The Hills Are Alive With Coffee + Comunidad
“Prepare for the coffee to be bad,” warns my husband before we leave. “They always export the best stuff.” I’m not sure whether his words are one last attempt to discourage our travel, or if there’s truth to his statement. I did once hear that there’s barely any quinoa left for Peruvians to eat. Anyway, I always bring my own coffee when I travel. Not just because I prefer to drink a mix of water-processed decaf and organic regular, but because in my opinion, coffee isn’t worth drinking if it’s not dark, strong and smokey. I’ve created a real mess in hotel rooms using a science lab line-up of grounds, filters, mugs and paper cups. So it is with hesitation that I remove the Kicking Horse Grizzly Claw blend from my luggage and trust in the product of the country we are visiting. Let’s face it, it’s tacky—maybe even illegal—to bring your own coffee crop into the world’s second biggest coffee producing country. And it would really embarrass Sy if we got stopped at customs by sniffing dogs.
But as they say (nowhere in particular) husbands are always right. We learned today on our tour at Hacienda Venecia, a coffee farm, that they do, in fact, export the best and brightest of their beans. Local hotels, restaurants, and casinos get a second class blend, and I am here on the ground to tell you it’s true.
We began our visit to the hacienda with a cup of hot coffee before learning exactly how it goes from bean to brew. We also each took a swipe of liquid chocolate with a coffee stirrer, as the cocoa bean is native to the region as well. Our friendly and knowledgeable guide cracked open the cacao fruit and invited each of us to let a seed linger in our mouths so that we could suck off the sweet lychee-like membrane. After everyone tried one, Sy finished the rest of the fruit (see picture above). He washed it down with his coffee—only the beginning of his high caffeine consumption day. From there we moved into the fields and were instructed to pick the red (not green) berries off of the coffee plant. Our guide showed us how to remove the husk and again suck on the sweet coating around the bean. He took us through the washing and drying and roasting process, the whole way Sy continued to pop coffee beans of every stage into his mouth.
I don’t want to bore you with more details, and since this was twelve hours ago, I don’t remember them anyway, but here are a few takeaways. (Tea drinkers, sorry if this is uninteresting.) a) Colombian coffee is exported in its dried but still unroasted state. Each country decides how much roasting to do, contributing to how bitter a coffee becomes. b) Robusta coffee is harvested from lower altitudes, Arabica from higher. The latter has a more refined flavor profile and is primarily the coffee grown in Colombia. c) The real Juan Valdez was in fact American, adopted to brand official Colombian coffee. As such I will hereby think of him as Johnny V.
Come afternoon we drove to our second South Fork United community event, this one in Barrio Alto del Guamo, an even poorer neighborhood than Barrios Unidos where individuals erect illegal but sanctioned structures on government land. Building ingenuity is abundant even while fresh water, electricity, sanitation and sustenance are scarce. Walls are made from bamboo, sticks, broken wood, furniture, and floorboards while roofs may be tarps, twigs or metal. The neighborhood children gathered while our players handed out food and soccer balls, then led the way up to their game field bookended with tree branch goals. These kids and their families were so grateful for the visit—the attention, the conversation, the nourishment. SFU runs a monthly sponsorship program to help supply families with food. $10/month feeds one child, $15 feeds two. This is truly the least we can do when we return home.
Back at our hotel we had a bingo fundraiser. Sy and I lost, but Sy managed to befriend the local delicacy basket winners and end his night with half a dozen coffee candies. We have a COVID test first thing tomorrow morning. I don’t believe they’ll find any virus in his system, but he may test positive for caffeine. Sleep well, mi hijo...