Coffee

Coffee is a really important part of my life. I’ve been addicted to it since I was in eighth grade but I take breaks every now and again to lower my tolerance. At the Andean Information Network where I’m working in Cochabamba we hang out and gossip a lot in the kitchen next to the coffee maker, which is also next to the water cooler.

You have no idea how rare it is to drink drip coffee in Bolivia. If people drink coffee at home it’s instant Nescafe. If they drink it out, mostly it’s also Nescafe. Now coming (most recently) from the Northwest I know the snobbiest of coffee snobs and I’m not sure what they would do when Nescafe is the only option. Maybe drink tea? I instead choose to try to squeeze a little caffeine from the instant crystals (I’m pretty sure there is much less caffeine in instant coffee than any other form) and mask the taste with plenty of milk (usually from a powder) and sugar. While at home I always opt for espresso, french press or moka percolator, but I love the drip coffee maker here.

There are a handful of places you can get espresso in Cochabamba but its limited and always a gamble. When you ask for a cappuccino you get a Bolivian interpretation of a cappuccino. The worst cappuccino I had was at Cafe Brasil which is a place on the Prado (main street) that serves sushi and espresso. A weird restaurant on so many levels.

A. Sushi is not a Brazilian food
B. If you go before 7 pm you can't even get sushi, you can only get a ham and cheese sandwich or an empanada
C. Espresso is also not explicitly Brazilian
D. Everyone working there is Bolivian except maybe the sushi chef.
E. Bolivia is landlocked! They use freshwater trout and I’m not really sure what else.

Anywho, the worst Bolivian interpretation of a cappuccino is at Cafe Brasil. I think this is how they made it: Scoop of sugar and scoop of cocoa powder into cup. Pour double shot and mix into sugar and cocoa. Add hot (maybe steamed) milk (of questionable origins - perhaps from powder, perhaps from a baggie) and top with greasy whipped cream and cinnamon. ew. And this is at a pretty fancy place. Understand my enthusiasm for drip coffee at the office?

When I was in La Paz, we bought two pounds of coffee from a rockin' coffee shop chain called Alexander's. This is the only coffee shop I’ve been to in Latin America that actually feels like a coffee shop, not a restaurant or bar. While there aren’t any cozy couches, people actually go there just to drink coffee. The first time I went to Alexander’s I was with my boss Kathy and she kept pointing out all these high-up government and opposition officials as well as rich/well known Bolivians. Imagine going to the Starbucks in DC and seeing cabinet members and congressmen all drinking coffee in the same room as John Sweeney and Ralph Nader and John Stuart. Its a small country and I think I'm falling in love with it, even if it takes an 8 hour bus ride to get to the nearest good coffee shop.