And I Saw Some Animals Of The No Planet B Design Live
Great Memories
It was getting cold in Europe when I put on my backpack and travelled to Africa for the first time in my life. I spent 16 days there with my girlfriend. Tanzania is a huge and wonderful country. Zanzibar is also part of it where we spent the first 5 days. The local vibe immediately caught me. "Hakuna Matata", the locals say to almost anything that might disturb their peace even just a little bit.
I saw dolphins in the open sea for the first time in my life and immediately jumped from the boat into the water. They swam under me like torpedoes. I also swam with protected sea turtles in a reservatory created for them, which was also a great experience, knowing that they escaped from fishing nets and have been given a second chance to live.
After five days came Mainland Tanzania, where we started our adventure with a four-day safari tour, and I was able to admire some of the animals of the No Planet B design. Among them, I saw elephants and leopards, but also many other animals, which are now unfortunately confined within the borders of national parks. I got a lot of inspiration for what kind of animals I will add to the No Planet B design collection in the future.
The Coffee Plantation
After the safari, we visited a coffee plantation. Tanzania is famous for growing coffee, some areas have the perfect climate for this. Approaching the Kilimanjaro by car is breathtaking. Africa's highest mountain rises alone above the plains and is visible from almost every direction, yet, often shy and hides behind the clouds. As a traveler it is hard to take our eyes off of her.
The coffee plantation is located somewhere at the foot of the mountain, we didn't have to climb much to get there. The mountain villages are characterized by a poverty unimaginable to Europeans, but in an environment resembling our – or at least my – imagination of paradise. This duality is also reflected in the locals' gaze. Despite the harshness of life there is joy in their eyes, inherent in the moment. HAKUNA MATATA!
The coffee farm
At first glance it is difficult to determine where the borders of the farm are. The infrastructure is very poor. Leaving the main road on the mountainside we had to approach the tiny cottage in the mud of the rain-soaked red sand, with goats resting in a half-open barn on the side. A small open pavilion stood next to the cottage, covered with a roof made of banana leaves, with a table and benches around it for the guests. Some young people showed all the steps of how coffee is made traditionally, from the unripe coffee beans to the preparation of the drink.
The Steps Of Coffee Processing
The Harvest
The coffee beans are harvested only when they are ripe. The coffee bush is not shaken in a way that the unripe seeds fall off. It is harvested by hand, fruit by fruit, over several days or – if necessary – several weeks, depending on the weather. The most important is not to rush the natural processes.
Cleaning From The First Shell
The harvested coffee beans are pressed through a hand grinder. They load the beans in the grinder – which is turned by hand – at the top. The green coffee seeds – without the flesh of the fruit – fall into a wooden bucket on the bottom. The first “skin” of the coffee beans is actually the flesh of the fruit.
Sorting
The freshly extracted green coffee beans are soaked in water. The good coffee beans sink to the bottom of the water, while the wrong ones float on top of it because of the air trapped in the passages chewed by the worms.
Cleaning From The Second Shell
After the green beans are dried – usually taking a day or two in good weather – the second husk must be removed. The coffee beans are put in a large wooden mortar and pounded with firm movements with a thick pestle until the dry second skin on each coffee bean cracks and separates from them. The seeds are then carefully tossed in the air from a large flat basket so that the wind catches the pieces of husk in the air and blows them away from the seeds that just drop back into the basket. This is repeated several times to make sure no husk remains before roasting. When there is no wind they themselves blow into the coffee beans thrown in the air.
Roasting
For roasting, they set fire on the ground, put a metal pot over it with the green coffee beans. With continuous stirring it takes about 10-20 minutes to roast the coffee beans. At 10 minutes I considered it a very light roast, at around 15 minutes we finished it with a nice medium roast. If we had continued, at 20 minutes it would have been a very dark roast. First the seeds turn yellow, then slowly brown, and finally completely dark. Continuous stirring is important to prevent the seeds from burning on either side.
During roasting the third shell of the coffee beans also cracks and separates. Once again they toss the beans from a flat basket in the air and let the wind do its work, or they just blow themselves.
We have tried this step of the process several times at home with my girlfriend, with a special ceramic pot for this purpose - I wrote about it before - and I can only encourage you to experiment with it to find your favorite aromas.
Coffee Grinding
The roasted beans are sprinkled back into the large mortar and pounded with firm movements with the pestle until they are ground into coffee powder. It is then sieved onto a tray, and the larger pieces repeat the process in the mortar to completely crush them as well.
The Coffee
A barista could talk for long about the methods of preparing the drink but that was not the point at this small farm. The coffee was brewed in perhaps the most traditional way. They put water in a pot and put it on the fire. They sprinkled the ground coffee in it and with frequent but slow stirring, it was boiled for a few minutes. Finally, it was poured into a jug and left to rest for a few minutes. There was no need for a coffee machine, they didn't even filter the brew. The coffee was simply poured from the pot into mugs for us to drink. As simple as it was served, it was perfect.
