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03-25-2013, 04:57 PM
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The Roastmaster General
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Second Bloom
One coffee farmer I deal with is a former neighbor of mine here in NJ. Awesome guy. We visited his farm this week, discovering an earlier second bloom than usual (it has been very dry). The road to his coffee farm in Puerto Rico is not for the faint of heart. The hills are steep and treacherous. A single moment lost concentration could be the difference between life and death. I kid you not. The Army Corp of engineers built this “road” in the mountain in the 1960’s. The road in itself is a miracle.
We offer his Puerto Rican Mountain Grown coffee on occasion. It sells briskly, and we do not get a large amount of it at a time. I did savor his naturally sundried coffee during my stay. It was very smooth. Sadly, the coffee industry in Puerto Rico is a shell of its former self. In its heyday, Puerto Rican coffee offered from the Yauco region was superb. It was expensive because pickers had to be paid US minimum wage. Now the major Puerto Rico farms have been bought up. Its owner will turn a profit. Marketing power is key. I digress. Here are some pics. The sweet smell of jasmine in the morning as the sun rises is captivating. These are old vines. Caturra and bourbon plants. Enjoy the view. The road at the midway point in. Looks easy, dropped my heart about a hundred times to get here:  About a third of the way down, just outside of the drivers side door, my feet were pointing down. Your can see the electrical tower way down below. This pic does the steepness no justice:  The darker leaf in the center of the pic are all trimmed coffee vines.  Some more smaller trees:  Bloom boom!  Just a small snapshot. These pics and others will be placed on our company website. But I wanted you to get a feel for the amazing journey that coffee has to go through from seed to cup. There are so many variables that affect a final cup's quality. Just wanted to share from the farm side.
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