Amazines Free Article Archive
www.amazines.com - Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Read about the most recent changes and happenings at Amazines.com
Log into your account or register as a new author. Start submitting your articles right now!
Search our database for articles.
Subscribe to receive articles emailed straight to your email account. You may choose multiple categories.
View our newest articles submitted by our authors.
View our most top rated articles rated by our visitors.
* Please note that this is NOT the ARTICLE manager
Add a new EZINE, or manage your EZINE submission.
Add fresh, free web content to your site such as newest articles, web tools, and quotes with a single piece of code!
Home What's New? Submit/Manage Articles Latest Posts Top Rated Article Search
Google
Subscriptions Manage Ezines
CATEGORIES
 Article Archive
 Advertising (133573)
 Advice (161671)
 Affiliate Programs (34799)
 Art and Culture (73855)
 Automotive (145712)
 Blogs (75614)
 Boating (9851)
 Books (17223)
 Buddhism (4130)
 Business (1330639)
 Business News (426446)
 Business Opportunities (366518)
 Camping (10973)
 Career (72795)
 Christianity (15848)
 Collecting (11638)
 Communication (115089)
 Computers (241953)
 Construction (38962)
 Consumer (49953)
 Cooking (17080)
 Copywriting (6733)
 Crafts (18203)
 Cuisine (7549)
 Current Affairs (20319)
 Dating (45908)
 EBooks (19703)
 E-Commerce (48258)
 Education (185521)
 Electronics (83524)
 Email (6438)
 Entertainment (159855)
 Environment (28973)
 Ezine (3040)
 Ezine Publishing (5453)
 Ezine Sites (1551)
 Family & Parenting (111007)
 Fashion & Cosmetics (196605)
 Female Entrepreneurs (11853)
 Feng Shui (134)
 Finance & Investment (310615)
 Fitness (106469)
 Food & Beverages (63045)
 Free Web Resources (7941)
 Gambling (30227)
 Gardening (25202)
 Government (10519)
 Health (630137)
 Hinduism (2206)
 Hobbies (44083)
 Home Business (91657)
 Home Improvement (251211)
 Home Repair (46244)
 Humor (4723)
 Import - Export (5459)
 Insurance (45104)
 Interior Design (29616)
 International Property (3488)
 Internet (191031)
 Internet Marketing (146687)
 Investment (22861)
 Islam (1161)
 Judaism (1352)
 Law (80507)
 Link Popularity (4596)
 Manufacturing (20914)
 Marketing (99316)
 MLM (14140)
 Motivation (18233)
 Music (27000)
 New to the Internet (9496)
 Non-Profit Organizations (4048)
 Online Shopping (129734)
 Organizing (7813)
 Party Ideas (11855)
 Pets (38165)
 Poetry (2229)
 Press Release (12689)
 Public Speaking (5643)
 Publishing (7566)
 Quotes (2407)
 Real Estate (126700)
 Recreation & Leisure (95495)
 Relationships (87674)
 Research (16182)
 Sales (80350)
 Science & Technology (110291)
 Search Engines (23514)
 Self Improvement (153300)
 Seniors (6220)
 Sexuality (36010)
 Small Business (49312)
 Software (83034)
 Spiritual (23517)
 Sports (116155)
 Tax (7663)
 Telecommuting (34070)
 Travel & Tourism (308305)
 UK Property Investment (3123)
 Video Games (13382)
 Web Traffic (11790)
 Website Design (56919)
 Website Promotion (36663)
 World News (1000+)
 Writing (35843)
Author Spotlight
DESIGNPLUZ DIGITALAGENCY

Designpluz has steadily matured from a passionate graphics design start-up, into a full service digi...more
ELLIOT CHANG

Financial analyst and author writing on economy and business. ...more
TAL BARNEA

Tal is an electrical engineer with over 25 years of expertise with hardware, software, mechanical an...more
MANMOHAN SINGH

Digital marketing professional with 8 years of experience. A good listner, Stratgist and fun loving ...more
LEMUEL ASIBAL

Lemuel Asibal is a web content writer who also ventures on writing articles and blog posts about any...more


Where Coffee Comes From. My Guatemalan Coffee Memoirs. by Chris Rawstern





Article Author Biography
Where Coffee Comes From. My Guatemalan Coffee Memoirs. by
Article Posted: 10/31/2012
Article Views: 86
Articles Written: 98
Word Count: 822
Article Votes: 0
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Where Coffee Comes From. My Guatemalan Coffee Memoirs.


 
Cooking,Food & Beverages,Party Ideas
I moved to Guatemala at just turned 20 years old. I didn't like coffee unless it was loaded with sugar and cream. After just a few short months I learned to love the coffee made Guatemalan style. When brewing coffee, most particularly in a percolator way back then, and in any pot that repeatedly washes hot water over the grounds, the more often the washing over the grounds, the more bitter the coffee.

In Guatemala, they used tiny little pots with a filter set on top, similar in concept to those aluminum single cup mechanisms sold in the U.S., except the place to put the coffee grounds was much deeper and sat well within the pot. Over the grounds, they poured boiled water, trickling it over by tiny increments, until they extracted about a quarter cup of what they called coffee essence. They would use a very tiny amount of the essence in a coffee cup, and pour hot water over the essence until the cup was as full as desired. In effect, they reconstituted the very concentrated essence. Made this way, the coffee was not only palatable, but unlike anything I had ever tasted.

My Dad, accompanying me on my first trip to Guatemala, also came home completely enamored of this new method of making coffee. Previously, he would drink his coffee with cream and sugar, but now switched to only sugar, since the coffee tasted so much better. He brought home one of those little pots, so they could make their coffee this way all the time. Mom would also spend the time to make a larger quantity of the essence, a bit at a time, and would fill a little jar with it. Dad would take this with him to work, and by adding a little of the essence and hot water, could also have a great cup of coffee there. Just like instant coffee, but far better.

Guatemala is a coffee country and coffee is a large part of the farming that occurs there. Observing all the work that went into making coffee ready for exportation in its green, unroasted state was an amazing learning process. Coffee trees are small, and cannot thrive in too direct sunlight. To help the small trees, other taller trees are interspersed, to provide shade, such as banana, with their wide leaves, and other larger hardwoods. Migrant workers would travel to the various coffee plantations at harvest and pick the ripe, red berries. The coffee berries were then washed and tumbled repeatedly, until all the fruit was stripped away and only the seed was left. At this point the seeds were very soft and a rather pale white color. Once all the outer pulp was completely washed away, the coffee was moved to huge drying patios. These are large expanses of concrete, where the coffee beans are moved continuously, hour after hour, during sunlight. Once the sun goes down, there are corralled in lean to type sheds where the beans rest for the night, to be brought back into the sun the next day. This is a lengthy process, and the workers tirelessly push the beans around in the sun with a wooden tool shaped like an upside down letter T. The flat bar pushes and turns the beans as they walk. Once the beans are dried to the desired state, they are loaded into burlap sacks for export. An overriding scent memory today is that of burlap. It transports me back to the coffee plantations in Guatemala. My father in law also taught me to roast the green coffee, and gave me tips to know exactly when to stop roasting so it wouldn't burn. Using a large, blackened skillet, usually outside over an open fire, the dry beans are moved constantly in the hot pan while they toast. As they would begin to darken, and as soon as one bean could easily be crushed between two fingers, the pan must come off the heat. The beans hold enough residual heat that they will continue to roast. Wait too long and the beans are burnt, and ruined. It is a delicate balance. These days, my tastes in coffee have been refined. I have no idea if I would still love the coffee from Guatemala. My taste these days seems to run to coffees from Ethiopia. Nowadays, good Arabica coffee is found practically on every corner, but I still recall my youthful time in Guatemala with gratefulness for all the things I was able to learn while living there.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. I hope it was informative and helped you along your own culinary journey. Visit my Web site A Harmony of Flavors my Blog at A Harmony of Flavors Blog my Marketplace A Harmony of Flavors Marketplace or Facebook page, A Harmony of Flavors.

Related Articles - coffee, coffee essence, roast coffee, coffee bean, guatemala coffee, arabica coffee, green coffee, coffee plantations, instant coffee,

Email this Article to a Friend!

Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box!
Subscribe for free today!

 Rate This Article  
Completely useless, should be removed from directory.
Minimal useful information.
Decent and informative.
Great article, very informative and helpful.
A 'Must Read'.

 

Do you Agree or Disagree? Have a Comment? POST IT!

 Reader Opinions 
Submit your comments and they will be posted here.
Make this comment or to the Author only:
Name:
Email:
*Your email will NOT be posted. This is for administrative purposes only.
Comments: *Your Comments WILL be posted to the AUTHOR ONLY if you select PRIVATE and to this PUBLIC PAGE if you select PUBLIC, so write accordingly.
 
Please enter the code in the image:



 Author Login 
LOGIN
Register for Author Account

 

Advertiser Login

 

ADVERTISE HERE NOW!
   Limited Time $60 Offer!
   90  Days-1.5 Million Views  

 

Great Paranormal Romance


TIM FAY

After 60-plus years of living, I am just trying to pass down some of the information that I have lea...more
LAURA JEEVES

At LeadGenerators, we specialise in content-led Online Marketing Strategies for our clients in the t...more
ALEX BELSEY

I am the editor of QUAY Magazine, a B2B publication based in the South West of the UK. I am also the...more
GENE MYERS

Author of four books and two screenplays; frequent magazine contributor. I have four other books "in...more
SUSAN FRIESEN

Located in the lower mainland of B.C., Susan Friesen is a visionary brand strategist, entrepreneur, ...more
STEVERT MCKENZIE

Stevert Mckenzie, Travel Enthusiast. ...more
STEPHEN BYE

Steve Bye is currently a fiction writer, who published his first novel, ‘Looking Forward Through the...more
SHALINI MITTAL

A postgraduate in Fashion Technology. Shalini is a writer at heart! Writing for her is an expression...more
ADRIAN JOELE

I have been involved in nutrition and weight management for over 12 years and I like to share my kn...more
JAMES KENNY

James is a Research Enthusiast that focuses on the understanding of how things work and can be impro...more

HomeLinksAbout UsContact UsTerms of UsePrivacy PolicyFAQResources
Copyright © 2024, All rights reserved.
Some pages may contain portions of text relating to certain topics obtained from wikipedia.org under the GNU FDL license