Thank God for creating coffee, real coffee not decaffeinated. My coffee of choice is Juan Ana Coffee from San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala. I was introduced to this coffee some years ago when traveling with Global Awareness Through Experience (GATE). We visited San Lucas Tolimán, a small village where a co-operative produces this coffee.
San Lucas Tolimán is in a part of the world where conditions are perfect for raising the very best of coffees. It is high in the mountains in the very foothills of the volcanoes Tolimán and Atitlan. San Lucas Tolimán is on the shores of the magnificent Lake Atitlan. The soil is volcanic ash rich in organic matter. The days are warm but nights cool. It is perfect altitude, climate, and soil conditions for excellent coffee production.
After dinner one night I was enjoying a cup of this coffee and said out loud to the local pastor, Father Greg, that I wished I could purchase Juan Ana Coffee in the USA. He said I could and told me that the Mission Office in New Ulm, MN, where he was from, was taking orders and shipping the coffee out. I asked how much it cost and said it was the same price that I could purchase it there, $7 for a 17 oz sealed bag within a canvas bag. All the money goes directly to persons who grow and packaged the coffee. There is additional charge for UPS delivery but even with this additional cost, this high quality coffee is still less that quality fair trade coffee in the States.
This memory trip back to my journey in Guatemala (see Buried in Guatemala) comes on a day when coffee keeps me going. For some reason my body has been extremely tired these days and to keep my mind working I turned to a few more cups of coffee than I would normally drink in a day.
Some countries, like India and England, rely on tea to relax and offer some energy. In the USA many of us are coffee drinkers the way God created it. We rely on it, for better or worse, to give us a lift during the day. Thank God for Juan Ana Coffee and the people of San Lucas Tolimán.
Comments
Dave Kruschke — 15 October 2010, 16:18
In 1554 coffee houses opened on the Golden Horn, and became known as schools of the cultured. In Egypt, there were many coffee houses. Coffee became called the “milk of chess-players and of thinkers.” Coffee facilitated conversation, and the drinking of coffee in public places stimulated more conversation among men than any other event in history.
Edward Lloyd’s coffeehouse opened in 1688. This operation eventually became Lloyd’s of London, the world’s best known insurance company. By 1700, over 2,000 coffeehouses operated within the city. Coffeehouses were known as “penny universities,” for a penny was charged for a cup of coffee and a quickening of the wit
Finally, probably unknown to present day Tea Party Patriots, the original Tea Party Patriots embraced coffee over tea from England. And coffee has been widely popular in the USA ever since…
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