Happy New Year! Well, here we are 2008....2007 went by so quickly. I look back and it’s a blur of endings and beginnings. Dora and I spent New Year's eve dancing under the tropical, starlit sky in the Dominican Republic. We watched the fireworks displays all along the beach at midnight.

I'm drinking an espresso from Cabarete Beach (North Dominican Republic as I write this. Silky smooth...so is the rum! [...}

This country is one of the friendliest and most hospitable I've visited. The smiles are contagious. This is a very diverse place – Dominicans are Spanish-speaking and the other half of the island is Haitian, who speak French. The majority of visitors seem to be Canadian, British, French, German, and Spanish with many transplants staying on for the quality of life here.
The water is turquoise blue and the wind is calm in the morning - perfect for surfing. In the afternoon, the warm wind whips up to 30 knots making wind/kite surfing popular. I took kite surfing lessons for the first time in my life and it's a whole new animal than anything I've tried in the past (bestkiteboarding.com). Controlling the kite alone is a skill that will take a few months to learn - let alone letting it pull me through the water at 30 mph. It was incredible watching the kite surfers that can throw themselves through acrobatic turns (sometimes 30 feet in the air) while effortlessly maneuvering the kite to then land them at-speed on the water.

Dora and I also visited 2 coffee farms during our short stay here as it's one of my goals for 2008 to include their special coffee in the line-up. I’ve been using the automatic espresso machine in our hotel’s dining area. It's very smooth and has a silky, medium-bodied mouth feel and it surprised me how dark they roast here - I guess the West Coast Roast has made its way into the Caribbean.

Thanks for all your support in 2007! The orders were incredible this holiday season and I’m proud of what we have accomplished in such a short time. 2008 will be an exceptional year in our evolution to become one of the best coffee and tea companies ever and I hope you’re looking forward to some great, new things to come.