When people found out that I was moving to Colombia, there were 2 standard responses: (1) don't they have a lot of drugs there?! (2) Isn't the coffee there incredible!?
I have yet to experience first hand the drug scene (and I pray I don't) but today I got the full picture of the coffee. A few teachers and I went to a small town called Salento this weekend. We stayed at a hostel and the owners told us there was a small finca (farm) near by that grew coffee and the farmer would give us a tour. All we had to do was follow this dirt road about 45 minutes through the mountains and we would arrive at the farm of Don Elias.
So we started walking. And we walked. And we walked. And we took some pictures. And we walked. And we walked. And we took some more pictures. and we walked...At least the majority was downhill through breathtaking scenery.
Within an hour we reached the coffee farm. Now this wasn't some corporation with 100s of machines doing all the work, but rather a small farm on 4 hectors of land (yeah, I don't know how big that is either, but that's what Don Elias told us) in the middle of the Colombian Andes. When we arrived Don Elias greeted us and was pleased that we made the trek out to see his farm. Don Elias was a pleasant man in his late 60s with white hair and more teeth missing than were present. He wore the traditional Colombian farmer clothes topped off by a quaint little sombrero. He was the cutest thing!
Although he didn't speak a lick of English, he spoke Spanish clearly and slowly enough that we were all able to understand everything he was explaining and we even were asking him questions. Success of the day!
The tour began at the early stages of coffee production: the coffee plant. He walked us throughout the farm and showed us the difference between different strains of coffee and the different stages of ripeness. It was awesome slipping amongst all the coffee trees. After walking through the plants he brought us back to the "processing area" where he removed the actual coffee bean from the fruit. (At this point, if you don't know what I'm talking about, google coffee production real quick and you'll get the idea.) Anyway, for this step he puts all the fruits in a meat-grinder type machine and spins an arm. The beans go flying through the machine and the flesh part is discarded (when I say discarded I mean put back in the ground to be fertilizer for the plants). It was super cool. From there he washes all the beans and then brings them to dry. Now, without machines, how do you suppose he dries out the bean? With the power of the sun. He had a platform built in which he just dumped the beans out to dry. He explained that he has to come out and "stir" the beans with a rake-like-tool so they dry evenly. Supposedly, when it's sunny, this process takes about 8 days, but during the rainy season it can take up to 25 days! Talk about patiently waiting for an end product.
Once the coffee bean is completely dried, the husk has to be removed from the bean. To do this, he put the beans in a contraption that irritated the bean enough to have the husk fall off. Then he put the beans in a bowl and blew on it while shaking it until the husk was carried away by the wind. It was astonishing watching him work. At the end of this step we saw the dried beans ready for roasting. For this, he put the beans in a metal bowl and put it on top of a cast iron wood stove. Don Elias explained that the perfect roast is about 1 hour but that he has to pay attention to the color and texture of the bean to be certain. Upon roasting the beans he put them in a tabletop machine to grind them. The aroma was to die for!
The last step of the process was to enjoy a cup of fresh Colombian coffee; the fruits of this man's labor. Don Elias invited us to his porch where we all sat sipping fresh Colombian coffee. Pure bliss! For all of you coffee-loving readers out there, I would have loved to have any one of you there with me! It was quite the experience....and actually, for you non-coffee-loving fold - I'd want you there too!
A few things amazed me more than anything: (1) Don Elias is extremely passionate about his coffee. We couldn't help but notice it as he answered our questions and explained the processes to us. It just radiated from him (2) Everything was done by hand - what a neat thing to see. (3) The tour cost me $5000 pesos, which is about $3 dollars. (4) The scenery alone would have been worth it (5) The coffee was INCREDIBLE! Whew. It's probably one of the best cups I've had in my life...the ambiance may have something to do with it, but hey - that's alright :)
I have yet to experience first hand the drug scene (and I pray I don't) but today I got the full picture of the coffee. A few teachers and I went to a small town called Salento this weekend. We stayed at a hostel and the owners told us there was a small finca (farm) near by that grew coffee and the farmer would give us a tour. All we had to do was follow this dirt road about 45 minutes through the mountains and we would arrive at the farm of Don Elias.
So we started walking. And we walked. And we walked. And we took some pictures. And we walked. And we walked. And we took some more pictures. and we walked...At least the majority was downhill through breathtaking scenery.
Within an hour we reached the coffee farm. Now this wasn't some corporation with 100s of machines doing all the work, but rather a small farm on 4 hectors of land (yeah, I don't know how big that is either, but that's what Don Elias told us) in the middle of the Colombian Andes. When we arrived Don Elias greeted us and was pleased that we made the trek out to see his farm. Don Elias was a pleasant man in his late 60s with white hair and more teeth missing than were present. He wore the traditional Colombian farmer clothes topped off by a quaint little sombrero. He was the cutest thing!
Although he didn't speak a lick of English, he spoke Spanish clearly and slowly enough that we were all able to understand everything he was explaining and we even were asking him questions. Success of the day!
The tour began at the early stages of coffee production: the coffee plant. He walked us throughout the farm and showed us the difference between different strains of coffee and the different stages of ripeness. It was awesome slipping amongst all the coffee trees. After walking through the plants he brought us back to the "processing area" where he removed the actual coffee bean from the fruit. (At this point, if you don't know what I'm talking about, google coffee production real quick and you'll get the idea.) Anyway, for this step he puts all the fruits in a meat-grinder type machine and spins an arm. The beans go flying through the machine and the flesh part is discarded (when I say discarded I mean put back in the ground to be fertilizer for the plants). It was super cool. From there he washes all the beans and then brings them to dry. Now, without machines, how do you suppose he dries out the bean? With the power of the sun. He had a platform built in which he just dumped the beans out to dry. He explained that he has to come out and "stir" the beans with a rake-like-tool so they dry evenly. Supposedly, when it's sunny, this process takes about 8 days, but during the rainy season it can take up to 25 days! Talk about patiently waiting for an end product.
Once the coffee bean is completely dried, the husk has to be removed from the bean. To do this, he put the beans in a contraption that irritated the bean enough to have the husk fall off. Then he put the beans in a bowl and blew on it while shaking it until the husk was carried away by the wind. It was astonishing watching him work. At the end of this step we saw the dried beans ready for roasting. For this, he put the beans in a metal bowl and put it on top of a cast iron wood stove. Don Elias explained that the perfect roast is about 1 hour but that he has to pay attention to the color and texture of the bean to be certain. Upon roasting the beans he put them in a tabletop machine to grind them. The aroma was to die for!
The last step of the process was to enjoy a cup of fresh Colombian coffee; the fruits of this man's labor. Don Elias invited us to his porch where we all sat sipping fresh Colombian coffee. Pure bliss! For all of you coffee-loving readers out there, I would have loved to have any one of you there with me! It was quite the experience....and actually, for you non-coffee-loving fold - I'd want you there too!
A few things amazed me more than anything: (1) Don Elias is extremely passionate about his coffee. We couldn't help but notice it as he answered our questions and explained the processes to us. It just radiated from him (2) Everything was done by hand - what a neat thing to see. (3) The tour cost me $5000 pesos, which is about $3 dollars. (4) The scenery alone would have been worth it (5) The coffee was INCREDIBLE! Whew. It's probably one of the best cups I've had in my life...the ambiance may have something to do with it, but hey - that's alright :)
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