The hacienda is a town called Fusagasugá a couple hours south of where we live. The interesting part though, was that for the first hour we were still in Bogotá with the transmilenio running through the middle of the road we were on. Bogotá is HUGE. We finally got to a toll booth and out into the country. It was a lovely drive. Luckily, we had hired a driver who knew where he was going, because the hacienda was hidden behind a blue gate with almost no signage. Once we got inside it was like a secret garden.
We had about twenty minutes to wait for another group to arrive before our tour began, so we used the bathrooms, had a snack, and explored the incredible gardens.
We discovered a plant we dubbed "the giant pineapple".
When our tour started, we were surprised to discover that the plant is actually burlap, and the burlap sacks that coffee beans come in are made from the fibers of its leaves. There were some examples in front of the house.
We spent quite a bit of time in the gardens, where our guide pointed out lots of interesting flora and fauna.
One of our favorites was a small fern like plant that drew in its little leaves when you touched it.
There were also banana trees.
With accompanying banana spiders that live around them and eat mosquitos and other insects.
It was a big spider, but I'm okay with spiders as long as they're not fuzzy, so I let it crawl on my hand to show the girls there was nothing to be afraid of. They still refused to go anywhere near it. Eventually we got to an area of coffee plants. Our guide pointed out to us that the white flowers on the coffee plant smelled a lot like jasmine. They really do!
Then he took us to an area where some of the plants had coffee beans ready to pick. The pods had turned red and were called cherries. We were each invited to pick one and break it open. Inside was a very pale relative of what we think of as a coffee bean.
The white part was soft, like a fruit, and when our guide invited us to taste it, we discovered that it was sweet like a fruit too. Dad posed for a picture with the coffee plants.
Our guide had shown us coffee plants in various stages of being grown and explained how important shade was to them, since the leaves are very sensitive to sunlight. As we walked along, we kept coming across beautiful flowering plants.
Our guide then proceeded to explain the coffee making process to us. The first step was to get the red "cherry" skin off the white beans. This was done by feeding them into a machine to separate the two parts. Vivian was invited to help. She put the cherries we had picked in the top and turned the wheel.
The white part fell into the tub at the left, while the red part fell into a trough underneath the machine. Our guide showed us how the red parts were allowed to decompose and make fertilizer for the new plants.
He then took us upstairs to show us the shoot the cherries would actually be poured down during a harvest when there were large quantities of them.
The next step is drying out the white part. He showed us the traditional method which involved spreading them out on a roof to be dried by the sun. There was a little retractable shed roof that could be put over them when it rained and a rake to move them around, so that they would dry evenly. The girls (and Dad) got to try raking them.
Once they're dry and you break off the white skin. What's left inside is an unroasted coffee bean.
Elena really liked the little white beans, so she selected one to be "hers".
We then moved on to the more modern equipment. First he showed us the industrial dryer that is now used in place of the roof. Even though it's a "modern" solution, it still felt pretty classic.
It turns and heats the beans until they are dry. Beans can be poured in from a shoot above and emptied into sacks by opening the doors. There was also a large machine for separating the beans from the dried skin.
But he took us to some smaller models to demonstrate the rest of the process. First, Vivi helped pour in the dry beans.
Then, we waited while friction separated the beans from the skin.
Elena had entrusted "her" bean to the process, and so she was a bit anxious. The guide explained to us that the dry skins were used as fuel for the fire that heated the industrial dryer, so nothing was wasted. Eventually, we had a bowl of beans.
Our guide searched through to find "Elena's bean" and solemnly presented it to her.
Then, the rest of the beans went in the roaster.
The room started to smell really good. Next he used a hose to cool the beans, so that we could touch them. He encouraged each of us to try one.
They were crunchy and tasted pretty much like coffee. Finally, he ground them up. There were a series of plates on the table to illustrate the steps in the process.
Our guide also took us to a cellar to show us the coffee liqueurs that they make.
The ones close to Vivi are kind of like Kahlua, and they sell them in Colombia. The other two are fancier, and they only sell them overseas. We've decided to look for this one the next time we're in Europe.
We ended with a coffee and coffee liqueur tasting at a fun coffee themed table.
Of course, the girls weren't interested in a tasting. They went back to their favorite part of the tour, an old jeep that they could play in.
They played there nicely while we tasted and chatted. Elena came back just in time to get a coffee themed bracelet.
By that point, we were all quite hungry, so our driver took us to lunch at a restaurant called La Tabla. They had various grilled meats. Elena got chicken, Viv and Dad got pork, I got a chicken with mushroom sauce, and Mom was in heaven with a whole dorado fish and a mango juice.
We filled up, hit the bathrooms, and then got back in the van. The drive back home was much quieter than the drive there. We were full and tired, but very happy with the day's adventure outside of the city.
