Just outside the school compound are a few tiny homesteads....one home is made entirely of reeds and earth (mud). these homes are surrounded by matooke and banana trees, one huge pine tree(that seems odd and out of place) and...coffee plants!! The coffee berries weigh the branches down as they accumulate and grow.
As I was walking I noticed a young boy spreading coffee berries on the ground. Upon further inspection and subsequent inquiries I find there are two large sections on the ground...one area has berries that are fresh from the plant...they are a splendid array of greens, reds, purples and yellows, and they look like candy from a distance! The second area has berries that have turned brown and when you pick them up they are dry and almost brittle. Break one open, and you will find a bright green coffee bean - ready for roasting. The boy is spreading the new berries out in the sun to dry, he uses a rectangular piece of wood as his level and skillfully lays the berries evenly out in the hot, hot sun. The dry berries he shifts around in the same manner, ensuring that all sides will be dried evenly.
Once the berries are dry they will go one of two ways....they may be sold as is, to a wholesaler by the kilo...or they will be fire roasted, then packaged in small pockets made from dry banana leaves, and sold as a tasty snack! When I am in the city, I see many boys and men, walking with hundreds of these little satchels bundled together...they weave in and out of the traffic jams selling the roasted treat to satisfy and calm impatient drivers.
All the way from the little homestead far off in the country to the large coffee processors or busy city traffic jams in the capital city...a testament to hard work.
"I have known them all already, have known them all. I have known the mornings, evenings and afternoons... I have measured out my life with coffee spoons." -T.S. Elliot
As I was walking I noticed a young boy spreading coffee berries on the ground. Upon further inspection and subsequent inquiries I find there are two large sections on the ground...one area has berries that are fresh from the plant...they are a splendid array of greens, reds, purples and yellows, and they look like candy from a distance! The second area has berries that have turned brown and when you pick them up they are dry and almost brittle. Break one open, and you will find a bright green coffee bean - ready for roasting. The boy is spreading the new berries out in the sun to dry, he uses a rectangular piece of wood as his level and skillfully lays the berries evenly out in the hot, hot sun. The dry berries he shifts around in the same manner, ensuring that all sides will be dried evenly.
Once the berries are dry they will go one of two ways....they may be sold as is, to a wholesaler by the kilo...or they will be fire roasted, then packaged in small pockets made from dry banana leaves, and sold as a tasty snack! When I am in the city, I see many boys and men, walking with hundreds of these little satchels bundled together...they weave in and out of the traffic jams selling the roasted treat to satisfy and calm impatient drivers.
All the way from the little homestead far off in the country to the large coffee processors or busy city traffic jams in the capital city...a testament to hard work.
"I have known them all already, have known them all. I have known the mornings, evenings and afternoons... I have measured out my life with coffee spoons." -T.S. Elliot
posted by Lola | 6:08 PM
1 Comments:
Lola,
Now you know why those African coffee beans have such a splendid taste! They sun dry the cherries out and along with that the earth and fruit and cocoa that may surround it (in the air or near the branched) are absorbed by the beans! Oh, the wonder and taste of African coffee. Thanks for painting me that scene of coffee in process.
Javageek
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