rudy
New member
Hello-
After a few days in Brazil, the worlds largest producer of coffee (according to wiki), here are some notes on our worldwide addiction...
Breakfast in portuguese is called "cafe da manhã" which translates literally as "morning coffee". Anyone who knows anything about translation knows that literal translations mean little compared to an actual translation, but in this case i think coffee is actually the main course. Coffee comes with a side of bread and butter, which you ignore if you are a woman (or possible eat in secrecy, but i have yet to observe a woman eat breakfast).
Coffee is made and kept hot in a hermetic thermos or pitcher. After a fresh pot is brewed everyone will pour a cup, most will go back for seconds, (i had thirds and fourths regularly :decaf: ). When you pour "black" coffee from the pitcher it already has sugar added (a fact that I lament, but as they say, "when in Rome"). Milk is an option but sweetened black coffee is the norm. To get coffee without sugar you would have to specify before it is prepared.
After breakfast, coffee is brewed another two or three times daily. The most interesting thing that has happened to me was while in a store shopping for clothes I was offered coffee. (Voce I accepted, of course, and was served a little plastic cup with black coffee with sugar (as i expected).
The coffee here is darker than most brews in the states, but everyone who says we drink water in the USA has had limited exposure (then again, I have only been here a few days and my experience is limited as well). In airports espresso is more common than drip coffee, but drip coffee in homes isn´t exceptionally strong. I get the sense that fresh beans, in house grinders and the such is pretty rare here, and I find it ironic that the coffee capital of the world is missing out on the potential of their crops. I´m sure there are connoisseurs who appreciate a fresh cup as much as the next I just have yet to find them (or their coffee shops!) Infact when I mentioned bringing back coffee as a gift most people responded along the lines of "coffee? you might as well buy them a pair of socks (or a bag of bic pens... or anything implying coffee in Brazil is nothing special)". Though on that note - one person pointed out a fact I overlooked: most of Brazils "premium" coffee is not in Brazil, it´s exported! (Probably to the US).
Tchau, i´ll get back if there are any other interesting developments!
-Rudy
(edited for grammar...)
After a few days in Brazil, the worlds largest producer of coffee (according to wiki), here are some notes on our worldwide addiction...
Breakfast in portuguese is called "cafe da manhã" which translates literally as "morning coffee". Anyone who knows anything about translation knows that literal translations mean little compared to an actual translation, but in this case i think coffee is actually the main course. Coffee comes with a side of bread and butter, which you ignore if you are a woman (or possible eat in secrecy, but i have yet to observe a woman eat breakfast).
Coffee is made and kept hot in a hermetic thermos or pitcher. After a fresh pot is brewed everyone will pour a cup, most will go back for seconds, (i had thirds and fourths regularly :decaf: ). When you pour "black" coffee from the pitcher it already has sugar added (a fact that I lament, but as they say, "when in Rome"). Milk is an option but sweetened black coffee is the norm. To get coffee without sugar you would have to specify before it is prepared.
After breakfast, coffee is brewed another two or three times daily. The most interesting thing that has happened to me was while in a store shopping for clothes I was offered coffee. (Voce I accepted, of course, and was served a little plastic cup with black coffee with sugar (as i expected).
The coffee here is darker than most brews in the states, but everyone who says we drink water in the USA has had limited exposure (then again, I have only been here a few days and my experience is limited as well). In airports espresso is more common than drip coffee, but drip coffee in homes isn´t exceptionally strong. I get the sense that fresh beans, in house grinders and the such is pretty rare here, and I find it ironic that the coffee capital of the world is missing out on the potential of their crops. I´m sure there are connoisseurs who appreciate a fresh cup as much as the next I just have yet to find them (or their coffee shops!) Infact when I mentioned bringing back coffee as a gift most people responded along the lines of "coffee? you might as well buy them a pair of socks (or a bag of bic pens... or anything implying coffee in Brazil is nothing special)". Though on that note - one person pointed out a fact I overlooked: most of Brazils "premium" coffee is not in Brazil, it´s exported! (Probably to the US).
Tchau, i´ll get back if there are any other interesting developments!
-Rudy
(edited for grammar...)
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