Is Your Coffee "Good"?

Coffee is a key part of the Guatemalan economy, as you may know. Fresh coffee here tastes very different than Tim Horton's, as you may also know. But Tim Horton's buys coffee from here too, and you can read about that by clicking here. "Fair Trade" coffee is a good idea, but it's hard to know if the local grower actually benefits sometimes, or if the markup gets split among the middlemen and the marketers.

Coffee plants come in two standard types here: Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is the more expensive to cultivate, grows at higher altitudes, and contains far less caffeine.

A few tips for making better coffee at home:

• heat your coffeepot with hot water before brewing into it. There is a chemical reaction when hot coffee hits cold glass/porcelain, and that's what gives it a bitter taste.
• heat your mug with hot water before filling it, for the same reason.
• we often put milk in the mug first, and microwave it - then the milk isn't cooling down your hot coffee. Coffee with milk here is "cafe con leche", and the milk is served hot.
  
• grind your beans just before brewing. Ground coffee loses its fresh taste quickly.
• double-bag your sealed beans in 2 ziploc bags, and keep it in the freezer. Once you've broken the seal, the coffee starts to lose its best taste.
  
• use filtered water if you can.

These are all tips we've learned from Mike at Crossroads Cafe. Crossroads serves the best coffee we've ever tasted. Enjoy!