Among the more interesting things that happened in my coffee life this week:

• Seasoning my grinder with parboiled rice! Based on the online comments of Tom Chips in a 2013 home-barista.com post, I decided to try using parboiled rice (not raw rice) to season a new grinder I received last week. It worked like a charm. Tom is one of the most sensible people on that forum, so i felt confident in trying the parboiled rice trick. It saved a lot of time and money-- thanks Tom! (NB: Please don't ask me how much rice or where to get parboiled rice-- I don't consider my n=1 data to be worth sharing publicly.)

• I signed a lease on a space in Los Angeles for a cooperative roastery (see recent post)!!

• I tasted some stellar Rwandan coffee processed using fermentation methods custom-designed by my new friend Lucia Solis. The Rwanda was delicious, and easily the most interesting coffee I've tasted in months. Lucia has been applying to coffee what she learned during a career in wine fermentation, and the results are exciting. Look for a guest post by Lucia here in the next few weeks. I'm learning so much from Lucia and look forward to her sharing her ideas with my readers.

Stay tuned!