Boquete Day One: The real experience of a coffee plantation. A trip to Finca La Milagrosa. If you are going to visit a coffee plantation you might as well have the full experience. Tito Vargas will show you the process from the tree all the way to a filled cup in front of you. Whether you like coffee or not, its an entertaining education. Especially with the personality that Tito Vargas brings. I ask Tito how many cups of coffee he drinks a day, and he tells me, zero, he never drinks coffee! How could a coffee farmer be so anti-coffee? He then smiles to tell me, he jokes, he drinks 14 cups a day, 14 cups that are muy grande. Then to tell me the truth, he usually settles around two to three. The tour starts in the field, and if you ask nicely you can wear a berry pickers basket around your waist and get to work. From here the berries are washed, dried, roasted, ground and French pressed to be poured into your cup. You will leave with a clarity of how coffee is made. I had a special day at Tito’s. He invited some friends over and we tasted the difference between the roasts of American, French and Italian coffee. French was the general consensus of the favorite so we headed upstairs to see more of Tito’s hand made equipment. His coffee grinder includes a car tranismission, parts of a computer, I mean not just homemade but he really wings it when it comes to making everything. I walked out with coffee I made, because Tito lets this be a hands on process, and hands down was one of the highlights in Boquete! Make sure you check in with the HablaYa office before going and they will get you set up on the tour!
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