On Ecuador’s Pacific coast, high striated cirri fold in the sky like wrinkles of dry snow on a fallow western Massachusetts field. Boys launch fishing boats in the surf, standing in the hull and pushing their craft forward with poles that sink into the sand. And somewhere between, where the sea’s horizon meets the sky, the sun sinks behind a miles-wide cumulonimbus gray piece of the aerial ocean, trimmed in orange while hummingbirds, black butterflies, and habitual walkers glide back and forth in view from this hammock before the world. The setting sun’s pink pushes upward where it scatters into a few formless patches of unfolded cirrus snow.
Once each wave climbs as high on the beach as it can and begins to slide back into the ocean, it meets the next wave and churns sand and water into a chocolate milk that quickly dissolves into cappucino foam.
I have not had a decent coffee all week.
If you are ever in Same, Ecuador (pronounced sah-may) – a beautifully rustic, quiet beach town on Ecuador’s coast – here’s fair warning. Not a single establishment, neither restaurant nor bar nor hotel, serves espresso. Add to this, like in most of Chile, Nescafé passes for coffee. So if you ask “¿Tiene café negro?” and the person responds “si,” clarify whether they count water-soluble coffee-flavored crystals as equal to ground roasted beans. In a country full of coffee trees, the coastal preference for Nescafé is baffling.
But in case you find yourself in the Same situation, that is in a kitchen with no coffee machine, no stove top espresso maker, nor even a french press, here’s what you can do.
Whether or not you’re staying in the sprawling cliff-side Casa Blanca complex, visit La Tienda, a well-stocked general store on the Mediterranean inspired property.
Avoid the following
Café Filtrado: I’ve always wondered why, if coffee is just hot water run over ground beans through a filter, a cup of coffee could not be brewed just like a cup of tea. Given my dire outlook, I was willing to try this. It sounds like a good idea, but it is ruined in its execution. I like a strong cup of java, and doubling and quadrupling the number of prescribed bags per cup of nearly-boiling water only resulted in a stronger, more awful flavor.
Superior Café Gran Colombiano: This simpler bag of roasted, ground coffee has an alkaline flavor that sits at the other end of the spectrum of what I expect coffee to taste like.
My best cups of coffee came from individualized packets of ground coffee called Español. While you’re at La Tienda, pick up Scott napkins with the blue elephant and other psychedelic designs. One packet makes a good, strong cup of coffee.
Anyone else have a desperate coffee story?
WARNING: inevitably this is a three-handed affair, and depending on who is pouring the boiling water and who is holding the napkin-cum-coffee filter, there is the slight chance of scalding an understanding friend. Cuidado.
N.B. The classy, bat-bearing Bacardi coasters come free with a 750cm³ bottle of liquid happiness.
