Take me to your cafecito! Take me to your cappuccino!

I am going to talk a tiny bit about coffee since I am on a coffee island and I just had one cup. At this time, my parents and friends in Cambodia just had a cup, parents-in-law, relatives and friends in Germany, France will wake up to a cup, so do our friends in Denmark, the Netherlands and worldwide. If you're having one right now, well, HOLLER!

Most of us love coffee, don't we? So let's begin with a coffee history. According to National Coffee Association USA, "In the Ethiopian highlands, where the legend of Kaldi, the goatherd, originated, coffee trees grow today as they have for centuries. Though we will never know with certainty, there probably is some truth to the Kaldi legend. It is said that he discovered coffee after noticing that his goats, upon eating berries from a certain tree, became so spirited that they did not want to sleep at night. Kaldi dutifully reported his findings to the abbot of the local monastery who made a drink with the berries and discovered that it kept him alert for the long hours of evening prayer.  Soon the abbot had shared his discovery with the other monks at the monastery, and ever so slowly knowledge of the energizing effects of the berries began to spread.  As word moved east and coffee reached the Arabian peninsula, it began a journey which would spread its reputation across the globe. Today coffee is grown in a multitude of countries around the world. Whether it is Asia or Africa, Central or South America, the islands of the Caribbean or Pacific, all can trace their heritage to the trees in the ancient coffee forests on the Ethiopian plateau."

Dominican Coffee

is of Arabica species and the common varieties are Typica and Caturra. It is of course Dominican national non-alcoholic drink. Everyone we know drinks coffee. In the supermarkets, you'd find the stands with folks from different companies inviting you to try coffee. In some hospitals you'd find a lady or two walking around with a thermo bottle almost as big as the fire extinguisher to distribute coffee to the nurses or patients or whoever waiting around. At universities, staffs also get their cups in order to keep them awake. Never seems to work with my husband , though! And I have a proof. :-D Coffee here is known as very strong and very sweet because it is commonly being served with a great amount of sugar. It is the standard way for the Dominicans drinking their coffee. Drinking it bitter is a rare case. In the restaurants, cafés or even in the colmados (small stores) if you come from a country that drinking coffee with milk and not with sugar, you'd have to ask especially for it otherwise you'll get the standard one. At some places they will look at you as if you are an alien because of what you order. But better to be viewed as alien rather than having your eyeballs pop out because the coffee is too strong even to sip if we are not used to it. Extracted from an article found on the dr1.com website (massive thanks for a great article), it stated, "In the Dominican Republic, a simple cup of coffee manages to cross all barriers of class and wealth, and is equally revered and adored in the wealthiest mansions of the sophisticated urban rich as it is in the poorest rural campesino shack, as well as everywhere in between. In fact, caffeine's properties as an appetite suppressant and a stimulant probably accounts for much of its popularity among the poor, but everyone, whether they own a mule or a Mercedes Benz, can testify to the richness of the taste. Visit any Dominican household, and however poor it may be, you will always be offered a cup of coffee at the very least, and it is not customary to refuse it, even if you are not usually a coffee drinker. If you are a coffee lover but are averse to so much sugar, you will still need to drink at least a couple of token sips in recognition of your hosts' hospitality. In the humblest houses this is often all your hosts can afford, and therefore an important point of pride. To refuse an offer of a cafecito is seen as ungracious at best, and sometimes downright unpatriotic!"

No longer a coffee virgin

I had my first coffee in 2005, I needed it to stay awake to study for the exam. I made myself a cup of that Nescafe instant coffee. After the first few sips, I began to feel sick, hyper, my heart raced. I decided me and coffee (yeah that isn't even a coffee right?) aren't sympatico. I stood by my decision and refused anything that has something to do with coffee even the irresistable taffies. But it changed in 2008 during my first trip to Germany as Jens introduced me to his family. Every three o'clock, is coffee and cake o'clock at his parents' house. You might predict the story now :-). You are in love, you want to show to everyone on your boyfriend's side that you are kind of lioness yet an easy-going person, you are in front of his folks, the last thing you want to do is to refuse any nice offers that are laid on the tables before your eyes. At least that is what most of us Khmer people do. I heard some dare not even coughing or sneezing or literally even breathing in front of their boyfriend's or girlfriend's family. :-D They didn't force me, often they said I don't have to drink if I don't want or can't, they can bring tea or juice but you don't want to give your future in laws extra work when you can just swallow that damn thing and toss a piece of Erdbeertorte in your mouth afterward. I was aware of my smell-good enemy, I filled my cup with milk so basically it was more milk than coffee ;-) so everything ended up less embarassing. I continued sipping coffee every day for a month, I reduced the amount of milk-cheating gradually and here we go, now, I can down two espressos at a time. Guilty pleasure! By the way, who says coffee is addictive? I drink everyday and I don't have that problem. (Get the silly joke? O.K. you are good!)
When Jens came to the D.R. he often boasted about good coffee the country has to offer which I would like very much to try therefore he had to bring me to it. Hmm a cup of cappuccino using Dominican coffee beans. Good idea!

The first year as a new member in this growing society, I was very lucky to be able to live in a residencial area up in the mountain a little bit outside of the town. We rented a beautiful three-bedroom house surrounded by royal palm trees (Roystonea hispaniolana) which is endemic to this island. The view down to the town was simply stunning and idyllic especially in the night. You don't usually hear any noise pumped up by human, instead only by the crickets and sometimes that of cicada insects around the house. Everything for us back then was in a tranquil status even after our daughter was born. Babies cry at certain moments but that's it. It was still the joy in the household which we wouldn't count it as unpleasant noise. Only until two years later when we moved out of 'our' mountainous house to live in a barrio near the town.

Somebody once said "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone". This quote gives a meaning to what I encounter next. Living up in the mountain and only once or twice a week being whisked away in a car to jump in the supermarkets and back to your comforting home didn't really give you deep or wider insights. You could see the chaos on/along the roads but what is it like to live in the chaos? In the village of our second house, people seemed to never sleep. You'd see or hear them every flipping time walking around or screaming from house to house even to borrow an egg or so. They'd sit on their plastic chairs and yell. On one occasion I thought they have heated argument because of their tones in their conversation. But if you bother to listen carefully they were only discussing about which hair net or hair roller are the best or which lawn mower or grass cutter should they mess with at 8p.m. at the weekend. Please don't get it wrong, they are actually kind people. We met and continue to meet many friendly locals, it is just that was how they do. Sometimes I can't help but thinking, whether it is logical or scientifically correct or not, it might have something to do with their year year long habit of drinking coffee, so long that it becomes natural to be so full of energy and eyes wide open. Also, usually they don't have many activities in their daily life, not doing anything enough to drain themselves out, so it only need a bit of coffeine to wake themselves ... and everyone up. 

On another note, being here we also have been blessed with some really good friends. One of our favourites is the Wallace family, Chad and Krista are partners in the "Ecological Reserved" Spirit Mountain farm with their friend in the US. Beside being a sustainable agro-forestry project, with eco-tourism, forestry, environmental and university research components, this farm produces organic certified coffee and honey. Located about 25 km from Jarabacoa town, it is one of our few favourite destinations for enjoying family time at the weekend. Any visitors we had, were brought there and everyone had a good time and some new experiences. Last year we had an opportunity to invite our nephew who just finished his high school in Germany to come over and doing voluntary work: coffee roasting/packing for Spirit Mountain coffee which he enjoyed very much. Spirit Mountain coffee is slowly becoming recognised in niches of differentiated coffee market locally and internationally under the highest quality standards. In the recent event of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), held in Boston in April, 2013, it was selected among the top 18 specialty coffees from 7,000 participating farms from all over the world. Their coffee has been shown to the public during the Cupping for Quality for Sustainable coffee. With certainty, there are many types of good coffee products here in the land but Spirit Mountain coffee has been our most favoured. Beside being brewed almost daily in our kitchen, it has places in our life journey, from being given to guests as Thank-You presents on our wedding to drinking myself to death in order to stay awake to watch football. :-) For your interests, you can find out more about Spirit Mountain coffee on their official webpage http://www.spiritmountaincoffee.com/


 Now comes some photos

Freshly roasted SM coffee beans.

Young coffee experts!
Well not really. Just collecting and eating coffee berries off the shrubs

SM coffee (orange packages with white label) for our guests on our 
wedding day in Germany

>>Proof<<. "Coffee? What coffee?" Said Jens.

MINE. 

Quote for today: "When in doubt, tell the truth brew one cup." :-)

I am having my cappuccino now, and I am happy. It is better to be happy than to be "Despresso" right? ;-)

Note: Some sections in this article are expressed based on the author's own experience with certain group of people, time and place(s) and isn't in any way being directed as a generalisation to the Dominican Republic and its people.  

Saludos,