Today was a day full of surprises. The day dawned clear, so it was appropriate to go for a walk. I wanted to buy fruits and vegetables from the local sellers, but two bags of coffee arrived unintentionally in my bag.
Did I tell you that I live near a forest? Well, that's right! To find supplies and shops you have to walk a distance of 1 kilometer. This route can also be done by car, but if you like to walk, it is a good route.
However, there are days of the week when local fruit and vegetable producers set up stands in the open air to sell their products. It is something that I think is good because you can buy fresh food and you don't have to go all the way to the city.
The sellers are organized by sectors according to what they sell. On one side are those who sell vegetables and fruits, and on the other are those who sell clothes and bread.
However, at the end of the stands, I saw something different. It was a place that sold coffee. It is not usual here!
My husband and I approached it like a bee to pollen 🤣 to see what new we could find.
It was a small but well-organized booth. You could tell at a glance that these sellers were not locals as they seemed intimidated by our friendliness. Truth be told, everyone here in the forest knows each other because we are a small community, and friendliness and camaraderie are our stamp.
But coffee can do it all! When we asked the sellers where they came from and what type of coffee they sold, they relaxed and told us that they are small entrepreneurs who bring their product from a town more than 200 kilometers away. I think this is wonderful! It is an effort that these sellers make to place their product in the market.
Despite being an artesanal coffee, the packaging was very neat and professional. The packaging was airtight and aluminized. They also had their labels with instructions on how to prepare it. It elevates the standard of their product. However, I believe that the environmental conditions are not the best for this product, as the stand was in an area where the sun's rays were strong. This can affect the coffee beans (in spite of being well packed).
My husband and I decided to support these entrepreneurs and bought two packages of coffee. One of them was a medium roast blend. Of this, we bought the half-pound presentation, since we like to buy more coffee beans and grind them ourselves at home. We also bought another 1-pound package of medium roast Arabica coffee but in beans.
When we got home, we could not resist the temptation to open one of the packages and prepare a delicious cup of coffee. The package we tasted was ground coffee. It had a reddish color and a quartz-type grind, so we thought it was convenient to filter it by drip.
The final result was a cup of smooth coffee with little body but with citric and floral aromas, perhaps a coffee suitable to accompany us in front of the pc and finish some of our work-related matters.
I am looking forward to seeing how the coffee beans from the package that I have yet to open turn out. If the coffee turns out to be of high quality and these vendors come frequently to the community market, perhaps we will be some of the clients that support their enterprise.
All images are property of the author
(Camera cell phone: POCO X3 Pro, Xiaomi)
The author's original text in Spanish was translated into English using DeepL
