Oh, the things I did not know about my morning cup of coffee!
Today I spent the afternoon learning about how the popular Costa Rican coffee is grown, processed, roasted and exported.
We visited a farmer who grows the arabica variety on land mixed with plantain, orange, grapefruit and banana trees for best soil quality. He is one of 42 members of the Cafe Monteverde Cooperative who grow only organic coffee beans (no chemicals used).
Here is a quick list of things I did not know about coffee:
*The pulp inside the coffee cherry that encases the bean is actually kind of tasty to suck on.
*It takes a farmer four years from when he first plants a coffee plant until he gets his first harvest.
*You have to take the coffee to the local mill within 24 hours of picking it or it starts to ferment.
*Light roasts are what coffee testers sample because it´s easiest to distinguish the characteristics and flavors. They save the best beans to make this roast.
*Sometimes people will add legumes or sugar to the roaster and still slap a 100 percent coffee label on the beans or grounds. Serious coffee producers discourage this.
*The best coffee produced in Costa Rica is saved for export. The Costa Ricans themselves drink the second-class stuff.
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