Ah, it's times like this that we wish we really wish we could describe "taste" better.

We found a really nice coffee -- from a local roaster no less -- and when we made it at home on our stovetop doohicky (still our favorite mode of home brewing), it was as good or better than anything we've had in a cafe. From our little kitchen in the dungeon, no less!

empowerment for you -- the folks at Taylor Maid Farms bestowed on us the ability to brew as good for ourselves as we can get elsewhere. Taylor Maid is up in Sebastapol and is into organic, sustainable farms and fair trade practices. The company cares about the environment (a LOT more on this after the jump). From what we can gather, it's just "good people." That would make us feel better about spending a lot on the coffee -- but guess what? It's not overpriced by any measure. It's really in line cost-wise with most specialty beans around these here parts.

We took a nice hike to the fairly amazing Rainbow Grocery, one of the few places in town that carries the brand (according to a company spokesperson, it's also available in San Francisco at Thom's Natural Foods on Geary and Fresh Organics on Stanyan). It's available there in bulk, which was great; we weren't forced to overcommit and took about a half pound of the Goat Rock Roast and a smidge less of the Rainforest blend.

We tried the Goat Rock first. The taste? Again, we can't do it justice -- our best would be to say that it's powerful without being overpowering, as well as distinctive and drinkable. There's a lot going on in there; some softer notes against a bold backdrop. We mean, we would probably recognize it if we ever tried it blind, one of the few coffees our limited palate can do this with.

(Aside: the only coffee we can usually recognize is Kona -- very smooth and caramel-ly . . even a weak Kona blend [the typical 5%-10%] isn't too tough to I.D. A good portion of our family lives in Hawaii; in fact, Mrs. Trimethyldioxypurist is in the Aloha state as we write this. We're keeping our fingers crossed that we may have the chance to write about something she brings us back. Hint hint.)

Mark Inman, Taylor Maid's President and Green Buyer, says that the Goat Rock blend was his "answer to many customers who wanted to drink organic/free trade coffee but still had a hankerin' for Peet's 'Major Dickenson's Blend'. The Goat Rock is a cleaned up, organic version of this blend. It has quickly become one of our hottest sellers."

No wonder, sir. It was lovely.

That's