Coffee Plantation

Went to a coffee plantation in the Arusha suburb of Tengeru yesterday.  Our tour guides Clemency & Noel were very fun to have along.  They actually had prior careers as porters, carrying packs for people up Mt. Meru as well as Kilimanjaro.  Guess they got tired of the heavy trekking and settled for the less rigorous activities.  It was funny b/c I was late waking up, so as soon as I was ready to go, we had to go.  I didn't get time for my usual cup of joe, but I also thought that since we were doing the coffee tour, no problem. I'd just get some along the way.  After our arrival, our guides sat us down on the lawn and brought out cups and saucers and what I thought was surely a taste of their home brewed, home roasted coffee.  Much to my dismay, it was instead lemon grass and ginger tea from ingredients also grown at their plantation.  After having a relaxing tea in the garden, we did our little hike into the woods where we saw the coffee trees and learned a little bit about the harvesting process.  Then we came back to our starting point to shell some raw beans with a large mortar and pestel, roast the beans by hand over a charcoal fire, then hand grind the beans, again using the mortar and pestel.  The whole process took approximately 90min from start to finish, and never had I put that much effort into a cup of coffee.  It was definitely worth it!  This is Africa, and since people aren't big on coffee drinking here, good coffee is hard to find.  Most people just do with instant, which is NOT the same.  I can't even find a French press in this town.  I got to buy some fresh coffee after the tour, and the way it is brewed since it is ground so finely is by boiling without any filtration, the sediment cooks down and sinks to the bottom.  It's quite nice, but rather difficult to do on a daily basis at home.  I may just have to do with instant for now, sadly.  Here are some pics of the day: https://plus.google.com/photos/113979206884651606903/albums/5835199289788376545?authkey=COCJkorgu_2ChwE