A coffee class

Greetings, friends of Cinnamon Cup Coffee.

About fifteen days ago, I visited a coffee shop that is relatively close to my home. The visit had two purposes: to have a good coffee and to talk to the owner about an activity I want to do there. I will tell you about the pleasant experience.

In my city, for several years, it has become fashionable to hold talks and mini-workshops in coffee shops that are willing to give up their space for a certain number of hours. I was looking for a small and cozy place to give a micro-workshop to a group that I have formed and that are supporting me as participants in my biodance classes and that I need to give them to continue advancing in my training in this area.

Talking with some of the participants about what I wanted to do, one of them told me that her daughter had a cafeteria and that maybe the place would be appropriate. She gave me the girl's phone number, I called her, and we agreed on a date and time to talk and make arrangements.

The day arrived, my husband wanted to go with me, and we left with the idea of having a good time talking with the young lady and reaching a good understanding. Indeed we did. The general idea was a win-win formula. She gives me her space for two or three hours for me to dictate my workshop and the participants have the commitment to consume at least one coffee, of those that she offers in her business.

Once we agreed, sipping a delicious coffee, the conversation began to turn to the quality of the coffees, and then she set out to give us an interesting class on coffee.

He began by showing us a holder of tubes with coffee beans of different shades, he took four tubes and placed samples of each one on different plates. There he spoke to us about coffee roasting and the importance of this process to obtain, at the time of brewing, a coffee of good quality and optimum flavor. He invited us to chew and savor each type of bean displayed on the plates.

The darker one turned out to be quite bitter, due to overcooking, practically burnt, that reminded me of the artisanal coffee that one buys in the coastal towns of my region and that one innocently acquires thinking that this dark color means greater purity, it turns out that it is “burnt”, hence its bitter taste.

The lighter colored one leaves a sour trail is that it is still raw, it lacked heat, roasting, which makes it easier to decompose grabbing bacteria that change its flavor. The two that were in the middle turned out to have the most ideal cooking. With one of them he prepared us a new coffee that was really exquisite.

Then he had my husband pass him a large jar full of coffee seeds, this coffee had remains of leaves, sticks, shells and seeds with different shades of roasting, and he told us that this was the type of coffee that we bought in the supermarket packages. Yes, the kind that we normally buy and that since it is ground we do not know the degree of its purity.

Afterwards he spoke to us about the preparation of the coffee, the types of coffee pots, the measures and temperatures, there was where he prepared the coffee in a French coffee pot, of which I had never had reference, something that surprised me was that the color does not have to do with the flavor, because if you look we see a clear coffee, what we would call in these parts a guayoyo, which I do not like, it seems to me that it lacks consistency, however, this was clear, but with great flavor and consistency.

A client arrived looking for an aeropress, which she had put aside. Flor, that is the name of the young entrepreneur, took the opportunity to tell us about this wonderful invention that, according to her words, has the best of the espresso machines and the magic of the French coffee maker, will I buy one?

So many things can be learned in a short time! It was an afternoon of joyful sharing, of pleasant conversation, mediated by this exquisite beverage that unites us: Coffee!