I had an oatmeal breakfast with Jill. Then we walked over to the San Alberto Cafe for a coffee tasting with Coralie and Mikhail. We learned about Colombian coffee and the growing and harvesting process. We tried different tastes so we could identify the flavor of salty, sweet, bitter, and sour. That was easy. The hard part was doing the same with different smells. Nobody in the presentation did well. We tasted two different coffees made in a Chemex. A Chemex is a drip method but with a different filter and a funky hourglass shaped pot. One coffee was terrible because the beans the beans that went into it were deformed and terrible looking, the second was much better and used the house beans, they were all uniform and looked healthy. Last we tried the house coffee beans again but run through a siphon brewer. The siphon looks like an hourglass. Some water is boiled in the bottom chamber and it percolates to the upper chamber. The coffee grounds are added to the top then the heat is removed. There is a vacuum in the bottom chamber and it sucks the brewed coffee down though a filter. They take the pot it apart and pour. The result is an amazingly smooth cup of coffee. The beans made a very balanced flavor. After that, Coralie and Mikhail jetted back to NYC. Jill and I went for a walk around Boca Grande island and I swam a little. This evening we went to a free concert. A French accordionist was on tour and played at an international school. Her name is Marion Sila. She used a lot of electronic beats and looped recordings of her voice as accompaniment. She and her music were poppy and delightful. We walked back and Jill is already sleeping. Now it is bedtime for me.
Evan asks when are you and Jill coming back to see us? We miss you.