During every single day we were traveling we have a ritual we never miss, we always start our day drinking coffee.
Like many people we are coffee addicts and traveling the world was a good chance to taste some of the best coffee in the world. But drink a cup of it in the countries where it´s growing is not just about to decide which one is tastier, we also can discover the tradition and characteristics of the country and its people.
Our tour around the world searching for best coffee started in Europe, in Western Europe and this means drinking short, strong and concentrated Expresso. Life over there is intense, fast and there are not a lot time to waste so Expresso look the proper way to consume caffeine. But we also like the social aspect of drinking coffee, and it was in Eastern Europe where we could start sharing coffee with people. Greek or Turkish coffee, however you want to call it, is not a beverage to be drank alone. It takes times, first to let the finely grounded coffee beans fall to the bottom of the cup, then to drink it with small shots and finally even you can read your future by throwing what is left on the table.
By the time we arrive to Indonesia we could discover one of the more exotic and expensive coffee in the world, the one which locals take the poop of wild tigers. Later in Colombia we learned to drink the coffee without sugar for first time and realized what is its real flavor. In USA everything was big and the coffee as well, so over there we drank liters and liters of filtered coffee. In Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya we ride next to huge plantations but it was a tea culture over there, coffee was only a valuable think to be exported. In those countries very popular for the coffee it was really hard to find it
And just before our travel was getting to its end we arrived to Ethiopia, the cradle of humanity and also the the origin of coffee. Those beans over there share something with the Ethiopian people, a strong personality.
There is not a country like Ethiopia, it´s unique for its language, its religión, its particular way of counting the hours of the day and its calendar, tha´s why there is not a country where people drink coffee like in Ethiopia. It´s a ceremony that need to be practiced at least 3 times per day.It start preparing the ground where the coffee is going to be prepared and this is by throwing grass in the floor, then, always a woman, roast the fresh beans in a flat pan while she is burning a tradicional incense. Later she grounded the roasted beans with a long wooden stick and finally she put them in a typical pot called Jebena. Believe me, the magic of this process it really work. Is a special coffee, probably the best we ever drank.
LEAVE A COMMENT