Making Coffee

This is a much more difficult task in Haiti then it is in the United States.  First you go and pick the beans from the plant or buy them from the market.  Then you let them dry out in the sun for a day or two depending on how humid it is at the time.   Once they are dry you take off the outer coat to roast the coffee bean inside.  Roasting them - this is a long process; you stir and stir and stir the beans in a large pot over charcoal or wood.  After they have made a crunching, popping noise you know they are finished.  Then you put them in a large pedestsel and pound them into a powder.  After you have pounded and pounded, often times the person makes a lovely rhythm.  It is quite beautiful when you have two people working together to make the music, I mean the coffee grounds.  The powder is run through a strainer several times to make sure it is fine enough.  You then have the grounds to make coffee in the morning.  In the morning hopefully there is water to boil, if not you head to the well to fill up a 5 gallon bucket of water to start your work for the day.  Then you start the water boiling over charcoal or wood.  It takes a bit of time to get it started.  The boiling water has lots and lots of sugar, to make it rich and wonderful -Haitian style.  Then you pour the boiling sugar water through a small cloth sack.  They often do this pouring of boiling water with nothing in their hand to protect themselves, such as a pot holder or other barrier.  The coffee pours out of the small cloth sack in a lovely stream of rich black coffee.  The coffee is sweet and dark!  The mama’s often put it in a large metal cup at first to mix it back and forth.  Then with that little bit in the metal cup; they swish it around cooling it so they can have that first sip of the morning.   I am sometimes there for this long morning process and other times I may still be in bed.  I am always thrilled to hear those magic words from Mama Philomen in the morning – “Café, Angelica”.  I try never to take this for granted.  I greet her with a big smile and say “Mesi!”  Being very grateful for the couple day process she went through to make coffee for the family and myself.  Sometimes I think about brewing up my coffee in the States - opening my cupboard, putting a couple scoops of grounds in the filter, filling up the pitcher with water from my sink, and pushing the button.  After I have had time to get dressed for my day – and magically my coffee is ready.  Ahhhh – and then the magic did happen – as I sat on my bed early in the morning writing this – I didn’t hear Philo but heard the noise of the coffee pot and cups hitting my table and then Papi brought me in a cup of coffee.   Shortly after that Jerzie ran in for her little sip of coffee too.  Oh moments to cherish.