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”
Two and half to three minutes to drain completely.
A deeper color than the Geshas…
Unlike the Geshas, which taste like tea, this tastes like coffee on the tongue. It is good! Balanced, rounded, clean … yes, sour, but a good sour, a complex sour … a delicate amount of acidity, not overwhelming, which quickly vanishes. This is a very good cup of coffee and a steal at around $9.25 a cup (beans only).
They say I’ll taste notes of peach, caramel, cinnamon and grapefruit. Nope, nope, nope, and nope. It tastes like coffee, but a very good coffee. A complex sour for sure.
I’ll have another cup tomorrow and then give away the rest of the tin since I’m not really into coffee.
There’s some more coffee on the way, so I’ll have a different cup next week to write about. But I’m not really looking forward to it since I don’t enjoy the taste of coffee. :-)
Earlier:
Brewing a Cup of El Injerto La Calaca from George Howell Coffee
Brewing a Cup of Finca La Mula from Blendin Coffee Club
Selected Losses from Short Sellers of MLGO Stock on February 21, 2025
I exclude all listed stocks that are China-based from my short selling universe for a reason. Why people continue to sell China-based stocks short, especially after the PGHL halt scam late last year, is beyond me. Stock manipulation is rampant now and happening with impunity since the regulatory agencies have been gutted and the Nasdaq stock exchange is a for-profit entity.
America has truly become a Banana Republic.
A Closer Look at the Spotify Top 100
I made a list of the Top 100 “artists” on Spotify as of February 15, 2025. The list changes day to day so the following is just a snapshot from that day.
A quick look through this list makes it obvious that success in the music business is almost entirely about promotion and has little or nothing to do with musical talent and ability.
The oldest living members on the list are Elton John (born 1947) and Madonna (born 1958); the youngest members were all born in 2003 (Olivia Rodrigo, Tate McRae, The Kid LAROI).
Bruno Mars, born 1985, “Peter Gene Hernandez”
The Weeknd, born 1990, “Abel Makkonen Tesfaye”
Lady Gaga, born 1986, “Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta”
Billie Eilish, born 2001, “Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell”
Kendrick Lamar, born 1987, “Kendrick Lamar Duckworth”
Bad Bunny, born 1994, “Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio”
Coldplay, group led by “Christopher Anthony John Martin,” born 1977
SZA, born 1989, “Solána Imani Rowe”
Rihanna, born 1988, “Robyn Rihanna Fenty”
Taylor Swift, born 1989, “Taylor Alison Swift”
Ariana Grande, born 1993, “Ariana Grande-Butera”
Justin Bieber, born 1994, “Justin Drew Bieber”
Drake, born 1986, “Aubrey Drake Graham”
Travis Scott, born 1991, “Jacques Bermon Webster II”
Eminem, born 1972, “Marshall Bruce Mathers III”
David Guetta, born 1967, “Pierre David Guetta”
Ed Sheeran, born 1991, “Edward Christopher Sheeran”
Sabrina Carpenter, born 1999, “Sabrina Annlynn Carpenter”
Post Malone, born 1995, “Austin Richard Post”
Kanye West, born 1977, “Kanye Omari West”
Rosé, born 1997, “Roseanne Park”
Maroon 5, group led by “Adam Noah Levine,” born 1979
J Balvin, born 1985, “José Álvaro Osorio Balvín”
Dua Lipa, born 1995, “Dua Lipa”
Calvin Harris, born 1984, “Adam Richard Wiles”
Lana Del Rey, born 1985, “Elizabeth Woolridge Grant”
Shakira, born 1977, “Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll”
Katy Perry, born 1984, “Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson”
Adele, born 1988, “Adele Laurie Blue Adkins”
Beyoncé, born 1981, “Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter”
Imagine Dragons, group led by “Daniel Coulter Reynolds,” born 1987
Future, born 1983, “Nayvadius DeMun Cash”
Sam Smith, born 1992, “Samuel Frederick Smith”
Sia, born 1975, “Sia Kate Isobelle Furler”
Pitbull, born 1981, “Armando Christian Pérez”
Miley Cyrus, born 1992, “Destiny Hope Cyrus”
KAROL G, born 1991, “Carolina Giraldo Navarro”
Rauw Alejandro, born 1993, “Raúl Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz”
Arctic Monkeys, group led by “Alexander David Turner,” born 1986
Doja Cat, born 1995, “Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini”
Playboi Carti, born 1995, “Jordan Terrell Carter”
Marshmello, born 1992, “Christopher Comstock”
OneRepublic, group led by “Ryan Benjamin Tedder,” born 1979
Daddy Yankee, born 1976, “Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez”
Chris Brown, born 1989, “Christopher Maurice Brown”
Lil Wayne, born 1982, “Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.”
Teddy Swims, born 1992, “Jaten Collin Dimsdale”
21 Savage, born 1992, “Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph”
Tyler, The Creator, born 1991, “Tyler Gregory Okonma”
Khalid, born 1998, “Khalid Donnel Robinson”
Gracie Abrams, born 1999, “Gracie Madigan Abrams”
Hozier, born 1990, “Andrew John Hozier-Byrne”
Metro Boomin, born 1993, “Leland Tyler Wayne”
Elton John, born 1947, “Reginald Kenneth Dwight”
Queen, group led by “Farrokh Bulsara,” born 1946 (died 1991, AIDS)
The Chainsmokers, duo
Halsey, born 1994, “Ashley Nicolette Frangipane”
Olivia Rodrigo, born 2003, “Olivia Isabel Rodrigo”
Linkin Park, group led by “Michael Kenji Shinoda,” born 1977
Nicki Minaj, born 1982, “Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty”
Michael Jackson, born 1958 (died 2009, propofol), “Michael Joseph Jackson”
Shawn Mendes, born 1998, “Shawn Peter Raul Mendes”
Maluma, born 1994, “Juan Luis Londoño Arias”
Benson Boone, born 2002, “Benson James Boone”
Lola Young, born 2001, “Lola Emily Mary Young”
Peso Pluma, born 1999, “Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija”
Camila Cabello, born 1997, “Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao”
Chappell Roan, born 1998, “Kayleigh Rose Amstutz”
Harry Styles, born 1994, “Harry Edward Styles”
Arijit Singh, born 1987, “Arijit Singh”
One Direction, group led by “Niall James Horan,” born 1993
Anitta, born 1993, “Larissa de Macedo Machado”
Myke Towers, born 1994, “Michael Anthony Torres Monge”
Black Eyed Peas, group led by “William Adams,” born 1975
Tate McRae, born 2003, “Tate Rosner McRae”
The Neighbourhood, group led by “Jesse James Rutherford,” born 1991
Shreya Ghoshal, born 1984, “Shreya Ghoshal”
Feid, born 1992, “Salomón Villada Hoyos”
Pritam, born 1971, “Pritam Chakraborty”
Selena Gomez, born 1992, “Selena Marie Gomez”
Ellie Goulding, born 1986, “Elena Jane Goulding”
Avicii, born 1989 (died 2018, suicide), “Tim Bergling”
JENNIE, born 1996, “Jennie Kim”
Usher, born 1978, “Usher Raymond IV”
Ozuna, born 1992, “Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado”
The Kid LAROI, born 2003, “Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard”
Justin Timberlake, born 1981, “Justin Randall Timberlake”
Charlie Puth, born 1991, “Charles Otto Puth Jr.”
Tiësto, born 1969, “Tijs Michiel Verwest”
A.R. Rahman, born 1967, “Allah Rakha Rahman”
Britney Spears, born 1981, “Britney Jean Spears”
50 Cent, born 1975, “Curtis James Jackson III”
Don Omar, born 1978, “William Omar Landrón Rivera”
Don Toliver, born 1994, “Caleb Zackery ‘Don’ Toliver”
XXXTENTACION, born 1998 (died 2018, homicide), “Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy”
J. Cole, born 1985, “Jermaine Lamarr Cole”
DJ Snake, born 1986, “William Sami Étienne Grigahcine”
Romeo Santos, born 1981, “Anthony ‘Romeo’ Santos”
Frank Ocean, born 1987, “Christopher Edwin Breaux”
Madonna, born 1958, “Madonna Louise Ciccone”
Brewing a Cup of El Injerto La Calaca from George Howell Coffee
This week’s coffee comes from George Howell Coffee. Like many others who studied art history and modern European literature at Yale, George Howell became a barista. He also built a chain of coffee shops in the Boston area that he eventually sold to Starbucks in 1994.
El Injerto La Calaca is a Gesha Green Tip from Guatemala. A four ounce bag costs $74 so the beans for each 10 ounce cup of coffee I make cost $18.50. I only drink coffee that costs at least $10 an ounce, so this is nearly twice as qualified (a Tony Guoga joke).
El Injerto La Calaca bag, front
El Injerto La Calaca bag, back
The beans were roasted on February 3, which means they’ve been “resting” for a little less than two weeks — this is perfect. You can expand the photos to read the blurbs on the bags if you wish.
One ounce of El Injerto La Calaca whole beans
The whole beans are interesting because I see no “chaff” … I don’t know the term for that flimsy layer you often find in the center of coffee beans. Could these beans have been handled one by one? Makes sense at $18.50 an ounce.
The beans are not difficult to grind unlike the Panamian Geshas I’ve had, which makes me wonder. The aroma is much more coffee-like too, not fruity bombs like the Panamanians. There is fruit on the nose, but this is “earthier.”
Into the sifter
I grind 28 grams of beans and sift out around eight grams of fines so that I have 20 grams of perfectly consistent grind in the end. I don’t throw out the fines of course, I just set them aside.
Zero chaff!
I’m using my standard 15:1 water to coffee recipe with 200-degree Fahrenheit water and an initial “bloom” pour of 50 ml to 30 seconds. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”
Bloom pour
Second pour to 150 ml which drains to around the 1:30 mark
It’s a darker color… of course it all depends on my camera settings.
Final pour to 300 ml which drains between 2:30 and 3:00. This one finished right at the three minute mark. The beauty of having perfectly consistent grind is that your brew times are also perfectly consistent. You will never achieve this level of accuracy without sifting: Do you even sift, bro?
Here’s the final 10 ounce cup. The best word I’ve found to describe the Geshas I’ve had is "delicate,” like green tea, not coffee, but this cup is much more coffee-like on the tongue. It’s good, the “acidity” is very present, a little less complex than the Panamians for sure, but still complex.
“Notes of rose, jasmine and cherry.” Nope, nope and nope. But it is a complex sour. (This joke will never grow old.) I definitely prefer the Finca Nuguo and Finca La Mula to this, not that this is bad by any means, it’s just a personal preference.
I’ll have another cup tomorrow and then give away the rest of the bag since I’m not really into coffee.
There’s some more coffee on the way, so I’ll have a different cup next week to write about. But I’m not really looking forward to it since I don’t enjoy the taste of coffee. :-)
Earlier:
Brewing a Cup of Finca La Mula from Blendin Coffee Club
ThinkOrSwim No Longer Works on Windows 7
I have a Windows 7 machine which has been running continuously since February 2017 without a single crash. I discovered this morning that my ThinkOrSwim charting platform no longer works after its latest update, which is too bad. Let the record note that ThinkOrSwim was sunset for Windows 7 on February 10, 2025.
No way to log in anymore
Brewing a Cup of Finca La Mula from Blendin Coffee Club
This week’s coffee comes from Blendin Coffee Club in Texas. Weihong Zhang, who started the Blendin Coffee Club, has a Ph.D. in biochemistry. He is the kind of hard-working, smart, ambitious young man who makes America great, not again, but right now.
Finca La Mula was a coffee in his Premium Series that has sold out and the product page has unfortunately disappeared. I paid $46 for a 100 gram bag, which is enough for four cups of coffee, so the beans alone cost $11.50 per cup. Finca La Moola, indeed!
Finca La Mula artfully boxed
This is a Geisha coffee from Panama. The Geisha variety is all the rage because it’s very special stuff, and in my opinion it definitely deserves the hype. Of course there are so-so Geishas, but this ain’t one of them. The best Geisha I’ve had to date came from Finca Nuguo, but this Finca La Moola, er, Mula, was as good if not better.
Hard to read, I know, sorry…
Geisha is special because it is very “light” and clean … it tastes more like tea than coffee on the tongue, but the aftertaste is a strong, rich coffee flavor. It’s a neat thing to experience even though I don’t particularly like the taste of coffee.
January 22, 2025 roast date
These beans were roasted on January 22 so they have been “resting” around two weeks, which is perfect.
One ounce of Finca La Mula
The whole beans are dark and dense and have a lovely fruity smell on the nose. I don’t know what fruit … Mr. Zhang says the final flavor notes for the brewed cup are: “Orange Blossom, White Peach, Lemon Curd,” but I don’t have that fine a nose. The beans themselves smell good though.
They are very hard to grind which is a very good sign because I remember with Finca Nuguo I had a hard time even grinding them.
Into the sifter
Wow, the smell of the freshly ground coffee is super fruity, just a lovely aroma. I grind 28 grams of beans and sift out around eight grams of fines so that I have 20 grams of perfectly consistent grind in the end. I don’t throw out the fines of course, I just set them aside to give to the less fortunate.
Since the product page was deleted, I didn’t have Mr. Zhang’s recommended brewing recipe, so I just stuck with my tried and true: 200-degree Fahrenheit water, initial “bloom” pour of 50 ml to 30 seconds. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”
Bloom pour
Second pour to 150 ml which drains to around the 1:30 mark.
Second pour
Final pour to 300 ml which drains between 2:30 and 3:00.
Final pour
Look at that incredible color! Fruity, fruity on the nose, I know this is going to be good. But I’m not going to be pretentious and tell you I can taste “Orange Blossom, White Peach, Lemon Curd.”
Final 10 ounce cup
Here’s the final 10 ounce cup. Fruity nose, super clean and light on the tongue, I instantly know it’s not only a Geisha, but a high-end Geisha, just spectacular. There is a hint of sourness, yeah yeah, “acidity,” but it’s so subtle, so faint, that it’s pleasant. And it’s a complex sour, not a bad sour (this is a running, inside joke). It’s a special coffee and a steal at $11.50 a cup (beans only), too bad it’s gone now.
I’ll have another cup tomorrow and then give away the rest of the bag since I’m not really into coffee.
There’s some more coffee on the way, so I’ll have a different cup next week to write about. But I’m not really looking forward to it since I don’t enjoy the taste of coffee. :-)
Brewing a Cup of Counter Culture Coffee's Field Trip
I never drank coffee in the past, but I recently did a six-month experiment of drinking coffee every day, and when I quit at the beginning of this year I went into caffeine addiction withdrawal for about a two weeks (headache, full body aches, flu-like symptoms, heart palpitations, etc.), so I decided it was best to end the experiment and quit coffee forever.
After a month without any coffee, I’ve decided that it’s OK to have a 10 ounce cup of coffee every Saturday and Sunday. I can enjoy the ritual of making it without suffering the negative consequences of developing a caffeine addiction. I don’t especially like the taste of coffee, so that helps to keep me safe from it.
I bought a bag of Counter Culture Coffee’s Field Trip for $14 at Wegmans, which seems like a steal (it’s listed at $24 on the website, which is odd?). I don’t like to buy coffee in 12 ounce bags since I only have coffee on the weekends. I prefer to buy 50 or 100 milligram (2 oz or 4 oz) bags at a time, but you can’t find those in the grocery store.
Let me walk you through my coffee routine:
Open the box.
Roast Date: 1/15/2025 … you don’t want to buy coffee beans that don’t have a roast date on the box. 70% Borderlands (Colombia), 30% Idido (Ethiopia) blend. You don’t want coffee beans that are too freshly roasted — I think they need to “rest” for a week or two after roasting — so these are perfect.
I measure out 28 grams of coffee beans (one ounce).
Then I use a hand grinder to grind them and put the ground coffee in my sifter.
Then I sift the grinds and set aside all the “fines” (anything smaller than 800 microns). This leaves me with exactly 20 grams of perfectly consistently ground coffee.
Then I use a three-cup Chemex (they call it a three cup, but it’s actually only good for making one 12 ounce cup of coffee and I make a 10 ounce cup). I use a hand-blown Chemex since it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. I use a 15:1 water to coffee ratio and use 200 degree fahrenheit water. The first pour (the bloom) is around 40 milligrams of water and drains for 30 seconds.
The next pour is to 150 mg of water and drains to around the one minute 30 second mark. Then the final pour is to 300 milligrams total (15:1 ratio, remember), and it drains to a drip in two and a half to three minutes.
Here’s the final 10 ounce (280 mg) cup:
Field Trip is very fruity on the nose. It tastes “sour” on the tongue, but a complex sour, not a bad sour. I learned how to tell the difference between good “sour” coffee and bad “sour” coffee during my six month experiment, and Field Trip is the good sour. They say “expect sweet notes of blackberry and clementine,” but I don’t taste any of that, it’s just what I’d call “complex sour.”
(It was another Counter Culture coffee, “Equilibrium,” which finally opened my eyes to good sour, which is “complex sour.”)
I’ll have another cup tomorrow and then give away the rest of the bag since I’m not really into coffee.
There’s some more coffee on the way, so I’ll have a different cup next week to write about. But I’m not really looking forward to it since I don’t enjoy the taste of coffee. :-)