Coffee

Today was finally a newsworthy day. This morning was usual blah blah, going to town for bread, duck tape (to mend the broken vacuum cleaner pipe), weed killer and washing powder, as well as making cardboard puppets on straws for the boys to play with. Then at 1.30 Emma and the girls came over, and she drove us to Rosemary Plain, which is a picnic area. Very nice, lots of grass and tables and benches, and a lovely view of the sea on one side and lush mountains on the other. Had some juice and biscuits and so on, played cricket for about three minutes, then we walked down the lane to a very nice country hotel called Farm Lodge. We walked through the front gate to see if we could look around, and found the owner and asked if he would mind if we had a look around. So he personally took us around a bit of the farm where there were ducks (lots of them) and sheep, and then showed us their coffee making process. A chap had just picked a bucket of cherries off the coffee tree, so they put them through the first machine which extracts the pips (the actual coffee bean) from the middle and dumps the pulpy bit into a wheelbarrow. From there the beans will have to ferment for about a week to get rid of all the sugar – it produces an alcohol which is thrown away. Then he showed us where they have trays of beans drying out, and explained how they have to rotate the beans in the sun so they all get some hours of sun every day. Once the beans have dried, they have to be peeled – the outer husk removed and an onion-skin looking bit taken off, which leaves a greenish looking bean. Those have to all be sorted by size, and then he showed us the roasting machine. The beans all have to be the same size in the roasting machine otherwise they will cook unevenly. It was all very interesting and most educational! Then back up the lane to the picnic spot. We passed by some sheep on our walk as well, and one was fairly curious so he was less than two metres away from us. All in all a very interesting and enjoyable afternoon.