Coffee, it appears to be, is the main crop of Costa Rica. There are coffee fields in every town, coffee plants (wild and not) in every garden and every forest. It’s the only thing that outnumbers banana trees. It makes sense, then, that they drink so much of it. Ticos tend to drink at least one cup of coffee for breakfast, one during cafecito in the afternoon, and—I have even heard—one at or after dinner. When we visited my host grandmother, her other daughter came to visit as well with her husband and their one year-old son. Even he drank coffee (with a bit of milk) in his bottle for breakfast.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have abstained from drinking coffee since a little over a week ago. I’d like to save my stronger caffeine for when I really need it (like during finals week). My host parents obligingly got me two boxes of tea (chamomile) that I now drink in the morning and afternoon. What I thought was funny is that today I realized I’ve gotten the rest of the family hooked on it. The situation went like this (as usual, it was actually in Spanish):
My host dad came back from work. After eating lunch, my host mom asked if he’d like a cup of coffee (it was just about time for cafecito). Both the coffee pot and the tea kettle were already going by this time. I already had a cup of chamomile and was sitting at the dining table.
“No,” he replied. “I want tea.”
“No coffee?” she asked incredulous.
“No,” he said again. “tea.”
She looked to my host brother. “Enrique?” He shook his head vigorously.
“Tea, too.”
I chuckled over my mug at the stunned look on her face.
It looks like we won’t need to buy coffee anymore.
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