Devil's Blend

Today we went on a visit of a local coffee plantation called Del Cafe Tal, owned and operated by Daisy Rodriguez.  This coffee plantation, with seven year round employees and 70 seasonal, is the number one coffee in taste from Costa Rica and number 2 in Latin America.  The tour went through the vast area of growing which this quality coffee is produced.  Started ten years ago, it has gone through changes, starting with the growth and success, then to the attempts at organic growing.  This change brought problems though because of the small production and corruption which is associated with organic growers.  It can be commonly found that natural growers will often cheat or not be completely in line with a true "organic" grower.  

Though this was short lived, the move back to normal grower has proved successful because a month ago, this plantation was awarded the best tasting coffee in Costa Rica.  Its products are sold in Japan, Europe and the United States.  Costa Rica is not a primary market due to the high price demanded which normal citizens are unwilling to pay.  

The general information provided about the coffee during the tour is:

• The harvest season is December, which 70 harvesters (from Nicaragua) are brought in to complete
• The average lifespan of a coffee plant is about 5 years, where it takes three years to mature and grow the coffee fruit.
• It takes two to three months for the coffee to go from the plant to be drinkable.
• The prime time to pick the coffee bean is when the skin is a dark red, or the taste will be bitter.

As for general information about my happenings:  last night we went out to Sultans bar which was pretty good.  The beer cost about 50 cents for any bottled Costa Rican beer (hazardous but sweet).  It was a dangerous idea to get a hooka, which was very smooth (for my third time doing it).  We continue to have trouble with the cabies trying to rip us off for being stupid Americans, but we work it out.  Tomorrow we are visiting Caffee grit, a large coffee company.  So peace for now homies.  The quote of the day is from our tour guide "Costa Ricans are lazy, waiting for the last moment to get things done".  That is for my mom who says I'm the only one who does that.

Song of the day:  Jump On It by Sir Mix a Lot