Ama

This is Ama (the Akka tribe word for grandma) and one of the friends I've been traveling with. Many of the families that live in the Akka village we are staying in grow coffee for a living, so Ama taught us how to pick coffee beans and sort them. We spent the afternoon learning about the whole process.

It began with a bumpy ride in the back of a pickup truck to their grove of coffee trees, where we picked beans. Then we sorted them and took giant sacks of them to a factory where we sold the beans (all 161 kilos/355 pounds). At the factory the beans are soaked in water then laid out on tarps to dry. They are stored in giant sacks and aged for one to three years before being roasted, bagged, and send around the world to be enjoyed.

I also got to drink a cup of the coffee after it was freshly roasted. It was strong and delicious. It was the first cup of coffee ever for my Thai friend in the picture. He added lots of milk and sugar, but the look on his face after the first sip was priceless. I could see him thinking, Why would anyone choose to drink this horrible tasting liquid???!!! He politely finished the cup but later said it made his head and stomach ache. It will probably be his first and last cup of coffee.