The middle of May is always a busy time for us here at the inn. Washington College, a highly acclaimed liberal arts school, holds their graduation on the Sunday of the third full weekend in May. Generally, we are booked far in advance: visiting parents sometimes reserve during their child’s freshman year. That’s 4 years in advance!! Talk about planning ahead…
The very next week is, of course, memorial day weekend: the unofficial start of summer. But in Chestertown, it is more commonly known as “Tea Party” weekend. (As an aside: This Tea Party has NOTHING to do with the newer version!) An all-out street fair with food and craft vendors, events, tall ships and historic re-enactments, including the tossing of the “pesky” Brits and their tea in the Chester river: apparently, the colonial residents here were the first to resist their British rulers, before that more famous party in Boston, by throwing loads of tea into the river!
You can read all about it here:
http://www.chestertownteaparty.com/
AND NOW….
the results have all been tabulated and the winner of our official coffee tasting during the month of April is…….. drumroll please…………..
STARBUCKS!
The overwhelming majority of folks who participated preferred the Starbucks Coffee French Roast Extra Bold Dark Roast Blend. (All of those words are on the label!) There were two other brands in the running: one is a small roasting company outside of Seattle and the other is a well known store brand. (We’re not going to mention their names; we still like their products but the people have spoken!) We got whole beans from each one and ground them ourselves. It may not really be very scientific, but it was fun for us!