Page 20 - #62 eng e-mag

c Cover story

Waking up and feeling a smell of freshly made coffee might not be something unusual for a coffee
lover, but have you ever woken up to see your coffee growing on a tree and feel the magical aroma of its
fruits and flowers? One of this kind of trips is visiting a coffee farm. It is a growing trend as it does not
require any serious preparation or physical training as well as spending too much money: most of the farms
are located in developing countries, where living cost is not high. There are many beautiful places to visit,
let’s see together where you can go next time when craving for coffee and new experience.

Colombia tation. Fine Brazil estate coffee usually arrives
Colombia is one of the most famous in December or January, when the tempera-
countries that produce coffee. Telling to your ture is between 22-27 degrees Celsius, January
relatives that you are going to the country may is the wettest month. This month should be
still provoke a shudder and a warning to be avoided if you don’t like too much rain. Rain-
careful in a country where there were once fall is abundant, particularly during the sum-
rampant drug violence and kidnappings. As mer season from October through March.
for now, Colombia seem to leave all the prob- Brazilians speak Portuguese, as it used to be
lems in the past as government signed a peace a Portuguese colony, and use Brazilian real
deal with extremists organizations to end any (0.31 USD) to pay for coffee, or anything else,
bloody conflicts. Farmers in their fancas com- in this beautiful country. There are 93 coun-
pete for the best coffee and FNC (Colombian tries that are not required visa to stay in
Coffee Growers Federation) allows the best of Brazil, including Thailand, South Korea, Sin-
the best get the fame and the money they gapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
deserve. Moreover, there are coffee tour com-
panies (like Toucan Cafe & Tours), providing Ethiopia
full packaged experience, and fincas, that are Ethiopia is considered to be the birth-
ready to host you and show you all the secrets place of Arabica coffee, including everyone’s
behind your coffee (eg. Finca Hotel Los Ar- favourite Panamanian Geisha. That is why
rayanes). Fincas and tour companies usually travelling around Africa and not visiting a
provide farm visits, cuppings, barista work- coffee farm in Ethiopian would be something
shops and some local sightseeing. Colombia that you might regret later. There are plenty
grows coffee all year round, but the best time coffee tours available in Ethiopia, but the most
to go would be during the main harvest from interesting one might be the one that takes
October to March with the temperature vary- you through coffee origin tour, telling you not
ing from 22-32°C. In December starts high only the story of coffee, but also story of
season that brings plenty of sunny days as well Ethiopia and its people. The tour takes 10 days
as domestic holidaymakers, so you should plan and is full of new knowledge and once-in-a-
well if you are going to Colombia during this lifetime adventures. You can easily check out
more information or book your tickets at cof-
time. Moreover, you should check if you need
The visa to enter the country and make sure to feeoriginstravel.com. Lying just north of the
Equator, the country experiences little varia-
exchange some money as people here pay with
Road Colombian peso (0.00036 USD). tion in temperature throughout the year. The
best time to go would be from October to April
Brazil
as it is the harvesting season and the tem-
to climates, but wherever you go in the country, perature is around 17-26 °C. October and
Brazil is a huge country and has different
November are known as belg, which means
autumn, and the beginning of harvest, while
Brazil is a traveller’s heaven: full of rivers,
the waterfalls, mountainous national parks, beau- December and January are bega (winter) and
are considered a dry season and the end of
tiful islands and, of course, coffee. Visiting
harvest. The season is dry and cool which
Sao Paulo, there is one tour not to be missed,
Black it is the Campinas Coffee Plantation Tour. This requires light clothing during the day, but
something a bit warmer for the evening. There
is a full day of touring that will take you
are over 80 different languages spoken in
through a coffee farm and give you a wonder-
Gold ful historical perspective, as well as insight Ethiopia, but the official one is Amharic lan-
guage, which is related to Arabic. Neverthe-
into the process your coffee beans go through
less, English is the most widely spoken foreign
from seed to harvest and processing to expor-

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