More of What I Learned on My Trip to Jamaica-Coffee

Yesterday, I told you about our Jamaican Jeep Safari excursion.  Today I want to tell you more of what I learned about Jamaica on that said excursion.  This time it involves plants.One of our stops on our safari was at a coffee plantation.  When I thought of coffee I thought the bean actually grew on the tree, however, I was wrong.  A berry actually grows on the coffee tree, and inside that berry is beans, and that is the coffee bean.

Once the berries are ripe (the above picture is not ripe coffee), then workers come out and pick the coffee berries.  They are a red color when they are ripe.  The bean is actually white (I want to kick myself for not getting a picture of this). You will notice on this picture the coffee plants are not tall, in fact they are kept quite short.

The reason they keep the plants so short is because a lot of the workers that pick the coffee are women and they have to be able to reach every part of the plant.  Our tour guide told us that women usually pick the coffee because they have smaller hands than men and can pick more because of their small hands.

Once they pick the coffee they take all the berries and immerse them in water, the ones that float to the top are bad and are removed.  Once they find the good ones, they pop the beans out and roast them.

Did you know most of the coffee we drink is mixed with Jamaican coffee.  I will tell you however when I had my first cup of Jamaican coffee I was in love.  It was the best cup of coffee I have ever had.  Luckily, I brought some of it home with me!

Tomorrow I'll tell you about a little spice we use in our cooking and it sure does make egg nog taste good.

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