Taste test

The coffee people that I’m working with have been asking me for weeks if I’d like to do a blind taste test with them.  As per all invitations that I receive I accepted but didn’t think it would actually ever occur.  And then Saturday morning I received a phone call if I could be available to taste test in 45 minutes.  Not aware of what I was getting myself into, here is their “laboratory”.

How professional!  There were 10 samples of Nicaraguan brand name coffees equipped with new spoons every taste, a rotating table and spit jugs.  First step was aroma and sniffing the coffee grounds and writing what we smelled (sweet, acidic, chocolate, earthy, bitter, flowery etc.).  Then we moved on to aroma which was scent of the coffee grounds in boiling water.  And we finished it off with tasting the coffees in the traditional manner of slurping loudly, swishing it in our mouths and spitting it out.  Afterwards we wrote down which were our favorites and I NAILED IT!  My first choice was the product that we are selling and my second pick was the next highest quality competitor.  BOOM.

Also my holiday party went well!  I forgot to take pictures but 8 PCVs from as far as an hour away came to celebrate the end of the year.  People brought chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, veggies with dip, banana bread, chorizo tacos and sponge cake.  Fun was had by all!

This is my last post until I come home for the holidays!  Can't wait to see you all soon.  And Beth from Grace Lutheran, get healthy soon!

Start to dig

There has been progress on the well!  Yesterday, Roger (the “master of work” as the Nicas say) and I went to the community to see how construction was going.

The hole-soon-to-be-well

Roger giving me his approval (I think?)

Roger measured and it appears to already been 3 meters deep so only another 2 to go!  I’m hoping they’ll strike water by the New Year and we can do the water test shortly after.  Then, if the water doesn’t have arsenic, we should receive the funds to buy the materials in February!  Roger did scare me when he said our budget will be tight.  Guess we’ll have to wait and see.  But if any of you find yourself with some extra cash in February, let me know!

Tomorrow I'm hosting a holiday party for the PCVs that live nearby.  I'm preparing cheese, salami, crackers, pizza bagels and chocolate cake with, of course, wine and rum.  Feel free to stop on by!

Coffee Survey Analysis

Hey all.  I finished tabulating the results and prepared a report for the coffee cooperative.  Overall, things went quite well.  Adelia (the woman in charge) understood the relationships from the results and what we could infer from them.  An interesting cultural tidbit, Nicaraguans are not direct communicators.  Stereotypically speaking, Nicas will tell you want you want to hear instead of saying “no”.  A fun example, when I was moving into my house I needed a taxi because it was late (after 6pm).  I called the taxi guy I know and he said he was already home but he’ll swing by in 30 minutes.  Forty-five minutes later I called him and he said that he was held up but could come in an hour.  What he was really doing was giving me crazy estimates that he hoped I’d say no and he wouldn’t have to come.  See?  Saying “no” without saying “no”.  The point is it makes completing unbiased surveys very difficult.  For the question “what brand of coffee do you normally purchase?”, 76% responded Café Palo (our brand).  Obviously that’s outrageously overestimated and people were just saying that to not hurt our feelings.  Therefore, we’re making some small changes and then taking the survey to Esteli!

Tomorrow I’m going to check on the progress of the well.  I’ll put up some pictures then!