This is the traditional medicinal technique known as "cupping". Glass cups are heat suctioned to your skin to suck out evil humors, or whatever. It leaves purple bruise marks on your body in the shape of circles. This man was doing this on the sidewalk and invited Andrej to give it a try. He had one on his shoulder for about a minute, not long enough to leave a bruise.

Freshly roasted coffee at Blue Bottle roastery and cafe in Oakland, CA

Photo by Wendy Goodfriend

i got cupped. it bruised pretty good.

fun with spot metering

72 hours after my first cupping treatment. I was skeptical, but my back is feeling incredible. I highly recommend John Ellis for his acupuncture and other healing methods. (Oh yeah -- look how big my back is getting!)

A coffee cupping (tasting) workshop at Whole Foods last week.

Blog post at Tamarind and Thyme.

100% BRAND NEW CONDITION

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IMAGINE GETTING THE BEST MASSAGE EVER

BUY "CUPPING THERAPY" BECAUSE IT WILL HELP YOU RELAX

My back doesn't seem to hold too many toxins, but my shoulder area needs more work.

I went straight from the airport to the cupping lab to taste the best of this year's coffees from Finca Nueva Armenia. The names on the tags represent the areas of the farm that Jorge and Javier separate for microlots, and as you can see, I cupped perennial favorites Gemelos and Groto, as well as Coyales and Abuelos, which we haven't featured on their own in past years (we have yet to decide whether they're up to it this year) but rather blended in with the rest of the farm's coffee, labeled here as simply "Armenia".

The Vario is turning out to be a stellar cupping grinder. Grind directly into the cup, and it grinds all the coffee.

Outside view of Blue Bottle roastery and cafe in Oakland, CA

Photo by Wendy Goodfriend

Here Brian teaches me how to cup tarantulas. These are smaller versions of the bird-eaters.

I'm at Refinery Retail Store! 4sq.com/2sRskfe

KQED filming roaster at Blue Bottle facility in Oakland, CA

Photo by Wendy Goodfriend

Cafe y Caffe Seminar cupping. Producers from Huehuetenango and a smattering of participants from Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, and El Salvador had coffees showing at this chaotic, evening, single-flight cupping. Each coffee was roasted to two degrees - dark and darker, ground too fine, and presented in single cups. It greatly limited the quality of feedback we could give to the assembled producers.