For those of you who didn't know, Joey has become quite a "coffee snob" in the past couple years. He went from never drinking coffee, to now only drinking the best! It was all brought on by his brother who now roasts coffee beans as a 2nd job and his cousins (and friends from their church) who do coffee "cuppings" (tastings) and order green coffee beans from all over the world. Joey's brother and friends from church are actually researching and praying about starting a coffee plantation as a ministry/outreach to generate jobs overseas. So of course, Joey was scouting out all the coffee trees in Africa. Even though tea (chai) is the main drink in both Kenya and Uganda, many of the villagers around New Hope grow their own coffee trees and sell the beans for a small profit (it's not a huge business there nor a major source of income).
Ziwa Godfrey (one of the young men we sponsor through New Hope) holding coffee berries broken open to show the green beans inside (from one of his trees...in the background).
If you ever wondered where those black beans you buy come from.....
The coffee berries are very colorful!
They have to lay the berries out to dry before harvesting the green beans inside.
Rashida's grandmother (one of the younger girls we sponsor through New Hope) showing Joey one of her coffee trees.
Rashida and her Grandmother (she's Alea's age) in their coffee grove...some of the trees get really tall!
The berries grow like this in clusters.
We had to help her scoop up the coffee berries quickly before the rain hit. Joey is holding the bag, wishing he could take it with him! ha! We got gifted everything BUT coffee berries....bananas, passion fruit, mangos, avacadoes, beans, ground nuts, maize (corn) even a chicken, but no coffee.
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