Coffee (In A Cardboard Cup)

Today's title is a song from "70, Girls, 70" which is a show produced in Sun City a few years ago.

A busy day starting with a tour of a small coffee farm. Panama is a world leader in producing superior coffee. Much of it is grown on farms in the hills surrounding Boquete. We met our guide Felix in Boquete and we all took a taxi to the farm.This place we visited is certified for agroturistica and the word for a small farm is finca. La Milagrosa means miracle.

This finca is owned by a man named Tito and he has named the farm for his father Don Alfredo. This is a very special place with specialty coffees that are only sold on the farm or exported to other countries. The premier brand is called "Geisha" and they also grow Arabica.

We walked to the fields and saw the coffee trees. Different varieties of coffee are planted near each other so they can cross pollinate providing interesting blends. The trees range from one year to 70 years and the finca is aout 12 acres with 40,000 trees. Sun and shady areas support the trees. The coffee beans are ripening this time of year and they can be green ranging to bright red.

Blossoms and tiny beans starting to grow. A native family was picking beans. The children are on their summer vacation from school so helping their parents make more money as they are paid by the pound for what they pick.

We tasted the coffee beans by smashing the bean and removing the outer skin. Some companies make tea out of the skin. The beans are covered in a slimy layer and tasted sweet. The next step is to put the beans in a machine that removes the outer layer and then the beans are put in bins to dry.

The beans are then sorted by hand and bad or bruised beans are put in a compost pile.

Looking up we saw this huge wasp nest in a distant pine tree. Now we moved inside to see how they silk screen their own bags to hold the coffee.

The beans are put in these bins and then washed. The light ones are not suitable for roasting and they float down and are discarded.

Mr. Tito has made many of his own machines out of parts from cars and other machines.The roaster is made from a headlight and really clever. We watched as the beans were roasted and learned that different types of coffee comes from how long the beans are roasted. Light, then more roasting gives you medium or French Roast and the most roasted beans are Dark or Italian Roast. Interesting fact is the light roast has the most caffeine!

At this point we were served a cup of medium roast coffee. Jeff and I tasted it and after adding sugar I drank my entire cup.

We sat around and learned about the history of coffee with Felix and Ute, a German friend who is in our Spanish class.

On the way home we had this beautiful view of Boquete. Below is a view of Volcan Baru, a dormant volcano which is the highest peak in Panama.

 Purple Bananas

Back in town we went for lunch at a local cafe. Jeff and I had the same plate with chicken, rice and beans, and cole slaw for $3.50 with no tax!

School this afternoon and the topic was verb conjugation.