Sweet Maria's Coffee

Thompson Owen / Sweet Maria's Coffee•library.sweetmarias.com

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Our audio recordings about coffee from West Oakland, CA and beyond, mostly from Thompson Owen.

Last refreshed: August 25th, 2025 at 4:58 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

The Burundi Coffee System

Tom describes the subjects of this podcast as "obscure details" but it's actually pretty interesting. We hope you enjoy his reflections on Burundi's coffee industry, production systems, colonial history, co-ops and other organizations.

Jul 16, 2014•31 min•Season 1Ep. 10

Processing Coffee at Gitesi Rwanda

During a trip to Rwanda, Tom documented his visit to the Gitesi processing station. This is where we get a lot of our Rwandan coffee from. The son of the mill's owner answers a lot of questions about the drying and processing of the coffee that is produced there. He also talks a bit about their future plans to expand and produce a greater quantity of coffee.

Jul 03, 2014•28 min•Season 1Ep. 9

Cupping and Talking About The Taste Lexicon of Coffee

Tom and Chris Schooley cup coffee in Chris's kitchen and talk about the information that Tom brought back from his trip to Kansas State University where he met with a group of sensory analysis professionals. Please excuse the slurping/spitting noises that all coffee cuppers make.. The kids playing in the next room got a little loud at times too.

May 16, 2014•45 min•Season 1Ep. 8

Tasting and Coffee Lexicons

We describe coffee as tasting like so many other things, fruits, sugars, caramels, candies, spices ... but the core coffee flavors are much more challenging to elucidate. I have come up with a term "coffee identity" akin to the basic taste identifying markers from other food and beverage flavor lexicons, and this podcast touches on the way we seek to focus and describe base coffee notes. There are so many tangets I could go off on here, and doubtless future podcasts on specific aspects of this m...

May 05, 2014•14 min•Season 1Ep. 7

Coffee Rust Fungus and Organic Production in Honduras

I made this recording in January this year, and thought I would share it as a new podcast because it addresses the effect of Roya (Coffee Leaf Rust) and the current crop. It's not a new problem, but is proportionally more important because it is so widespread now in Central America. It affects the smaller farmer more, as they have less resources to fight it, and less agronomical knowledge. And it has a huge affect on organic coffee techniques, since they don't allow the use of the fungicides nee...

Mar 24, 2014•19 min•Season 1Ep. 6

Local Coffee Price and Competition

For some this podcast may seem esoteric, but I wanted to take on ideas about sourcing coffee and the rather simplistic ideas, overt and implied, in the way "direct trade" coffee is marketed by coffee roasters. There isn't one approach to working with farmers and buying quality coffee, even within one country, let alone in systems as varied as Ethiopia and Guatemala. I don't pretend to have all the answers, to understand the global financial commodities market, or the intricacies of the local mar...

Mar 14, 2014•24 min•Season 1Ep. 5

Hot Air Popcorn Popper Roasting

On New Year's Day 2014, Tom was out of roasted coffee and decided to solve the problem with his hot air popcorn popper.

Mar 04, 2014•16 min•Season 1Ep. 4

Pity Needs a new Pair of Shoes

When in Kenya, and while getting used to the idea of podcasting, Tom recorded some fun conversations.

Feb 22, 2014•10 min•Season 1Ep. 3

Ethiopian Amharic Pronunciation

The Amharic language in Ethiopia is difficult for any Westerner to grasp. In this podcast, Tom gets some informal lessons from some folks during one of his trips.

Feb 22, 2014•21 min•Season 1Ep. 2

Coffee Buying and Travel

Our first podcast takes place as Tom grinds and brews a cup of coffee in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He clears up a few misconceptions that people have about what happens after he steps off airplanes in origin countries. Learn about what goes into purchasing the coffee that ends up in your home roaster. -recorded on Jan. 28th 2014

Feb 20, 2014•18 min•Season 1Ep. 1

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