Today, on my morning walk up the mountain, I found a lady doing her own thing with coffee on the side of the road. I stopped to chat. She was delighted to show me her process.
She dries the coffee for 3 days, then peels roughly by hand. Then it goes through the hand turned maize grinder before being sorted and roasted in a thick bottomed pan on the fire.
While we were pushing coffee through the maize grinder she picked up her phone and started to make some calls. Surprised but not so much anymore, I thought she was trying to sell me black soil at $15 per meter for my farm; but some 20 mins later, I realized she was trying to sell me her farm.
Anyway, she could not have been more generous with her time and gave me some of her coffee which has a rather nice fruity chocolate in there somewhere. Thank you! And anyone interested in a coffee farm in Palmira for $15 a square meter, I'll happily put you in touch with the vendor.