Costa Rica 2012 Aug 20-22 Monteverde

Into the Cloud Forest we go. Cool area. It was so neat to watch the clouds roll in. We had only 1 full day here in Monteverde. So we decided to make the most of it.

The hospitality was great. They were so nice to meet us on the road.

Best tour yet. Any guesses? I'm slightly addicted to it. I might as well have stock in it...Starts with Star, ends with Bucks? YEP!!! A coffee tour!!! These are coffee beans. From an Organic farm. All a part of something called the Monteverde Cooperative. It's very expensive to become certified organic. Especially since its the Smithsonian that does the certification. So the farmers pulled together to form an association. 

It takes 8 weeks after planting for these two little round leaves to appear.

Notice something different? Those first two leaves are the only ones that come in round. From then on the leaves are these pointed shapes.

Its a total of 3 years from sprout to crop. Pretty little flowers lead to yummy coffee beans. The plants are like grape vines. They get better over the years. They have some coffee plants with 30-40 yr old trunks.

It takes 6-8 months for the berries to mature. The longer they mature the harder they (the seeds) become and the better the flavor. When red they are ready to be picked. But harvest season isn't until the late fall. There shouldn't be red berries right now. Gives the farmers a little cause for concern. Pop em in your mouth and they are actually sweet to chew on.

This mama hummingbird KNEW what she was doing when she built her nest. Smart woman. Twins=daily coffee injections

The farmer shells the red outer coat. The beans are then dried for about 24 hrs. During this process the sugar dries up making it easy to wash off.  The beans then dry out for 8 days and then this beast removes the skin shell.

The beans ready to be roasted

Before they had the machine to take the skins off they would put them into a shallow barrel and you would use this hammer looking thing to pound on them to get the skins off. Then if the wind was blowing they would scoop them up into the air and slowly pour them back into the barrel. The wind takes the skins and blows them away.

But a bean is just a bean with out these wonderful contraptions. The bean has to roast for about 10-15 mins. You know its ready by sight and by sound. Sound you ask? Yep. It pops like a popcorn maker. It still cooks for another 5 mins after shutting down the machine. So it's a master of timing. Once cool (overnight) it's ready for packaging.

Notice a difference in color? Same bean. Different roasting times. Most incredible thing we learned was that in coffee contests they use light roast beans. It has the ability to tell about its soil, fertilizer, amount of water, sun etc. The longer the bean is roasted the more the details disappear. Wild huh? 

The end result is this delicious cup of Joe. (Marty you have till the middle of Oct to figure out how to duplicate it)

Of course my non coffee drinking best friend was more into the homemade sugar that they make and use.

We're told they usually have mules attached to these poles. (leaving the easy jokes to everyone else). The sugar cane goes through a machine that presses the juice out.

The juice is boiled and boiled in this outdoor pot for 6-8 hours. Being constantly stirred. Until it's nice and thick like molasses.

Then it's poured into these molds. It cools and hardens. It lasts 6 months. Amazing our potential to create.

After all the coffee we were wired. Literally. We went ziplining!

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Up and over all these trees. The longest ride was over a mile. Through clouds we zipped. Amazing. We took video. Just wish I knew how to upload it.

transportation

One of the things we will miss the most about Costa Rica as we leave tomorrow. No it's not a sunset. Although they too have been beautiful. It's the lightning storms. I'm a little sad that on the last night I figured out how to capture them. Most of the time we don't see actual bolts. It's just the sky lighting up like this. This storm we just sat and watched as it traveled across the sky. A perfect way to end our trip to Costa Rica.

The Cloud Forest

Loved Costa Rica