Coffee Break

I always forget to comment on the coffee situation here. Apparently, Zimbabwe grows very good coffee, and I've brought some back home. But you must percolate it, and I don't have access to a perculator. They have these water heaters with heating coils in the bottom that uses electricity to boil water pretty quickly. So, every day around 10-10:30am, it's coffee time. Put in bottled water (since the tap water is not potable due to the government running out of money to buy chemicals to clean the water) and press the button. In about 2-3 minutes, you have boiling hot water!

Instant coffee is popular here. However, the traditional brands in the US are missing, except Nescafe. That only comes in decaf, which defeats the purpose of coffee breaks if you ask me. However, there is another type of instant coffee that is extremely popular and available in many different brands. It's called "Ricoffy", and I bought the brand made by Nestle, mostly b/c I know the Nestle brand and trust it more than something more local.

The box is big and yellow with a cup of coffee on the front with the banner "Fresh PERCOLATED taste". Then the bottom says, "Choice Coffee and Finest Chicory Extract". What's chicory, you ask? I had no idea either until a few minutes ago when I did a search on it. The site I found is: http://www.herbalmusings.com/chicory.htm It's a flower whose roots are often ground up for a caffeine free coffee substitute. It's supposed to have a bitter taste, though. However, the Ricoffy tastes good, which is what matters to me. It also has caffeine from the coffee beans! You likely will not find this product in the USA, but it is an interesting part of my Zimbabwe experience.