Espresso is roasted for 20 minutes

What did I do today? What didn't I do today? No, seriously. Well, I didn't shower, but this isn't about that.

The tour of the coffee plantation was absolutely fascinating to me. I never really knew about the process involved in coffee agriculture, but now I have a basic handle on the process. The farming practices down here, at least for coffee, seem more organic than anything else. This is presumably because of the rain, the volcanic soil, and the viability of bananas and sweet lemons as shade plants. They plant rows of coffee plants, which sort of look like boxy shrubs, around the sides of hills like a topographical map of sorts.

So the strengths of coffees depends on how long they are roasted, starting at 12 minutes and ranging up to 20 minutes for espresso. The caffeine removed in germany to create decaf is often sold to Coca Cola, who put it in their sodas. And that's why we're all addicted.

The different blends are made up of a number of roasts. House blend is made up of equal parts European and French blends, and Breakfast Blend is made up of equal parts French, European and Peaberry.

Peaberries are special coffee beans that are two beans fused together. It's a genetic effect that only occurs in 5% of the crop.

Butterflies are, in general, amazing. Additionally, they like me a lot. Not only did I have one land on my arm for a prolonged period, I had one actually land on my head for an absurd amount of time. It only left when I shoo'd it away.

I'm telling you, I've got the vibe. People don't believe me, but it's so true.




After our trip through the butterflies we saw hummingbirds and frogs. A hummingbird's heart can beat 12,000 times per minute. Hummingbirds are the smallest birds in the world but have the largest hearts and brains of any birds on the planet.
The frogs, it seems, are so sedentary that the staff puts little colored tags on the leaves where they see frogs in the morning. The vast majority of frogs on leaves were tagged, and the vast majority of tagged leaves had frogs. I was talking to Oliver about how some animals are so adapted to life in their habitat (Like spiders on a web for example) that they have little to no motivation to leave and explore any other habitat.

Also, did you know that poison dart frogs get their poison from the plants in the ants that they eat? Therefore, these frogs can be kept in captivity with no harm to people whatsoever, because they lack access to the specific ants that give them their toxicity. The frogs in captivity are often fed crickets and fruit flies, which causes them to lose their toxicity over time.

The walk through and around the waterfall area was absolutely absurd. I was speechless. I'm so fascinated by the environment. I spent time staring at every single plant and bird and insect. Every little plain green leaf or complex flower is a hypertext for millions of years of Darwinian struggle. Every single green patch of moss has its niche carved out and has developed its ability to exploit that environment to the maximum. It's truly impossible to do them all justice. There are so many millions of years of evolution represented that you cannot possibly fathom it all over a lifetime.



-Trevor F