This morning started very early
(3:45am!) with a 6am flight to Aremenia in the coffee plantation
region. It was definitely not a morning to buy a lottery ticket.
The flight had just begun when the flight attendant set a cup of ice
water on my tray, and it slid forward drenching me! Sitting with
soaked pants for an hour definitely woke me up. We had to change
planes in Bogota, and unless you've been through the Bogota airport
you won't understand how this could happen. Somehow 5 of us(not just
me!) wound up on the wrong transfer bus headed to the opposite end of
this huge airport. By the time we'd realized the mistake our flight
had taken off with our luggage aboard. What chaos ensued, but we did
manage to get on a flight 2 hours later and we were on our way to
Juan Valdez country!.
Looking out the plane's window as we
landed in Armenia, all I could see for miles and miles was lush
green hills covered with banana and plantain trees and dark green
coffee plants clinging to velvet green hillsides. Our driver Miguel
with Living Tours, a company he founded after returning from 8 years
in NYC, was an excellent guide and began to fill me in on the history
of Zona Cafeteria or the Coffee Triangle (Armenia is one of three
regions producing what is internationally known as the best coffee in
the world. Juan Valdez commericals began in 1959 and have become the
symbol of Colombian coffee..)
In just a short while we had arrived at
Hotel Combia for a site inspection and delicious lunch. Located in
the middle of a large coffee plantation , it was decorated in bright
colors in the Colombian style.
Lunch was another leisurely affair
(which I definitely enjoyed after my chaotic morning) and Grandma's
Cazuela(bean soup) was the best soup I've ever tasted!
The view from
the 2nd story open-air restaurant overlooked the swimming
pool and surrounding countryside.
What a peaceful paradise! Would
love to come back and stay a week.
Next stop was the San Alberto Coffee
Plantation, located high on a hill near the small town of Buena Vista
(perfect name!)
First item on the agenda was a cup of their coffee (I
was definitely awake by now!!) while enjoying the view.
Then
Francina, our instructor for the afternoon began our in-depth
immersion into the process of producing their very special coffee
beans. We began with a climb up the hillside – not for the faint
of heart as some of the inclines seemed like 45 degrees.
Starting
with the 'almond' or seed in the coffee bean pod we learned the very
careful process that takes years to develop.
Once we had passed our exam on the
first course, we moved on to the semi-annual harvesting (all done by
hand with local workers), the careful selection of 'only the best
beans' (I could hear Juan Valdez!), the fermentation and, finally,
the special roasting process.
Taking his role very seriously,Francina took
us to a small, enclosed room for the Final Exam! I was already
nervous as we donned special aprons and took our places at separate
exam sites --to prevent cheating, I assumed. First, we had to judge
the initial fragrance of the ground beans, next came an
identification of the aroma once the grounds were steeped for exactly
4 minutes in hot but not boiling water and finally the tasting. We
were now certified coffee experts!
More tomorrow about this region and the
Hacienda Bambusa where I am staying, but now Iwas ready for dinner
and a good night's sleep and all that coffee wasn't going to stop me!
More from Zona Cafeteria tomorrow.
Linda
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