When my Spanish teacher asked me what we did this past weekend I answered, “Nosotros buscamos cafe en los supermarcados.” Surely she misunderstood. We didn’t search for supermarket coffee ALL weekend, did we?
Well….um…yeah….kind of.
Jeff and I love to make coffee at home. We like going out for coffee too, but we need that first cup at home to wake up enough to go out to get more. When we moved into this apartment in Salta the first thing we did was buy a coffee maker. The second thing we did was buy the 100% Arabica coffee beans.
When we went back to the store 3 days later for more, the store was out — of all Arabica beans. Now hardcore travelers would just switch to robusto or instant. Hardcore travelers wouldn’t even be drinking coffee, they’d be drinking yerba mate out of gourds. But, we’re not hardcore.
Part of traveling is adapting. We’ve adapted to a different language, customs, weather, foods, and scenery. But for some reason, we just can’t do it with the coffee. We need good beans that we can brew at home.
We actually did try several emergency options. We found an ancient jar of instant in the cabinet.
We tried robusto beans.
And then we pretty much freaked out. We were dead set on finding those beans. It put us on a 2 day, 4 mile, 5 supermarcado brew at home odyssey to all the supermarcdos in Salta.
Finally, at the last of the big supermarkets, we found them – Arabica beans without sugar or cardamon added. Was it worth it? (I’m taking a sip of coffee as I type) Yes.
We can go without peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies, Pop Chips, The Daily Show, Washington wine, cottage cheese, Kinetix bars, margaritas, Chinese food, all our family, all our friends, my income and the entire English lanugage, but 100% Arabica beans to brew at home? No way.
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