Forrest warned me against slipping into journal-mode when I write. I noticed that the notes I've been taking and the snippets I've been getting down into word before constructing these posts have been just that. So instead of simple reporting, and giving you a chump list of what I did today on the coffee tour, I'm going free-form.

I'm back in Addis now, and the last of this trip's work ought to be completed today - we will be cupping all the samples we've collected in the last four days of driving all over hell and gone Sidamo. It was an amazing experience for me to be able to bask in this glorious and storied coffee region; I will never forget what I've seen here. But long trips have a way of screwing up your sense of what you've accomplished, and having the Sidamo and Yirgacheffe tour fresh in my mind, it makes Harar and the conference seem like last year's news.

I've learned a massive amount of stuff about Ethiopian coffee, much of which has solidified things I'd suspected or had only fuzzy notions about. I'm bound to be a better buyer of Ethiopian coffees because of what I've been able to piece together, and I can be a much better contributor to our marketing efforts when we present what I've bought to our customers. I've taken over sixteen hundred photos of Ethiopia that we can use on the website and on printed materials. I've made numerous new industry connections both in Harar and in Sidamo, as well as in Addis, not to mention made a few new U.S. roaster friends.

So, overall, very much a worthwhile trip.