I tend to like coffees from Kenya, and see historically the bulk of the arrivals are in the July/August time frame, so am waiting like a kid before Christmas. Curious which coffees some of you get antsy for?

And are there any earlier indicators for promising lots, even before the various vendors offer tasting notes and cupping scores? Surely these guys have all formed opinions prior to committing to purchase in quantity, but I don't remember seeing any "sneak peak" data like this before.

I don't really have the roasting experience to comment too much on this, but I get really excited when I come across a new dry processed bean. In fact, some is being delivered as we speak.

Tom gives the Kenya Murang'a AA Kangunu 95 points!

http://www.sweetmarias.com/coffee.africa.kenya.php?coffee=KenyaKirinyagaAAKangunu2010#KenyaKirinyagaAAKangunu2010

That's one heck of a bright coffee though, balanced or not.

The remembered years are muddled, but when I first started roasting there was a string of Harar crops that delivered those much-vaunted blueberries like none since. These blues were not "hints-of" but acid-sweet late-season northern latitude ones. Might have something to do with being a newbie at the time, but I keep waiting for the next crop that can rise to that expectation.

+1 on the Kenya tip. Seems like Tom and friends scooped a nice lot. A Wow coffee. Much fun

I just recently got back into roasting. I took a brief hiatus from roasting because I was using a Fresh Roast plus that I could vent to the outside, but after moving back to NYC from the mid-west, I had no proper ventilation and it was too smokey. Recently picked up a Behmor and eagerly awaiting a shipment of:
- Kenya Kirinyaga Peaberry Gakuyu-ini
- Ethiopia Yirga Cheffe, Koke Coop
- Costa Rica Lourdes de Naranjo
and
- Sweet Marias Espresso Monkey Blend - been pulling some deliciously sweet espresso with this blend, so I ordered some more.

A coffee I have only had the pleasure of trying once and that was when I first started roasting was the Panama Boquete Volcancito Estate. I am still waiting for Sweet Maria's to get it back. Was an absolute pleasure to pull as espresso. Chocolate biscuit notes....just divine!