We had a tour scheduled at 9:30 so we woke up and started to get ready close to early enough to make that on time. Our shower head in the bathroom was broken so we talked to reception during breakfast about having our room changed but reception said they only had rooms surrounded by the tour of noisy school kids that were staying all the way through Saturday. They said they would fix the shower head for us. For breakfast they prepared an omelet with tomato and onion along with a block of local fresh cheese and a fresh made juice that was probably pineapple. We also had a cup of coffee each. Our driver, Aurelio, showed up while we were still eating. We were a couple minutes late but the hotel staff said not to worry, the drivers around here would wait all day if they had to. We finished eating quickly and got our stuff to go on the tour for the day.
The first event in the day was a visit to the local coffee plantation Recuca. It was not that far of a drive. Inside we were met by the staff and sent over to dress up in local traditional costume for a few pictures to be taken.The costume was explained to us and I was made to join in a mock fight with our guide Andres using the local custom. It was fun and I know Daniela was laughing. I had to yell something over and over again. Daniela has to ask what it was because both of us forgot it later in the day. After we removed the costume we were taken out in to the plantation to see the plants and learn the history of coffee making in the region. Of course they say that Colombian coffee is the finest quality though there are several regions that produce coffee including Africa, and Viet Nam among the list. Viet Nam is apparently the largest producer. We got to see the stages of planting along with some of the blights and pests that affect the coffee plants. After that portion was over we were brought try on another costume to try to harvest some beans. The beans are harvested by hand in Colombia. They gave me a winter costume (thanks) and Daniela a summer costume and we each got buckets to collect. Andres showed us how to gather the yellow or red ones only. When we had finished collecting we were shown the various stages of production after the coffee is harvested. First they have to separate the shell from the bean which is done by a machine. Then the beans are sorted and washed and then they are set out to dry by the sun or by a coal oven. During the drying they are again sorted so the best quality beans are are kept apart from the lesser quality ones. After they are dried they are roasted in a large oven that spins using centrifugal force to keep the moving so they don't burn. Once they are roasted they are done. Colombia ships out 98% of its best quality coffee and the lesser quality is more what the locals drink. The Colombians are the lowest consumers of coffee per person. Finland is the highest.
After were done with the historical and procedural lessons we were brought to a room and the process of making coffee properly was explained to us using some of their finest quality coffee. The serving size he gave us and suggested is much smaller than typical American coffee cups. Probably about half the size. The best quality coffee grinds into even but small grounds with very little dust particles. He suggested the cup and the serving vessel should be kept warm and the water should not actually boil. He poured the water through a small bag filter and let it brew through natural drip through the bag until it was finished. The coffee was really very good. We both drank it black to the best flavor. Andres gave us each a small sample of the coffee that could be used to make one small cup and then we were brought over for lunch.
Lunch was served at the plantation. We had a local style soup that had beans and pork in a broth that probably had some tomato in it. There was a salsa served with it to be stirred into the soup. The soup was very tasty but there were some very large chunks of pork fat that were a little too much to eat. We were also given some rice, a fried banana, shredded beef, a small piece of bread and a large hunk of pork that was cooked crisp and tasted a lot like bacon. The food was quite good. They served us also a typical drink given to the workers who collect the beans a couple times of day. The drink is like a sugary syrup. We also tried it after we came in from collecting the beans. For dessert they served a milk and corn porridge that you were supposed to stir in some sugary crunchies and eat. It was good but the milk and corn part was not sweet at all. It all was a lot of food so we didn't finish everything.
After the lunch we had also bought a coffee tasting to go along. The coffee tasting segment was run by Manuel and taught us to properly taste coffee and about the properties of the various types of coffees. To start us off we first had to guess the scents of 8 liquids in bottles to see how good we were at aromas. Then we learned to judge the 4 types of tastes: sweet, bitter, acid and neutral. After that we learned how to judge coffee using 2 varieties. We learned to first judge the fragrance of the dried coffee. Then we learned how to judge the aroma in both the cup then in a spoon properly separated from the grounds. This is done by stirring front to back 3 times then filling the spoon half full from the top and smelling that. Each use you need to wash the spoon off. Then we learned to judge flavor after the foam that was made by the coffee was skimmed off. You should spit out the coffee after you taste it. After tasting the teaching coffees Manuel gave us 4 varieties to judge and we had to go through the process. He said they were all brand name coffees. Of the group I liked the 4th the best though I thought it was not so good tasting as it smelled. In the long run that was because it was not brewed properly so some of the characteristics were too over-pronounced. Number 4 was the local finest quality coffee. Amusingly there was a Colombian woman also doing the tasting with us and she liked what turned out to be instant coffee the best (at least until the taste). I could already tell that one was instant coffee quickly. After we finished our tastings we we shown the roasting process in a small antique machine that does what the large ones do on a small scale. Interestingly the coffee doesn't smell like coffee while it is roasting and not until after it has cooled down do you get the correct fragrance. Manuel gave us a small packet each of beans that he just roasted to take with us.
After the tasting we were supposed to go to the national park of coffee for the rest of the afternoon (it was about 4pm). However when we got there the girl at the counter told us it was too late and we should not do it today because we would miss too many of the attractions. We decided she was right and we would head back to the hotel. So we called Aurelio and waited a few minutes for him to come back and he drove us back to the room where since it was quiet and the students were still out we decided to use the Jacuzzi at the pool. We were in for a while when we saw lightning in the distance. We decided to get out of the water then we used the sauna for a while after that. The storm really came upon us while were were in the sauna and we had to dash through it back to the room. Daniela is not used to thunder storms as they do not get them in Lima. We got changed and ate dinner while the storm fortunately slowed down. The dinner was pork with rice and french fries along with fresh tomatoes and a fresh juice which I couldn't identify but Daniela thought was raspberry. After Dinner we headed back to the room and watched a couple movies on the computer as it was still very early. During one movie the storms started back up and all the insects started trying to get into the room from under the front door. We had to block it off with a towel and kill as many of them as we could. It took a few minutes to get that done. We also turned on the bathroom light to hopefully attract them there instead of to us. We finished watching the last movie then went to bed. The storms lasted through most of the night.
The pictures from day 4 can be found here.
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